After 24 years of absence, director A-Liang Elvis Lu returns to his family in a rural area of southwestern Taiwan.&nbsp; His elder brother, A-Zhi, has been recognized as a psychic in the village since the age of 12. Having set up a home altar with 12 Taoist deities since then, A-Zhi communicates deities’ advice to villagers on a donation basis; whereas A-Zhi helps believers make career decisions with his psychic readings, he repeatedly fails in his own entrepreneurial ventures in agriculture.&nbsp; The father of A-Liang and A-Zhi is a gambler who is addicted to an underground lottery and seeks celestial hints for good numbers even in the rising smoke of worshipping incense; he believes that the deities will one day show him lucky numbers to make him rich overnight. What holds the indebted family together is their mother. After 40-year marriage with her irresponsible husband, she is embittered in mind and increasingly enfeebled; the only consolation she finds is in their Taoist altar at home and a continuous stream of religious rituals performed there. A-Liang, urged by his mother to finance the family whenever a bill ends up unpaid, disagrees with his family’s religious practices, superstitions, and blind beliefs in supposedly life-changing miracles. When he comes back home from the capital with a camera more than two decades later, he is forced to face his own trauma and grudges and starts to observe the intertwined emotions in his family from the perspective of a filmmaker. It is an intimate journey of home-coming, a portrait of rekindled family bonding despite differences in religious beliefs, and an unflinching tale of self-discovery through filmmaking.

A HOLY FAMILY is an intimate journey of home-coming, a portrait of rekindled family bonding despite differences in religious beliefs, and an unflinching tale of self-discovery through filmmaking.

神人之家

English

A Holy Family

HEIMAT IS A SPACE IN TIME picks up the biographical pieces of a family torn apart through the end of the 19th and into the 20th century. It is about people who by chance found each other, only then to lose each other. Now it is their descendants, their children and grandchildren who are beginning to disappear.&nbsp;This is all about speaking and silence. First love and happiness lost. Fathers and mothers, sons and brothers, the affairs, the hurt and the joy in landscapes of transition – each bearing the intertwining, hallmarks of their times. A collage of images, sounds, letters, diaries, notes, voices, fragments of time and space.&nbsp;HEIMAT IS A SPACE IN TIME is a journey of reflection of time and the love held within using sounds, images and language. Yet some of it shall remain forever lost.The material used in this film is what remains of my family. The remnants of those I knew, whose circumstances I had been part of or had otherwise experienced. Remnants that mirror history. A history that is just as much my own. (Thomas Heise)

Director Thomas Heise pics up the biographical pieces left by his family, and composes an epic picture of four generations of his family, of a country, of a century.

Heimat ist ein Raum aus Zeit

English, French

Heimat is a Space in Time

Laika, a stray dog, was the first living being to be sent into space and thus to a certain death. According to a legend, she returned to Earth as a ghost and has roamed the streets of Moscow ever since.Following her trace, and filmed from a dog’s perspective, SPACE DOGS accompanies the adventures of her descendants: two street dogs living in today’s Moscow. Their story is one of intimate fellowship but also relentless brutality, and is interwoven with unseen archive material from the Soviet cosmic era.A magical tale of voyagers scouting for unknown spaces.

Laika, a stray dog, was the first living being to be sent into space. Following her trace, SPACE DOGS accompanies the adventures of her descendants: two street dogs living in today’s Moscow.

Space Dogs

English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese

In a deserted Macedonian village, Hatidze, a 50-something woman, trudges up a hillside to check her bee colonies nestled in the rocks. Serenading them with a secret chant, she gently maneuvers the honeycomb without netting or gloves. Back at her homestead, Hatidze tends to her handmade hives and her bedridden mother, occasionally heading to the capital to market her wares.&nbsp;One day, an itinerant family installs itself next door, and Hatidze’s peaceful kingdom gives way to roaring engines, seven shrieking children, and 150 cows. Yet Hatidze welcomes the camaraderie, and she holds nothing back—not her tried-and-true beekeeping advice, not her affection, not her special brandy. But soon Hussein, the itinerant family’s patriarch, makes a series of decisions that could destroy Hatidze’s way of life forever.

When a nomadic family moves in and breaks Honeyland’s basic rule, the last female wild beekeeper in Europe must save the bees and restore natural balance. 

