IT CAME WITH THE TIDE (wt)
in financing
stop-trick animation with
The Hidden Institute
11 min
Germany, France
LOGLINE
On a remote island, a young red-haired fisher woman who lives with her grandmother, is shunned for her appearance. When she befriends a mysterious sea creature, it grants her the power to reshape the island and erase her outsider status - at the risk of awakening the fear and anger of the island's inhabitants
TEASER
CREDITS
DIRECTOR
Monja Dietrich & Vincent Suttner
ANIMATOR
Arne Hain, Vincent Suttner, Monja Detrich
PRODUCED BY
CO-PRODUCER
Paradoks Film, Avec Ou Sans Vous
Executive Producers
Monja DIetrich, Manuel Rees
GREEN CONSULTANT
Manuel Rees
HALBGESCHWISTER (wt)
Junger Dokumentarfilm
in production
documentary
60/90 min
Germany, USA, Austria, Poland
FACTS
TOPICS
genetics, family, ancestry
LANGUAGE
english, german
with german dubbing
and english and german subtitles
COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION
Germany
LOGLINE
After a filmmaker takes a DNA test, she comes into contact with many second cousins. She doesn't know them, her mother doesn't know them and they don't know each other either - even though the cousins share 25% of her DNA and are half-siblings. What happened and what does it mean to share DNA with strangers?
CREDITS
DIRECTOR
Michaela Kobsa-Mark
DOP
Sebastian Ganschow
SOUND
Sebastian Schmitt
COMISSIONING EDITOR
Marcus Vetter
PRODUCED BY
Frank Carsten Walter
PRODUCER FILMAKADEMIE
Elmira Azizkhanli
GREEN CONSULTANT
Manuel Rees
PARTNERS
MFG Filmfund Baden-Württemberg,
SWR German Broadcaster
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg "Junger Dokumentarfilm"
HOTEL
SEMKOVO (wt)
Junger Dokumentarfilm
in postproduction
documentary
60/90 min
Germany, Bulgaria
FACTS
TOPICS
digital nomads
LANGUAGE
english, german
with german dubbing
and english and german subtitles
COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION
Germany
LOGLINE
In an abandoned post-Soviet hotel, located in the forests of Bulgaria, digital nomads are looking for a new stay.
CREDITS
DIRECTOR
Julia Groteclaes
DOP
Sina Diehl
COMISSIONING EDITOR
Marcus Vetter
TV EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
SWR
PRODUCED BY
Frank Carsten Walter
PRODUCER
Hannah Buhr
GREEN CONSULTANT
Manuel Rees
FINANCING
FUNDING
MFG Filmfund Baden-Württemberg,
SWR German Broadcaster
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg "Junger Dokumentarfilm"
OUR SEEDS (wt)
in production
documentary
90 min
Turky, Greece, Germany
FACTS
GENRE
documentary
TOPICS
farming, generation conflict, heritage, ecology
STATUS
in development and financing
LENGTH
90 minutes
LANGUAGE
turkish
with german and english
subtitles
LOGLINE
In northeastern Turkey, a farming couple — who are still keeping a 1,500-year-old ancestral seed alive — face the fact that they cannot leave the fate of the seed in the hands of their children.
CREDITS
DIRECTOR
Erhan Arik
DOP
Meryem Yavuz
PRODUCTION
HOROVEL
Co-PRODUCTION
Paradoks Film, Anemon Productions
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Meryem Vavuz, Manuel Rees, Frank Carsten Walter,
Rea Apostolides
GREEN CONSULTANT
Manuel Rees
FINANCING
FUNDING
MFG Filmfund Baden-Württemberg,
Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program,
Redford Center,
IDFA Bertha Classic Fund,
EZEF,
Greek Film Center,
Eurimages
PARADOX PARADISE (wt)
in development and financing
documentary
90 min
Germany, USA, Turkey, Austria
FACTS
GENRE
documentary
TOPICS
reality, tourism, existentialism
STATUS
in development
LENGTH
90 minutes
LANGUAGE
Arabic, English, German
with German and English
subtitles
COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION
Germany
LOGLINE
The documentary film PARADOX PARADISE is a poetic journey through artificial spaces and artificial paradises. In a post-factual age, the film embarks on a search for what could be reality. It tries to trace the desire for escapism and illusions of people who do not want to be satisfied with everyday reality,
but always strive towards the ultimate human reality: Paradise.
