Something like cinema: Exploring Ray
Jaydip Mukherjee
India. 2025. 35 min

A documentary film that explores various influences that had shaped the filmmaking craft of Satyajit Ray. The influences, borne out of his meeting with a number of gifted individuals and his experiences of an array of perception-altering incidents had molded his aesthetic sensibilities and had made him what he was. The film strives to capture how the auteur Satyajit Ray had straddled atop diverse avenues of artistic pursuits, most of which had coalesced to form the identity of an unmatched narrator of ideas, – both persuasive and profound. This film attempts to capture all these influences that had imparted alchemic touches to turn him into an auteur of impeccable standing. It explores the aesthetic psyche of Ray that relates his images with his cinematic experiences. This Documentary retraces the influences that had shaped his sensibilities, some of them inherited while the remaining imbibed from the ambiance and the people that he had come across. Several of these facets such as Illustrator, Calligrapher, Musician and Author are partly eclipsed by his phenomenal standing as a Filmmaker, yet all of them were collaborating strands of his composite aesthetic universe.

Poetries from the Bookstores: Somewhere I belong
Hou Chi-Jan
Taiwan. 2025. 93 min

Testimonies from passionate proprietors reveal the diversity of Taiwan’s independent bookshops, all with a distinct style and flair. Centring on the most human aspects of each, Hou Chi-jan’s documentary reinvigorates a love for these charming establishments as a second home.

Painted Memories: Calcutta connects Raj Kapoor
Jaydip Mukherjee
India. 2025. 35 min

Many decades ago, there lived in Kolkata a boy called Shrishti Nath Kapoor, who studied in a school called Mitra Institution in Bhowanipore. When his family later moved to Bombay, he not only carried along the artistic influence that Calcutta left on him but also cherished his formative years in the city. The boy grew up to become the legendary Raj Kapoor.

Path to The Desert
Miguel Garrido
Spain. 2024. 102 min

“Path to the Desert: The Desertification of Spain”, is a feature-length documentary that explores the relentless advance of desertification in Spain. Through stunning imagery and key testimonies, it examines the impact of climate change, intensive agriculture, water overexploitation and pollution, and the expansion of industrial pig farms across the country. The documentary shows how these factors are degrading the land and affecting local communities, accelerating a process that threatens ecological balance. This journey reveals the consequences of an unsustainable model and poses the question: Are we still in time to reverse it?

Salvar la utopía
Joaquín T. Smenjaud
Spain. 2025. 35 min

Leading voices from science and ecology talk to us about how climate change and overexploitation of water surround this unique natural space and those who inhabit it.
Doñana National Park is perhaps Spain’s most iconic environmental jewel. A mosaic of ecosystems that hosts a unique biodiversity in Europe and that, however, in 2023 was excluded from the green list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. That is why Joaquín T. Smenjaud, who was born and lives in Seville and has been a lover of this place since he was a child, wanted to share with the spectators his passion and also his concern for a space he has visited for decades.

Champions of The Golden Valley
Ben Sturgulewski
USA. 2025. 81 min

After narrowly missing his chance to become Afghanistan’s first Olympic skier, Alishah Farhang returns to the remote mountains of his homeland to inspire a vibrant new ski culture. Bringing together young athletes from rival villages with makeshift wooden skis and secondhand gear, he organizes a ski race like no other, uniting his community in a rare moment of hope and triumph. When their world is suddenly upended, he and the athletes must call upon those lessons learned on the slopes to find their way forward. Revealing a stunning unseen side of Afghanistan, the film is a captivating and uplifting story about how champions can be made by more than Olympic medals.

Searching for The Band
Musa AK, Hasan Basri Ozdemir
Turkey. 2024. 74 min

The documentary tells the story of the Eroğlu Girls’ Orchestra, which was founded in 1968 as the first girls’ orchestra in Turkey and gained great popularity by appearing on television and radio programs on TRT and in newspaper reports in the 1970s, and how it was brought together again by Cenk Eroğlu and the process of making music. It tells the story of the artists of the period, the understanding of music and art, social developments, and the characters’ past lives in a way that intertwines their present and past lives.