МЕДЕНА ЗЕМЈА

Honeyland

Svitlana (52), the film's director and protagonist, grew up in Mariupol during the Soviet era, when all individuality was suppressed. Later, even living in Kiev in independent Ukraine, she was unable to find a clear self-identity, which influenced the fact that Svitlana's daughter Alexandra (28) grew up without an inner core and was therefore vulnerable to any propaganda.&nbsp;There are four generations of women in Svitlana's family, and each generation grew up under different political realities. Svitlana's mother, Valentina (76), has a more Ukrainian identity than Svitlana's daughter, who has a pro-Russian orientation. Time will tell who Sveta's granddaughter, Stephanie (2), will become.The family gathers in Kiev to celebrate little Stefania's birthday 10 days before the full-scale invasion. Valentina arrives in Kiev from Mariupol, destined never to return.&nbsp;The war destroys the family's life, its past and its future. The house where Valentina lived and where Svitlana and Alexandra grew up is destroyed, and in occupied Mariupol time begins to go back to the USSR.Alexandra and her daughter Stefania leave for the UK. Despite the war Alexandra continues to be in the Russian information field. Alexandra is comforted by the Russian language, as it is the only thing she has left from the past. Svitlana stays with Valentina in Kiev, where the fragile peaceful picture can be destroyed at any moment by the arrival of a Russian missile. With the onset of cold weather, power, heat, and communication blackouts begin. On dark winter evenings, Svitlana talks to Valia about the past. Images of life in a totalitarian society that was imbued with violence against the individual resurface before Svitlana.In London, Alexandra experiences a severe existential crisis, she feels lost, like a nobody. She starts visiting a psychologist to work through her resentment towards Svitlana. To support her, Valentina decides to leave Ukraine and join her granddaughter in the UK. Svitlana stays in Kiev, which is preparing for another dark and cold winter.

Together and one-by-one at the same time, four generations of Ukrainian women from one family embark on an emotional journey shaped by their newfound memories and family history.

A Bit of a Stranger

As a world sales company, Film Harbour distributes creative documentaries from around the globe for which we see a potential on the international market. 

The films in our catalog are very diverse in style and content, but they all have one thing in common: we are convinced of their high artistic quality and their strong relevance, and we want to introduce these outstanding documentaries to a wide international audience. 

Our main goal is to make the connection between a film and its viewers, both via the big and the small screen. 

Film Harbour

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Welcome to Film Harbour

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As the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine brings a glimmer of hope, through candid conversations with people waiting in line for vaccination, this globally relatable film reveals the disorientation and skepticism that permeate our collective experience.&nbsp;&nbsp;Serving as collective therapy for the post-COVID era, this humorous and humane snapshot of a unique moment in time uncovers the threads of resilience and connection that bind us, reminding us of our common humanity in the face of unprecedented challenges.

This humorous and humane snapshot of a unique moment in time uncovers the threads of resilience and connection that bind us, reminding us of our common humanity in the face of unprecedented challenges.

Goran Dević studied law, archaeology and film art at Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb, Croatia currently teaches at the Documentary Film graduate studies there. His documentaries and fiction films have won awards in Pula, Cottbus, Prizren, Prague, Sarajevo, Oberhausen, Leipzig, Motovun, and Zagreb. His feature film debut, THE BLACKS, co-directed and co-written with Zvonimir Jurić, was critically acclaimed.&nbsp; Retrospectives of his documentaries were featured at Arsenal Berlin, MAXXI Roma, Crossing Europe Filmfestival Linz, Beldocs, and Zagreb.&nbsp; He co-founded the production company Petnaesta umjetnost.&nbsp;

Goran

Author's Documentaries

Human Interest & Society

Science & Technology

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Paviljon 6

Pavilion 6

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WHERE DRAGONS LIVE is an extra-ordinary, feature length documentary that takes us through the looking glass into a lost world where upper-class gentlemen once embarked on world tours to collect antiquities as a right of passage, and their children read story books in Latin. Artist Harriet Impey was one of those children. For Harriet and her three older brothers, growing up ‘among dragons’ at Cumnor Place was a life of enchanted gardens, Arthurian legends and things that go bump in the night. Theirs was a rarified, story-book childhood that stoked their wildest imagination and greatest fears in equal measure. Now adults, where they once played make believe and slayed dragons, the siblings must come together to sort and clear out the family estate ready for sale, and come to terms with an unorthodox, and at times traumatic upbringing.&nbsp;Like a museum of the Impey childrens’ childhood, everything at Cumnor Place is preserved eerily in time like their father’s own bizarre bottled reptiles that still line the shelves. Even the fire-breathing dragons at the center of the family mythology now take their place among the dusty artifacts and curiosities that spill out from behind cupboard doors and dusty chests like buried treasure. Stepping back inside Cumnor Place, Harriet says, is like stepping into the past. “The house has a strange effect on all of us.”&nbsp;As they unpack the Pandora’s Box of family life at Cumnor Place, the darker side of their childhood begins to surface too. Each of the siblings is faced with difficult choices about which artifacts to keep and which to throw away - just as they must grapple with their own conflicting memories and wounds - and as all grown ups must eventually do, learn to see their parents through new eyes - not as monsters or heroes, but as mere mortals.&nbsp;WHERE DRAGONS LIVE is an intimate and enchanting portrait of childhood fears, imagination and the enduring power of the family myths and artifacts that shape our lives.

