Sputnik-Kino

The programme, curated exclusively for the festival by festival director Alex Moussa Sawadogo, presents an outstanding selection of short and medium-length works by filmmakers from the African continent and the African diaspora.

A couple married for 40 years have grown distant. When their young granddaughter visits and their adult daughter announces her engagement to an older industrialist, their stagnant routine is disrupted.

B-MOVIE is a documentary about music, art, and chaos in the wild West Berlin of the 80s. Before the Iron Curtain fell, artists and communards, squatters and hedonists of every color roamed here. The walled-in city was a creative melting pot for subculture and pop culture, "Genial Dilletantes" and world stars. B-MOVIE tells the final decade of the divided city, from punk to the Love Parade, with authentic film material and original interviews. Featuring Annette Humpe, Blixa Bargeld, Nena, Nick Cave, David Bowie, Gudrun Gut, Westbam, Joy Division, Zazie de Paris, Die Toten Hosen, the "real" Heino, Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Ärzte, The Unknown, Malaria!, Notorious Reflexes and many more.

In a quaint Somali village where herding families coexist, an event disrupts the peace and 9-year-old Barni gets lost after a celebratory wedding, leaving the community in distress. Despite the exhaustive efforts of the village, Barni can’t be found, leaving her older sister Amina and her friends Hirsi and Geedi to set out on a journey to the city to locate her.

Bernd is an actor with special needs in a renowned Berlin theater collective. When the group travels to Peenemünde with their play about a Nazi wonder weapon, the situation escalates – because the ostracized Bernd becomes increasingly interested in the ideologies of the Third Reich.

At the height of the Cold War, Fatherland centers on the relationship between the writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika—actress, writer and rally driver—as they embark on a road trip in a black Buick cruiser across a Germany in ruins.

Can a machine comfort the soul when life falls apart?

Three estranged friends reunite for a trip to the sea. They attempt to shoot an amateur B-movie about a serial killer named "Demenzia". As arguments over the script and creative direction arise, reality and fiction blur into a laid-back, chaotic comedy about friendship and aging.

An intimate journey through the life of singer Diane Luckey aka Q Lazzarus, narrated through her own words and music. Q sang the cult hit song "Goodbye Horses" before mysteriously disappearing for 25 years.

In a village in the High Atlas, Said, Brahim, and Omar make music and dream of a different life. Music is their freedom, their identity. When a new imam arrives, the atmosphere slowly begins to change. What was once a close-knit community becomes divided. What once felt natural comes under pressure. The women of the village, including Fadma, work the land with song and joy, but everything shifts when the deeply conservative imam takes hold. Step by step, he sows division by banning what he considers haram, pushing some villagers to deny their Amazigh identity, and driving others toward resistance.

Two powerful forces, both driven by the hunger for life, collide: the relentless growth of microfungi and the boundless persistence of humans.

Set in Vilnius in 2022, high-flying executive Marija chooses the worst moment to discuss divorce with husband Vytas - one day before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The couple navigates separation amid a refugee crisis.

In the early '90s, Lithuanian TV star Daiva loses her job as the studios are taken over by russian soldiers. Together with several peers, she announces a hunger strike to reclaim the TV station.

A talk and screening exploring everyday life in Soviet-era Lithuania through rediscovered amateur and home movies. Presented by Meno Avilys, the event will feature a selection of newly digitised Lithuanian amateur and home movies from the 1960s, introduced by Ona Kotryna Dikavičiūtė, curator, semiotician and Artistic Director of Meno Avilys, offering a rare glimpse into everyday life in Soviet-era Vilnius.

CITY ABOVE HOLOGRAM SURPLACE SELF-ACCUSTOMED SPA

Taking its name from this year’s festival theme, COME CLOSER is a special programme of six acclaimed Lithuanian short films that have gained recognition at major international film festivals since 2019, including Cannes, Berlinale, Venice, Annecy,...

The story tells of growing up in provincial West Germany in the 1980s, in a family where one subject dominates everything: the mother's body weight. Is this beautiful, strong-willed, unpredictable woman too big? Does she really need to lose weight? Yes, she does. Decides her husband, who is increasingly dominated by the obsession that his wife's overweight is responsible for everything he is being denied: the promotion, the social ascent, the approval in the village community. And the mother is exposed to this, day after day.

In the sweltering mines of Kolwezi, Mama Leonece grapples with powerful corporations over cobalt, a key resource for green energy. Amid dust and heat, she seeks guidance from her heritage to confront the brutal realities of this struggle.

A high-powered executive's meticulously controlled existence unravels when professional crises, global chaos, and marital betrayal converge, pushing him toward a dangerous breaking point.

Filmed at night from Tel Aviv rooftops, this investigative documentary examines the civilian casualties of Israel's military operations in Gaza and the systems behind targeted killings of Palestinians.

A ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.

Drag queens and club kids battle zombies craving brains during a zombie outbreak at their drag show in Brooklyn, putting personal conflicts aside to utilize their distinct abilities against the undead threat.

After a racist assault, prosecutor Seyo Kim pursues her own case through the courts, challenging both her attackers and a legal system that ignores right-wing extremism.

Teenage girl Danute is the only "adult" in her family. Obviously, this is too difficult a task for a teenager. Such a child measures everything in terms of survival and takes responsibility as a means of getting through.

A documentary following investigative journalists and whistleblowers who expose global corruption and human rights violations, risking their lives and careers to reveal truths concealed for the sake of power.