A map of Gaza, its towns, camps and neighbourhoods. White paint on a black ground. Within the crudely drawn outlines, nine refugees who escaped the inferno tell their stories. Their lives before, the loss of loved ones. Lives oppressed, but not yet reduced to ashes. By sharing their stories, the protagonists are trying to reconnect with themselves, to stop being ghosts. To come back, perhaps, to life.
Introverted princess Saira, daughter of the lesbian queens of the planet Clitopolis, is devastated: her girlfriend, bounty hunter Kiki, has broken up with her! Kiki says Saira is just too boring. But she made her such a beautiful relationship album! However, when Kiki is kidnapped by the Straight White Maliens, the incels of the future, Saira has to leave the safe space of queer space and deliver the ransom within 24 hours: the royal labrys – a golden double axe of incredible lesbian power. The only problem… Saira doesn’t have it!
Hilariously funny, brightly coloured and euphoric, uncompromisingly queer: the first feature film by Australian directing duo Leela Varghese and Emma Hough Hobbs is a rousing intergalactic journey of self-discovery with a taste for mayhem and a big heart, somewhere between a wild sci-fi musical comedy and a healing coming-of-age adventure. It won the Teddy Award at the 2025 Berlinale and came second in the Panorama Audience Award. We think it’s great fun.
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Die preisgekrönte Basler Architektin Barbara Buser rettet Gebäude vor dem Abriss und baut sie mit recyceltem Material um. Sie verwandelt ehemalige Industrieareale in urbane Lebensräume, die für einen sorgsamen Umgang mit unserer Umwelt und miteinander stehen. So sind in Winterthur, Basel und Zürich öffentliche Räume entstanden, die zukunftsweisende Begegnungsorte sind. Als Frau, die in einer Männerdomäne erfolgreich ihren eigenen Weg geht, ist sie ein Vorbild für die junge Generation, die sich für eine nachhaltigere und gerechtere Welt einsetzt. Barbara Buser ist eine Pionierin der Nachhaltigkeit, die durch ihre Weitsicht, ihren Durchsetzungswillen und ihre unbändige Schaffenskraft beeindruckt.
Sorry, this entry is only available in DE, FR and IT.
In einer von geschlechtsspezifischer Gewalt geprägten Gesellschaft erobern Arushi (9) und Milena (21) mit Hilfe von Kalari, der ältesten Kampfkunst der Welt, ihren Platz zurück. Der Film Kalari Kid zeigt ihren Weg zur Emanzipation und zur Freiheit, um eines Tages die Frauen zu sein, die sie sein möchten.
Sie sind neue Heldinnen in einem Land, in dem Gewalt gegen Frauen historische und alltägliche Realität ist. Im gemeinsamen Kampf, sich in der Gesellschaft zu positionieren und damit Traditionen zu brechen, spielen Religion und Herkunft keine Rolle. Diese Frauen blicken in eine Zukunft, die sie selbst mit Anmut und Entschlossenheit zum Besseren gestalten wollen. Sie nehmen ihr Leben selbst in die Hand – und das mit einer jahrhundertealten Kampfkunst.
Filmmaker Dea Gjinovci and her father, who has been living in exile in Geneva for sixty years, return to his home village of Makermal in Kosovo. The village was destroyed during the war, and the only thing that remains are the stories of the villagers who are still alive. It is a community of resilience, and so is their story. Together with these people, the filmmaker and her father embark on a search for traces of the past and revive her father’s memories of his childhood in Kosovo in the 1950s. They uncover shocking things, but many questions remain unanswered, such as the mysterious disappearance of the grandmother. With her docu-fiction, Dea Gjinovci shows how important it is to come to terms with history.
An intimate portrait about masculinity in crisis from a female perspective.
Saina tries to make ends meet as a herdsman in the wintery steppes of Inner Mongolia. While performing at night in breathtaking horseback shows, he by day takes care of his family’s horses while juggling a grumpy father and his dysfunctional relationship with his ex-wife and kid. Unlike the majestic cavalryman he portrays in the show, Saina must discover how the world he grew up in has dramatically changed.
Promotional Partners
Swiss-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (SCCC) | Section romande de la Société Suisse-Chine | Chinese community in Switzerland | Asia Society Switzerland | Gesellschaft Schweiz-China
Dreams behind closed doors, freedom through imagination and hope: a visual and poetic odyssey about the search for freedom, love and friendship in an asylum centre – and about the necessity of breaking rules.
Isio fled Nigeria. She lives without papers in England until she is picked up and taken to an asylum centre. There, she follows every rule in the hope of a fair trial. But her roommate Farah sees things differently: those who follow the rules gain nothing here.
As Isio tries to survive in this limbo, new friendships develop – and new feelings. But the longer she waits, the clearer it becomes how fragile the promise of safety is. If you want to survive, you have to find your own way.
Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor’s tender but unflinching feature debut is inspired by her own experience in the British asylum system. The film had its world premiere at the 2025 Berlinale and opened the 2025 Pink Apple Queer Film Festival.
Yvonne Nguyen, a French-Vietnamese actress, dreams of a successful career in musicals, to the great displeasure of her mother, who would like her to pursue a more serious path. When she has no choice but to move back to her mother’s, both women are strangers to each other. But in the intimacy of the Vietnamese family restaurant’s kitchen, they grow closer. Meanwhile, Yvonne is still after her dreams and finally gets the chance to audition for a big show.
NAIMA – a heroine abroad
After many years working in the low-paid sector, the charming Naima, originally from Venezuela, has finally landed a job as an apprentice nurse. … But her happiness comes up against harsh reality: the patients love her empathetic humour, but her colleagues criticise her professional distance. When Naima fails her placement, her world collapses. But then she embarks on her toughest battle yet: standing up for herself.
We look behind a façade of prejudice and show a fighter who is looking for the right path to integration for herself and for many others. Naima should give courage not only to migrants, but also to all those fighting for their place in society.
Naima is a heroine of such strength and vitality that you fall in love with her charm from the very first moment. Dok Leipzig, Vika Leshchenko
In the media, migrants often appear as a threatening group, but we rarely learn who they really are. NAIMA shows the struggles and untapped potential that many still carry with them, even after years in their new country. NAIMA reflects the individual fates of many migrants who, unlike ‘expatriates’, go abroad with completely different circumstances. Unrecognised qualifications and difficult access to training often prevent them from developing their potential and finding their place in society. This often results in health problems, particularly psychological ones, which constitute a vicious circle for their professional and family lives.
Milchjugend.ch | Milchjugend.ch | Multimondo | Association Découvrir | Espace Femmes | Universtität Zürich Latin American Center Zurich | Alter Start | Effe | Frida | Ville de Bienne
A powerful film about home, hope, and destiny.
In a massage parlor in Queens, thousands of kilometers from home, two friends, Amy and Didi, support each other through their daily work—shaped by the pursuit of personal happiness and the weight of family obligations. Together with their colleagues, they share a tender and supportive sisterhood. But the physical and emotional toll of their demanding jobs is ever-present. After Didi’s tragic death, Amy must take her fate into her own hands.
Promotional Partners
Swiss-Chinese Chamber of Commerce | Romandie Chine | Chinese Community Switzerland