An intimate and enchanting portrait of 
Childhood fears, imagination and the enduring power of the stories and objects that shape our lives.

Suzanne Raes has been working as an independent filmmaker for more than 20 years. Her early films a.o. THE HOUSES OF HRISTINA (2007), THE RAINBOW WARRIORS OF WAIHEKE ISLAND (2009), and THE SUCCESSOR OF KAKIEMON (2012) premiered at IDFA and won several awards at international film festivals. Her film COME CLOSER about Boudewijn de Groot received the IDFA Music Audience Award in 2015.&nbsp;For her film about the Rotterdam social service, QUID PRO QUO (2015) Raes won a Golden Calf, the most important film award in the Netherlands. More recent the co-production GANZ; HOW I LOST MY BEETLE had a successful theatrical release and has been broadcasted in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. In 2023 her latest film CLOSE TO VERMEER ran for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, with successful cinema releases in a.o. the Netherlands, USA and Germany. The film was nominated for a Golden Calf and won the Special Jury Prize at Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival.&nbsp;

Suzanne 

Generation

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Waar draken wonen

Where Dragons Live

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Born in Mariupol in 1970, she worked for over 25 years for the leading television channels in Ukraine. In 2014, she opened a new chapter in her life by leaving television and immersing herself in screenwriting and filmmaking.&nbsp;Her first documentary works were short pieces for the INVISIBLE BATTALION anthology film in collaboration with the directors Alina Gorlova and Iryna Tsilyk. A BIT OF A STRANGER is her debut feature-length documentary and is based on her personal story.

Svitlana

Current Affairs & Politics

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Sicily, a world, a house, a library, a time capsule kept under lock and key.&nbsp;In January 2022, after having chosen to donate her journalist father’s vast collection of books and archival materials to the Central Library of Sicily, director Costanza Quatriglio returns to her family home in Palermo to welcome a team of archivists and librarians.&nbsp;&nbsp;And so begins a sentimental journey in the dwelling where she was born and raised. Through photographs, 8mm film and audio recordings from the 1940s onward, along with footage the director shot of her father 12 years prior, both a collective and personal memory come together.&nbsp;&nbsp;As the house is emptied of its belongings it is contemporaneously filled by a sea of memories, each remembrance tied not only to a life lived, but to a history of the 20th century. Sicily is an observation deck from which everything starts and to which all returns.The progressive vacating of the house further clarifies that only by knowing can one truly be capable of letting go, which in turn provides the catalyst for a rebirth of both the individual and the community.

A director takes a journey inside the house where she was born. As her journalist father’s home is emptied, private and collective memories wash over her and become a catalyst for rebirth. 

Director and screenwriter Costanza Quatriglio’s debut film was the multi-award-winning THE ISLAND, which premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival and was restored in 2023 by Cinecittà Studios in Rome.&nbsp;She has directed films and documentaries garnering awards at numerous international festivals including Venice and Locarno. She won two Nastro d’Argento awards with TERRAMATTA in 2013 and TRIANGLE in 2014. Her recent films are the highly successful TV Movie THE LITTLE GIRL WHO DIDN'T WANT TO SING and THE VIRUS SMUGGLER.

Costanza

Art & Culture

History

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Il cassetto segreto

The Secret Drawer

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Every night nameless bodies land in Dr. Cristina Cattaneo’s autopsy room. She calls them the Pure Unknown. These Pure Unknown often belong to the fringes of society. They are homeless, sex workers, runaway teenagers. Lately, they have mostly been migrants, rejected by the Mediterranean Sea onto the shores of Italy. If all rights belong to the living, nothing is left to the dead. So what happens when the dead have lost their identity? In the face of this growing multitude, no one seems concerned about their right to dignity. No one but Cristina. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Nameless bodies land in Cristina’s autopsy room. Lately, they have mostly been migrants, rejected by the Mediterranean Sea. No one seems concerned about their right to dignity. No one but Cristina.  

