First Hand Films Collection

Croatia, January 1992. In the midst of the Yugoslav Wars, Chris, a young Swiss journalist is found dead in mysterious circumstances. He was wearing the uniform of an international mercenary group. Anja Kofmel was his cousin. As a little girl, she used to admire this handsome young man; now a grown-up woman, she decides to investigate his story, trying to understand what really was the involvement of Chris in the conflict

CITIZENFOUR is a real life thriller, unfolding by the minute, giving audiences unprecedented access to filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s encounters with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA).

CITIZENFOUR is a real life thriller, unfolding by the minute, giving audiences unprecedented access to filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s encounters with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA).

When Amador Coro gets out of prison for having provoked a fire, nobody is waiting for him. He returns to his home town, a small village hidden in the mountains of rural Galicia, to live with his elder mother, Benedicta, and three cows. Life goes on calmly, following the rhythm of the nature. Until the night when a fire devastates the region. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival,where it won the Jury Prize.

The experiment is a journey through the remotest time and on the smallest scale that we can imagine: an exploration of matter about one millionth of a second following the Big Bang that generated our universe. As the new experiment at CERN proceeds in its exploration of the mysterious energy that animates the universe, scientists and artists guide us towards the shadow line where science and art, in different ways, pursue truth and beauty. Some of these men and women believe in god, while others believe only in experiment and doubt. But in their search for truth they are all alert to an elusive sixth – or seventh – sense… the sense of beauty.

Suffering from agoraphobia, Seconda is unable to leave her house. When she finally succeeds, new challenges push her limits even further.

A double self-portrait in which a 90-year-old grandmother and her homosexual grandson confide in each other. With sincerity and humour, the film deconstructs gender stereotypes in depth and with subversive power and traces a family saga from bourgeois society with enchanting archive footage.

Damascus, Spring 2011. It's the early stages of the civil war. 25-year-old Nahla is torn between her desire for freedom and the hope of leaving the country thanks to her arranged marriage with Samir, a Syrian expatriate in the USA. When he chooses her younger, more docile sister Myriam, Nahla finds refuge at her neighbor's, the mysterious Ms Jiji.

How much of your own life are you willing to risk? Laura Poitras, Academy Award winning director of CITIZENFOUR, returns with her most personal and intimate film to date. Filmed over six years, RISK is a complex and volatile character study that collides with a high stakes election year and its controversial aftermath. Cornered in a tiny building for half a decade, Julian Assange is undeterred even as the legal jeopardy he faces threatens to undermine the organization he leads and fracture the movement he inspired. Capturing this story with unprecedented access, Poitras finds herself caught between the motives and contradictions of Assange and his inner circle. In a new world order where a single keystroke can alter history, Risk is a portrait of power, betrayal, truth, and sacrifice.

Aïcha, Johan and the couple Lo Manto have taken a step in their lives that has disturbed many people around them. They have made the Muslim creed. This is the beginning of their transformation and reorientation. Aïcha moves from the rural province to the big city and euphorically follows the strict rules of her new religion. The Lo Mantos try to assert themselves against prejudices in their surroundings. And Johan? He wears a beard and flirts with his role as a devout Muslim. Or is filmmaker David Vogel just imagining it? What role does his own Jewish past play? The longer he accompanies his protagonists, the more he feels that he cannot ignore his own biography. His religious past catches up with those he thought he had left far behind.

An essay on the tale of a filmmaking everyman. A personal story and a brief history of image, spanning from 1947 to 2017, told through his favourite movies, some of which are little known. Life and art, intertwined. From the freedom to create to the consumer society that devastates dreams just as Coca-Cola dissolves bones.

For the first time in the history of mankind, we are forced to seriously consider the future of the Earth, and to do so in a global context. We need new energy concepts: energy production, distribution and consumption must be fundamentally redefined and organized. Despite all the challenges, there are also unique opportunities in this transformation process. How do we tackle the future? Which concepts are promising? Where do we stand?

VOLUNTEER is a film about the grassroots movement of ordinary Swiss citizens who set out to help thousands of refugees stranded in Greece. In rich and safe Switzerland, citizens from different backgrounds leave their orderly lives behind to support people in need. There is a Swiss farmer and his wife who raise cows in the Alps, a captain in the Swiss army, a pensioner who resides on the lakeside, and a successful comedian and entertainer. These volunteers embark on an adventure that will change their lives forever.

“You’re too baked, sweetheart”, says Mads’ mother after greeting him with a kiss on the lips. In this family it is okay to bend the law, as long as you do it right. A twisted lesson the 17-year-old Ida is about to learn. Having recently lost her mother in a car accident, she has been taken in by her aunt and three cousins, whom she barely knows. Theirs is a loving home, but it soon transpires that the family, led by its caring but disciplinarian matriarch, engages in criminal activities. As boundaries keep on being pushed, Ida finds herself torn between her safety and the allure of her cousins’ ferocious behaviour. When the clan descends into conflict with the police, Ida has to decide what is more dear to her: the loyalty to her new family or her own life. Featuring a superb central performance by newcomer Sandra Guldberg Kampp, Jeanette Nordahl’s fiercely intelligent debut is an arresting study of family and dysfunctionality, the nourishing and burdensome nature of love, and the complexity of desire. An impressive mix of remarkable camerawork, exquisite writing, and a visceral, electronic score. An intense film that runs deep.