CREDITS
PRODUCTION
Paradoks Filmproduktion
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Manuel Rees & Frank Carsten Walter
DIRECTOR
Esra Laske
GREEN CONSULTANT
Manuel Rees
FINANCING
RESEARCH FUNDING
MFG Medien und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg
SHIP OF FOOLS
in distribution
anima-dok
30 min
Germany, Lebanon
FESTIVALS
Festivals
2024 - Black Star Film Festival (USA) - Official Selection
2025 - Ecrans du réel (Lebanon) - Official Selection
2025 - Clermont-Ferrand (France) - LAB Competition -
Winner "Lab Special Jury Prize" and "Lab Student Jury Special Mention"
2025 - Salem Filmfestival (USA) - Official Selection
2025 - New York Arab Festival (USA) - Official Selection
2025 - Olhar de Cinema (Brasil) - Official Selection
2025 - Lebanon Cinema Days (USA, UK) - Official Selection
2025 - Mostra de Cinema Árabe Feminino (Brasil) - Official Selection
2025 - 41st edition of the Alexandria Mediterranean Countries Film Festival - Official Selection
Winner "Best Performance Award" at Desenzano Film Festival (Italy)
2025 - Sharjah Film Festival (UAE)- Official Selection
2025 - Autumn in Voronet Int. Film Festival (Romania)
2025 - DokumentART (Germany) - Out of Competition
2025 - Toamna Film Festival (Italy) - Official Selection
Winner "Best Camera" at Toamna la Veronet (Romania)
Winner "Mention Spéciale Documentaire" - Lebanese Film Festival (France)
2025 - Filmschau Baden-Württemberg - Official Selection
2025 - Batroun Mediterranean Film Festival - Official Selection
2025 - Rabat Int. Authors Festival - Official Selection
Festival Scope Pro: https://pro.festivalscope.com/film/ship-of-fools
FACTS
GENRE
short anima-dok
TOPICS
emancipation, society, revolution,
war, women in the Arab world
STATUS
in distribution
LENGTH
29:11 minutes
LANGUAGE
Arabic, English
with German and English
subtitles
COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION
Germany and Lebanon
LOGLINE
The film is a patchwork of the colorful personal life of Alia, a Lebanese woman. Being raised through war and displacement, searching for freedom - she forms a friendship with a madman on the shore of Beirut called Abu Samra. Together they survive by finding comfort in the insanity that the city has sown in them. When the Lebanese revolution starts on 17 October 2019 they realize they are not alone.
SYNOPSIS
There was lots of shelling, though Alia never used to be scared. Being born during a war is different for a child, makes it seem normal. When the flare bombs rained over the south of Lebanon at night her father would tell her these were falling stars finding their way to earth. When the war intensified, they headed to Beirut, later escaping to another country. This film will tell the story of Alia, a Lebanese girl that flees her country as a child because of war. At 18, Alia comes back to live in Beirut, to study Art, discovering the complicated socio-political jungle of her war-torn country and people. She recognizes the difficulty and complications of life in Beirut, which clash with her ideas and illusions of the homeland she yearned for. Unable to pursue Art as her career, seeing all the harsh reality surrounding her, she shifts into visual journalism to try to document the injustice. She works at Reuters for five years documenting Lebanon and the Syrian war. The pictures crossing her desk eat at her. The injustice, the corruption pile stones over her heart. The pressure builds. Many friends leave the country, some start families and fall in line with the silent norm, and three of her friends commit suicide.
Alia can't accept these options for herself and starts looking for another. She visits Beirut’s seaside, the only place for her tears, seeking temporary refuge from the pressure. There she meets Abu Samra, a madman that visits the store every day to train to become the Lebanese superhero. She is infatuated with what he is and tries to discover his world. A world the sane fear, the world of the mad.
Abu Samra changes Alia’s life, and through the madness, she finds sanity in him and how he deals with the pressures of the city. She quits her job, leaves her partner, and starts working on what she loves, storytelling and documentary filmmaking. But the pressure continues to build. A revolution sparks. For the first time, Alia’s madness over the injustice is justified. Why are those who accept the status quo considered sane? The mad of the city rise in hope for a future. Alia puts down her camera, picks up her drum and becomes part of the Lebanese revolution.
CREDITS
DIRECTOR
Alia Haju
CO-AUTHOR
Lea Najjar
PRODUCTION
Paradoks Filmproduktion
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Manuel Rees & Frank Carsten Walter
GREEN CONSULTANT
Manuel Rees
FINANCING
RESEARCH FUNDING
MFG Medien und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg
PRODUCTION FUNDING
Doha Film Institute
AFAC - Arab Fund For Arts And Culture
Kuratorium junger deutscher Film
MFG Medien und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTOR
MAD WORLD
GODS LIKE US
in distribution
documentary mini series
3x 40 min
Germany, USA, Russia, Switzerland
FACTS
GENRE
sci-fi documentary mini series
TOPICS
science, society, future, medicine
STATUS
in postproduction
LENGTH
3x 40 min
LANGUAGE
german, english, russian
with english subtitles
COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION
Germany
SYNOPSIS
When the heart stops beating, you can have it replaced by an artificial heart. If you fall into a severe depression, electrodes can be inserted into your brain to make you happy again.
We are accompanying two people who want to find their way back to life and for this purpose are technically expanding their bodies. Based on their stories, we will give a glimpse into a near future in which human body parts are bred in animals and human thoughts are controlled by computers.
CREDITS
PRODUCTION
Paradoks Filmproduktion
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Frank Carsten Walter
LINE PRODUCER
Suzan Anasal
DIRECTOR
Manuel Rees
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Manuel Meinhardt
EDITOR
Felix Karte
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTOR
Jambika Docs