Valentina Cicogna worked as assistant director and assistant editing on the documentary NAPOLI PIAZZA MUNICIPIO by Bruno Oliviero, produced by Indigofilm and Point du Jour, winner in the Italiana Doc section at the Turin Film Festival in 2009. She is the screenwriter of the film LA VARIABILE UMANA by Bruno Oliviero, with Silvio Orlando and Giuseppe Battiston, produced by Rai Cinema, Lumiére &amp; Co., Invisibile Film, distributed by BIM.&nbsp;&nbsp;She was the editor of several documentaries feature films, including QUARTIERI CINESI, (Rai Cinema and Indigofilm), IL GIUDICE E IL SEGRETO DI STATO (Point du Jour and MIR) and MM MILANO MAFIA (Invisibile Film, distributed by Chiarelettere) by Bruno Oliviero, IL COMANDANTE by Enrico Maisto, 74 MIGLIA (Invisibile Film) by Laura Viezzoli, ALBERI CHE CAMMINANO (Oh! Pen) by Mattia Colombo, based on a subject by Erri De Luca, distributed by Feltrinelli; she worked as scriptwriter and editor of the documentary VOGLIO DORMIRE CON TE (Start and The Kingdom) by Mattia Colombo, winner of the Salani Award and the Filmmaker Competition "Nutrimenti terrestri, nutrimenti celesti", finalist of the Solinas Award.&nbsp;&nbsp;She edited the film RITMO SBILENCO by Mattia Colombo, presented at the Rome Film Festival and distributed by Feltrinelli, and the documentary IL PASSO (Start srl and Rai Cinema) by Alessandra Locatelli, Mattia Colombo and Francesco Ferri, in competition at the Nyon Festival.&nbsp;&nbsp;She is the author and editor of the documentary film LA CONVOCAZIONE (The Summoning) by Enrico Maisto, winner of the 2015 Solinas Documentary Award for Cinema, produced by Start srl and Rai Cinema. The film was selected in competition at the 58th Festival dei Popoli, where it won the MyMovies Audience Award, and at IDFA.&nbsp;&nbsp;The latest works are LA SCOMPARSA DI MIA MADRE by Beniamino Barrese, which had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2019, and BROTHERHOOD by Francesco Montagner presented in Locarno. PURE UNKNOWN is her directorial debut.&nbsp;

Valentina 

Mattia Colombo's first short film IL VELO was selected at Visions du Réel, EIFF Edinburgh Film Festival, AFI Silver Docs. The documentary ALBERI CHE CAMMINANO, written with Erri De Luca and distributed by Feltrinelli, was in competition at Festival dei Popoli, Slamdance Film Festival and Trento Film Festival. The documentary VOGLIO DORMIRE CON TE, winner of the Corso Salani prize, finalist at Filmmaker In Progress Lab, finalist at Premio Solinas Documentario per il Cinema and selected at Périphérie Cinéastes in Paris, participated in Cinéma du Réel and Biografilm Festival. The documentary IL PASSO, a Start and Rai Cinema production, was presented at Visions du Réel and broadcast on Rai and RSI.&nbsp; Mattia directed the film RITMO SBILENCO, a documentary on the Italian band Elio e le Storie Tese, a special event at the Rome Film Festival, distributed in Italian cinemas and on home video by Wanted Cinema. The documentary UNINVITED, a biographical film on Marcelo Burlon, fashion designer and outsider DJ, was released in Italian cinemas and distributed on home video by CG Entertainment.&nbsp; His most recent documentary, IL POSTO, was selected at Visions du Réel and Hot Docs. Mattia's current documentary PURE UNKNOWN, co-directed with Valentina Cicogna, is an Italy/Sweden/Switzerland production. The project was a finalist in the Solinas Documentary Award for Cinema, received support from MEDIA Europe, MiC, Trentino Film&nbsp;Commission, Piemonte Doc Film Fund, and was selected for the international workshop Dok.Incubator.As author and screenwriter, he is working on a crime series produced by The Family, inspired by the books of forensic scientist Cristina Cattaneo.&nbsp;

Mattia 

Human Rights

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The Audience Award in the the International Competition of <a href="https://www.biografilm.it/en/">Biografilm</a> 2023 goes to <a href="https://filmharbour.com/films/pure-unknown">PURE UNKNOWN</a> by Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo!&nbsp;&nbsp;In addition, protagonist Cristina Cattaneo received the Celebration of Lives Award 2023!From the jury statement:"A festival focused on biographies can only defend and position itself in listening to and defending human dignity. Cristina Cattaneo is a doctor, anthropologist, full professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Milan and she runs Labanof, a laboratory of forensic anthropology and odontology.This award goes to her, for her work and her courageous struggle in recognising the profound value of the history of every human being.&nbsp;With care, mercy, perseverance."

