Open island 2007

BAMAKO, Abderrahmane Sissako, MALI/FRANCIJA, 2006, 118'
Mele is a bar singer with an unemployed husband and a dead marriage. A legal procedure has just been initiated the front yard they share with other couples. Representatives of African Civil Society have started a lawsuit against the World Bank and IMF, the organisations which they blame for the critical situation in Africa. Their front yard becomes the place of interrogation and testmonies. In the meantime, everyday life goes on.
Why Didn't Anybody Tell Me It Would Become This Bad in Afghanistan (Waarom heeft niemand mij verteld dat het zo erg zou worden in Afghanistan), Cyrus Frisch, NIZOZEMSKA, 2007, 70'
Is it possible to make an experimental feature with the camera in your mobile phone? The filmmaker took on the guise of a traumatized Dutch soldier and filmed his surroundings through his eyes. He gave concrete form to an indescribable anxiety. An extremely subjective psychological drama. The first known feature shot on mobile phone.
The Teacher (Manoro), Brillante Mendoza, FILIPINI, 2006, 75'
On the brink of the 2004 presidential elections, Jonalyn, a 13-year old Aeta, fresh from her elementary graduation, teaches middle-aged and elderly Aetas to read and write, enabling them to cast their votes at the upcoming elections. To her dismay, her grandfather prefers to hunt wild boar to feed the Aeta community, thus missing his chance to exercise his civil right. Months later, the result of that exercise is put under suspicion because of the alleged rampant cheating. Apologies are said for lapse of judgment yet nothing has come out of it to-date.
Who Killed Cock Robin?, Travis Wilkerson, ZDA, 2005-7, 73'
A young man living in present-day Butte, Montana has succeeded in forging a life for himself: work, a modest home, friends, and a family. But, like nearly everyone else in this once-thriving town, he lives precariously. Indeed, everything he's created can be negated by a single human error.
The Little Lady of the Capitole (La petite dame du Capitole), Jacqueline Veuve, ŠVICA, 2005, 55'
Lucienne Schnegg is a little woman brimming with energy. At 80, she remains at the helm of the cinema Capitole. Hired as a secretary in 1949, she has become the heir of the movie house and its very soul. Cashier, cleaning woman and manager all in one, she tells us about her cinema, the grandest, the largest and the oldest of Lausanne. Immediately after the war, 25 people, including six ushers in uniforms, worked here and audiences packed in to see movies like The Longest Day. Movie clips, posters, and film stills carry us back in time. The tiny lady, taking us through the magnificent hall in a thousand anecdotes, destils a whiff of the magic perfume of the great stars she has met like Audrey Hepburn, Roger Moore, or even the Queen of Spain ...
Revolution (Kenen joukoissa seisot), Jouko Aaltonen, FINSKA, 2006, 84'
Revolution is a documentary musical about the 70’s generation’s fight for a better world and socialism. With songs and music it paints a picture of a revolution that was lost. Music creates some distance and in many ways, depicts the experiences and spirit of the era much better than a regular interview-based documentary. Music provides a commentary and moves the film along, crystallizing the spirit of the revolution. The music also symbolizes the pomposity and rhetoric often so blatantly and comically at odds with reality and everyday life.