The documentary Malanka and Christmas captures the celebration of Malanka just a month before the full-scale Russian invasion and the first Christmas in the newly de-occupied territories of Ukraine’s Slobozhanshchyna and Donechchyna. To show solidarity and revive ancient Ukrainian traditions in these de-occupied areas, young people from across Ukraine came together to perform nativity scenes and bring hope to the east.

Mykola Nosok is a documentary director based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Mykola has worked as the main director at the Ukrainian media platform Ukraï ner since 2016. He focuses on such themes as national minorities, Holodomor, Ukrainian identity, the value of memory, and the Russian-Ukrainian war, among others.

Director Mykola Nosok will be present for Q&A.

Original title: Маланка та Різдво
Directed by Mykola Nosok
Duration 92’ | Ukrainian with English subtitles

Production Country, Year Ukraine, 2024 | Produced by Khrystyna Kulakovska | Directors of Photography Olha Oborina, Oleh Solohub | Sound Margaryta Kulichova | Editors Mykola Nosok, Kateryna Cvigun

In Hermeto Pascoal’s music, when we encounter the harmonic complexity and unravel its countless layers, what is revealed is a hauntingly simple sound, which refers to his childhood. The film is built on three pillars: a current recording of a Hermeto Pascoal concert, a dive into his childhood, and an interview with him, which produces what he does best: music.

Hermeto Pascoal sadly passed away on 13 September. This is a tribute screening honouring his life and work.

Carolina Sá is a Brazilian filmmaker, television director, and screenwriter. She directed the Brazilian episode of Netflix’s My Love – Six Stories of True Love (Best Doc Series IDA Documentary Awards) and the film Construção.

Lírio Ferreira is a Brazilian filmmaker who directed awarded films, such as Baile Perfumado, Arido Movie, and Sangue Azul.


Original title O Menino D’Olho D’Água
Directed by Lírio Ferreira and Carolina Sá

Duration 74’ | Portuguese with English subtitles

Production Country, Year Brazil, 2024 | Produced by Coqueirão Pictures | Producer Diogo Dahl | Executive Producer Maria Fernanda Miguel | Director of Photography Loiro Cunha | Sound O Grivo | Editor Cao Guimarães

Leading avant-garde artists in Istanbul’s improvised music scene are invited to recite their sonic dreams and stage them as musical performances in unconventional urban settings. Throughout this fantasmagoric journey, Istanbul reveals its musical and urban transformation.

Musician and filmmaker Anıl Eraslan works in various music and film projects in Berlin, Paris, Strasbourg, and Istanbul. From Anatolian traditional music to experimental/noise/free music, he has expanded his experiences through collaborations with numerous ensembles and creative artists from around the world. As a filmmaker, he recently completed his first feature documentary, Sound Dreams of Istanbul, which focuses on the free improvisation scene in Istanbul. This film marks the director’s debut.


Directed by Anıl Eraslan
Duration 70’ | Turkish with English subtitles

Production Country, Year Turkey and France, 2025 | Produced by Anıl Eraslan | Co-produced by Kıvılcım Akay | Associate Producer Merve Salgar | Director of Photography Anıl Eraslan | Sound Alexis Baskind | Music Oğuz Büyükberber, Elif Canfeza Gündüz Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu, Şevket Akıncı, Anıl Eraslan, Volkan Ergen, Korhan Erel, Alper Maral, Merve Salgar, Tolga Tüzün | Editor Anıl Eraslan | Colour Eliott Becheau

A kaleidoscopic portrait of the visionary jazz musician, composer, and poet known as Sun Ra and the musical, historical, and philosophical currents that shaped him. Poet, Egyptologist, cosmologist, historian, activist, bandleader, musician... jazz pioneer Sun Ra was all of these. In this illuminating biography, Christine Turner takes us on a complex journey through the life of a complex man who was either born in Birmingham, Alabama, sent from Saturn, or both. (Partly by Brian Gordon via Tribeca Festival)

Christine Turner is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker whose intimate portraits of artists, activists, and everyday people capture the beauty and struggle of life. A frequent collaborator with Firelight Films & Firelight Media, Christine recently directed J’Nai Bridges Unamplified, a verité film on the acclaimed opera singer J’Nai Bridges (PBS/American Masters), among others.


Directed by Christine Turner
Duration 84’ | English

Production Country, Year USA, 2025 | Producer Christine Turner | Executive Producers Stanley Nelson, Michael Kantor, Bradford Smith, Keith Brown, Marcia Smith | Cinematographer Othello Banaci | Editor Steven Golliday

In Portugal, the songs of Lila and Joã o, the two artists of the band Fado Bicha, give body and voice to LGBTQI+ stories and struggles. In the intimacy of the dressing rooms, words and glances cross paths, questioning our relationship with appearances, gender norms, language, and sexuality.

Justine Lemahieu is a French-Portuguese documentary director and editor. She has lived and worked in Lisbon since 2005, making Portugal both her adopted country and the focus of her movies. She is particularly concerned with socio-economic issues, discrimination, and daily forms of resistance. Her first feature film, Sousa Martins, was released in cinemas in 2019.


Original title: As Fado Bicha
Directed by Justine Lemahieu
Duration 80’ | Portuguese with English subtitles

Production Country, Year Portugal, 2024 | Produced by Wonder Maria Filmes | Producer Bruno Moraes Cabral | Director of Photography Pedro Ivo Carvalho and Justine Lemahieu | Sound Hugo Leitão | Music Fado Bicha | Editor Justine Lemahieu | Distributed by Wonder Maria Filmes

The inner workings of Bad Gyal’s meteoric rise as a generational icon. The camera follows the singer from Vilassar de Mar – from Barcelona to Miami, via Santo Domingo, Las Vegas, Milan, and Paris – on her journey to conquer the mainstream. From the first beats to the epic moments of her debut concert tour, we witness shoots, fashion weeks, interviews, squats, joys, frustrations, the pressure of social media, and marketing in action.

David Camarero has been part of the roster of directors at Vampire Films / Primavera Sound, where he has worked with artists such as Bad Gyal, Myke Towers, Amaia, Lola Indigo, and La Mala Rodrí guez. Always closely connected to music, he is one of the founders of El Bloque, the leading online show for the Spanish urban music scene.

Director David Camarero will be present for Q&A.


Directed by David Camarero
Duration 92’ | Catalan, Spanish, English with English subtitles

Production Country, Year Spain, 2024 | Produced by Nanouk Films | Co-produced by Vampire Films, Doble Cuerpo | Producers Sergi Cameron, Ventura Durall, Ivo Vinuesa Rocher, Àlex Julià, Alba Blasi | Executive Producers Àlex Julià, Ivo Vinuesa Rocher, Sergi Cameron | Director of Photography Sandra Formatger | Sound Marc Bech | Music Merca Bae | Editor Nila Núñez | Distributed by Avalon | World Sales Filmax