Biografilm Audience Award for PURE UNKNOWN

The Audience Award in the the International Competition of Biografilm went to PURE UNKNOWN by Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo! 

<a href="https://filmharbour.com/films/pure-unknown">PURE UNKNOWN</a> has won the Special Jury Award in the International Competition at <a href="https://dmzdocs.com/eng/">DMZ International Documentary Film Festival</a> in South Korea!&nbsp;The festival showcases films dealing with peace, coexistence and reconciliation.&nbsp;It doesn't stop there, as earlier this month it also received a special mention in the main competition at <a href="https://www.ajbdoc.ba/">AJB DOC Film Festival</a> in Sarajevo! The jury stated that “this extraordinary documentary delves into a profound human story. The authors of this film, through a powerful cinematic approach, depict the heroic struggle of one individual against the entire system.”

Jury Award & Special Mention for PURE UNKNOWN

Sconosciuti Puri

Pure Unknown

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When Iván Simonovis becomes the first and most famous political prisoner in Venezuela, a 15-year period of imprisonment leaves devastating effects on his and his family’s lives. Living in exile as a filmmaker, his son Iván Andrés crafts a very personal and moving story, using over 25 years of unique family material, showing history from an angle never seen before.&nbsp; A family that had to overcome extreme hardship, a father that has to find his place in life again and a son that faces his traumas by inviting the viewer into the core of a wound that touched both his family and his entire country.

Iván Simonovis becomes the first and most famous political prisoner in Venezuela. His son Iván Andrés crafts a very personal and moving story, showing history from an angle never seen before. 

Iván Andrés Simonovis Pertiñez is a Venezuelan filmmaker exiled in Berlin.&nbsp;His work focuses on political persecution and exile. He has a degree in Communication Sciences from the University of Marburg and a Masters in Film from the Free University of Berlin. His documentary shorts for the web A LA DERIVA (2015), DESDE EL EXILIO (2017), and CARACAS 9 DE ENERO (2018) have appeared in international media outlets such as El País and Jungle World.&nbsp;His first feature documentary MY FATHER’S PRISON has been selected for the main competition at Vision du Reel.&nbsp;

Iván Andrés

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La Prisión de mi Padre

English 

My Father’s Prison

As published by Geoffrey Macnab in <a href="https://www.screendaily.com/news/liselot-verbrugges-film-harbour-sales-outfit-lines-up-for-vaccine-doc-pavilion-6-exclusive/5193443.article?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1o1Q6wnTp9zYAg1_FMr1_nunU7CDsodkgF01Ab7-1oMOG52fxaY5jD_p4_aem_AcfmfZg5N6_oofRtlKcI5LNwILIcTsAWyE5bGZVAMVvxw1cxovsMlT8ndt1c_o7BG8hg2uGAH-1LysmSUEOul6rD">Screen</a> today:&nbsp;Amsterdam-based sales outfit Film Harbour, launched earlier this year under CEO Liselot Verbrugge, has taken on world rights to <a href="https://filmharbour.com/films/pavilion-6">PAVILION 6</a> by by Croatian filmmaker Goran Dević, ahead of its Sheffield DocFest world premiere next month.&nbsp;Part of the BBC Storyville strand, the doc will premiere in Sheffield DocFest’s International Competition in June. It presents a humorous and humane snapshot of a unique moment in time: the waiting line for the Covid-19 vaccination. This is the fifth collaboration between producer Hrvoje Osvadić and director Dević.&nbsp;The company is also beginning sales on another Sheffield DocFest title, <a href="https://filmharbour.com/films/where-dragons-live">WHERE DRAGONS LIVE</a>, from Dutch director Suzanne Raes, whose credits include <a href="https://filmharbour.com/films/close-to-vermeer">CLOSE TO VERMEER</a>.&nbsp;WHERE DRAGONS LIVE is made by Dutch production company Docmakers and co-produced by Reece Cargan from Bombito Productions. Just announced as part of Sheffield Doc Fest’s Memories’ strand, it is a portrait of an eccentric family as they pack up the house they grew up in, reliving their childhood and all the memories it brings up, and trying to come to terms with who they now are.&nbsp;“We are pleased to continue the collaboration with producer Ilja Roomans and director Suzanne Raes,” said Verbrugge. ”WHERE DRAGONS LIVE is an imaginative, beautifully filmed documentary that we are happy to launch on the market,”&nbsp;She also hailed the “perfect timing” of PAVILION 6.&nbsp;“We can finally approach this tough topic, the Covid-19 pandemic, by looking back also on the surreal and humorous moments, as Goran Dević so impressively shows us,” she says.

Heading to Cannes with two fresh titles

As published by Leo Barraclough in <a href="https://variety.com/2024/film/global/liselot-verbrugge-film-harbour-berlinale-a-bit-of-a-stranger-the-secret-drawer-1235898660/?fbclid=IwAR20H2WaJ1cGf0T3fGs4TOT11YTZxM_HzCLYvX7C_l34oIlBDSAi8bFH5TA">Variety</a> today:&nbsp;"Liselot Verbrugge, former CEO of Deckert Distribution, has started a new chapter in her career with the launch of Film Harbour, a world sales company for non-fiction films. At this month’s European Film Market, Verbrugge will kick off sales for two feature documentaries selected for the Berlin Film Festival: Svitlana Lishchynska’s “<a href="https://filmharbour.com/films/a-bit-of-a-stranger">A Bit of a Stranger</a>,” which plays in Panorama, and Costanza Quatriglio’s “<a href="https://filmharbour.com/films/the-secret-drawer">The Secret Drawer</a>,” which screens in Forum.&nbsp;Film Harbour launched at the beginning of this year, with its base in Amsterdam, Netherlands. As well as taking over a selection of Deckert’s catalog, it is also adding new titles.Verbrugge will be attending the EFM together with festival and marketing manager Hanne Biermann, who joined Film Harbour from the former Deckert Distribution team.&nbsp;In “A Bit of a Stranger,” Lishchynska becomes also a protagonist as she follows four generations of women in her family, including herself, as they explore how their ethnic identity has been destroyed through the full-scale invasion by Russia of Ukraine.Growing up in Mariupol during the Soviet era, Lishchynska faced suppression of individuality. In independent Ukraine, she struggled to find her identity, impacting her daughter Alexandra’s upbringing. Today, each woman in the family faces a different political reality. When war disrupts their lives, Svitlana’s mother Valentina is forced to move from Mariupol to Kiev permanently, while Alexandra and her daughter flee to the U.K.All of them embark on an emotional journey shaped by new found memories and family history.&nbsp;“My family and I come from the eastern part of Ukraine, which was heavily influenced by Russia,” Lishchynska explains. “The regime that existed in the USSR was designed to destroy all individuality: a person should not stand out, meant nothing, and should live in poverty, without any kind of opinion. As a result, the country consists of a society vulnerable to propaganda. I am among them. Having neither individuality nor ethical foundations, I raised my daughter without passing any values on to her.”“After the full-scale invasion, we were all faced with a choice: to stay in Ukraine, which is bombed daily, sinking into trauma and where democracy is weakening, or to look for a calmer place on this planet. With this film, I want to show how the consciousness of people has been transformed under the influence of dictatorship and imperial policy of Russia, by combining a personal and political history, past and present.”&nbsp;“The Secret Drawer” sees Quatriglio return to her childhood home in Sicily. There, she opens its doors to archivists and librarians to donate to the Sicilian Region the universe of knowledge belonging to her journalist father. It is the library and archive of Giuseppe Quatriglio, a historical figure of the Giornale di Sicilia and other important newspapers, a writer, essayist, and friend of intellectuals of the 20th century.A sentimental journey begins through photographs, 8mm reels, and sound recordings made by Giuseppe Quatriglio from the 1940s onwards in Europe and around the world. These are accompanied by footage shot by the director between 2010 and 2011 with him, almost 90 years old. Palermo and Sicily, with their history and culture, are the point of observation of the world from which everything starts and to which everything returns.“&nbsp;Creating the film took shape from the intense work dedicated to my father’s library and archive, which began in January 2022 in preparation for the donation I made to the Sicilian Region,” Quatriglio says about her film. “The discovery of over 60,000 photographic negatives taken by my father from 1947 onwards, dozens of 8mm reels, and hundreds of hours of sound recordings made me realize that I had the extraordinary opportunity to create a film that would place a web of events and lived lives. The house where I grew up became the set for an elaborate tale that unfolds from its walls to embrace Sicily, Europe, and the world, spanning a century of history. In addition, I already filmed in my house between 2010 and 2011, having a dialogue with my nearly 90-year-old father, and filming him among his books and papers. Through cinema, emptying his library became now an act of filling. Because the space, transforming over the months in front of the camera, becomes a protagonist itself, alongside the narrated events and the history of us all.”&nbsp;Verbrugge commented: “Launching Film Harbour with two such powerful projects feels exceptional. Both Svitlana Lishchynska and Constanza Quatriglio created stories out of their most inner core: family history. While the starting point of their projects lies in similar roots, both films depict two very different worlds. A family is faced with the struggle of identity due to the consequences of a generation-long invasion, while a daughter is tracing back her father’s past to get closer to hers. It is the question of your own legacy in today’s society which captivates throughout both films, and we are happy to be part of their journeys.”&nbsp;“A Bit of a Stranger” is produced by Anna Kapustina for her Ukraine-based company Albatros Communicos Film and co-produced by ZDF/ARTE, Fredrik Lange Swedish-based company Vilda Bomben Film, Anthony Muir and Kristina Börjeson at Film i Vast.Kapustina produced Iryna Tsilyk’s “The Earth Is Blue As an Orange,” which world premiered in the 2020 competition at Sundance Film Festival, where it won the best director award, and was shown at Berlinale Generation, IDFA, CPH:DOX, HotDocs and more than 100 festivals afterwards.&nbsp;“The Secret Drawer” is produced by Indyca, Luce Cinecittà and RAI Cinema. Co-produced by Rough Cat and RSI Radiotelevisione Svizzera, supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture’s Film and Audiovisual Department, with additional support from the Sicily Region, the Sicilia Film Commission and the Film Commission Torino Piemonte.

New company, new logo, new titles for Berlinale!

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As published by Leo Barraclough in <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/liselot-verbrugge-deckert-distribution-1235784824/">Variety</a> today:&nbsp;"Deckert Distribution CEO Liselot Verbrugge is to launch a new company as the German sales agency prepares to wind down its operations in 2024, with founder Heino Deckert moving fully to production. Verbrugge is attending <a href="https://www.idfa.nl/en/">IDFA</a> documentary festival this week, where the Sundance awarded film “Against the Tide,” one of the agency’s bestsellers this year, is playing in the Best of Fest section.&nbsp;Amsterdam-based Verbrugge joined Deckert at the start of 2019 as head of sales and acquisition, starting with the roll out of double Academy Award nominated “Honeyland.” She took over the reins of the company as CEO two years ago.&nbsp;Verbrugge commented: “I am very happy with what we managed to build over the last few years here. But with the company officially residing in Leipzig, there were certain practical elements that became obstacles. Both in the legal sense of running a company from another country, as in sharing part of the German team with [Heino Deckert’s production company] Ma.ja.de.”&nbsp;Verbrugge added: “As Heino is now stepping out fully, it is time for a new phase. So after a lot of thinking and talking to Heino, I have decided to start over with a new company in the Netherlands. There will be a fresh start with a new name, but also some Deckert Distribution DNA, as part of the team will join me. I am very happy to also have festival manager Hanne Biermann on my side again, who I have been closely working with for over four years.&nbsp;“Twenty years after the launch of Deckert Distribution and with nearly 30 years of experience in international sales, founder Heino Deckert is closing this chapter, as the company will cease its active outreach in the course of 2024.&nbsp;“Having been involved in several companies throughout the years, and a well-known face in the international film industry, he now wants to fully focus on production.”&nbsp;Deckert said: “As my production company Ma.ja.de, besides documentaries, is making more and more fiction films, I feel it is time for me to stop working in distribution. We have just started the release of our Venice title ‘The Universal Theory’ by Timm Kröger, have another title in production right now, and several more in the pipeline. So it’s good for me now to concentrate just on this.”&nbsp;Deckert Distribution’s successes over the years include titles like 2010 Oscar nominated “Rabbit a La Berlin” by Bartek Konopka and Piotr Rosolowski, “Heimat Is a Space in Time” by Thomas Heise and the afore mentioned Sundance hit “Honeyland” by Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska. With such titles as “Against the Tide” and “Close to Vermeer,” 2023 has been a strong year for the company, both in theatrical and broadcast/VOD sales.&nbsp;A handful of films from the Deckert catalog will also follow Verbrugge to the new company, but she is not intending to have a catalog of the same size. Verbrugge added: “Through the years Deckert Distribution has built up a vast back catalog with so many strong, award-winning titles. But with the changes in the market we also see the benefit of being lighter as a company. With less films and a less complicated structure we are more flexible to move within this ever changing landscape.”&nbsp;Preparations for the new company, that will have its launch on Jan. 1, 2024, are now in full swing. Verbrugge said: “It is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun to build the new set up. We have many exciting plans for the new year, including new titles. There will be a new admin department joining us in the Netherlands and we are looking forward to a start full of new energy.”&nbsp;The new company name will be announced in the following months."

Big News in Variety

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<a href="https://filmharbour.com/films/against-the-tide">AGAINST THE TIDE</a> by Sarvnik Kaur can add another accolade to its growing list, as it has been awarded the Best Documentary Film Award at the <a href="https://www.asiapacificscreenawards.com/apsa-nominees-winners/2023/best-documentary-film-2/against-the-tide">Asia Pacific Screen Awards</a> during the ceremony on November 3rd at the Gold Coast, Australia!&nbsp;The Asia Pacific Screen Awards, APSA, are hosted annually in Australia, and recognize cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the vast Pacific Region of 78 countries and areas.&nbsp;

APSA Award for Best Documentary Film goes to AGAINST THE TIDE

Bombay fishermen Rakesh and Ganesh are inheritors of the great Koli knowledge system – a way to harvest the sea by following the moon and the tides. Rakesh has kept faith in the traditional fishing methods while Ganesh has strayed away from them, embracing technology. AGAINST THE TIDE is a tale of friendship and rising resentment between the two men, as close as brothers, against the backdrop of an adoring sea, which is increasingly turning hostile because of climate change.

Two indigenous Koli fishermen in Bombay, are driven to desperation by a dying sea. Their friendship begins to fracture as they take very different paths to provide for their struggling families.

Against the Tide

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<a href="https://filmharbour.com/films/against-the-tide">AGAINST THE TIDE</a> is off to a great start in the fall awards season!&nbsp;Sarvnik Kaur's film has just been shortlisted for Best Feature Documentary at the 39th Annual <a href="https://www.documentary.org/awards/enter">International Documentary Association Awards</a>.Since 1984, the IDA Documentary Awards have recognized a diverse range of emerging and established filmmakers, and expanded to include recognition of artistic direction, audio documentaries, documentary journalism, and music documentaries, as well as individual honors such as the Courage Under Fire Award and Career Achievement Award.&nbsp;In addition to this, the film is nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the <a href="https://awards.thegotham.org/">Gotham Awards</a>, which honor visionary talent in front of and behind the camera.&nbsp;The good news doesn't stop there, as the film has also been nominated for Best Documentary Film at the <a href="https://www.asiapacificscreenawards.com/apsa-nominees-winners?nomination-winner-name=nominee">Asia Pacific Screen Awards</a>. &nbsp;The Asia Pacific Screen Awards recognize and promote the cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the vast Asia Pacific region of 78 countries and areas.

IDA Best Feature Shortlist and Gotham Award Nomination

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<a href="https://filmharbour.com/films/land-of-upright-people">LAND OF UPRIGHT PEOPLE</a> by Christian Carmosino Mereu has won the Seventh Hour ('La Settima Ora') Award and Special Mention in the 'Lost Italian Cinema' section at the <a href="https://www.persofilmfestival.it/en/#:~:text=Perso%20is%20a%20social%20themed%20documentary%20film%20festival&amp;text=During%20the%20Festival%20all%20screenings,from%20all%20over%20the%20world.">Perugia Social Film Festival</a>!&nbsp;The aim of the Perugia Social Film Festival is to portray all of the different aspects and widest meanings of the social world through the Cinema of the Real.

LAND OF UPRIGHT PEOPLE wins Seventh Hour Award in Perugia

October 2014, the capital of Burkina Faso Ouagadougou is the scene of mass demonstrations against a dictatorship in power for 27 years. An unarmed uprising kicks off the dictator and subsequently resists to a coup attempt. In 2015 the country votes freely for the first time in its history, but the revolution is not followed by a real change, especially regarding economic exploitation of the country by foreign companies. Today the weakness of the government allows the advancement of Al Qaeda and IS, which has put the region under attack causing thousands of victims and hundreds of thousands of displaced people. The film follows this process during one year through daily life of four burkinabes made up of resistance and struggle. An engaged musician, a candidate for elections, a miner who is unemployed because of his political commitment, and a mother in a poor and numerous family in the capital Ouagadougou. All of them share a hope for change that is concentrated in the important polls’ deadline.

Four Bukinabé citizens during the revolution of 2014 and its aftermath: A famous raggae artist, a candidate in the upcoming elections, a miner and a mother with a large family to care for.

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Heading to Cannes with two fresh titles

New company, new logo, new titles for Berlinale!

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Goran Dević

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Svitlana Lishchynska

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A Holy Family, 2022