Caudillo

A retrospective look at the anarcho-syndicalist and anarcho-communist experience in Spain from 1930 until the end of the Civil War in 1939.

On April 1, 1945, the United States military launched its invasion of the main island of Okinawa, the start of a battle that was to last 12 weeks and claim the lives of some 240,000 people. This film depicts the Battle through the eyes of Japanese and American soldiers who fought each other on the same battlefield, along with Okinawa civilians who were swept up in the fighting. The film also depicts the history of discrimination and oppression forced upon Okinawa by the American and Japanese governments. Carrying up to the current controversy over the construction of a new base at Henoko, the film explores the root causes of the widespread disillusionment and anger expressed by many Okinawans. This ambitious documentary was directed by the American John Junkerman, long-term resident of Japan and Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker. Okinawa: The Afterburn is a heartfelt plea for peace and an expression of deep respect for the unyielding spirit of the Okinawa people.

After the discovery of a suitcase hidden in the family home of Francisco Martínez Gascón, known as Kautela, a photojournalist who lived through the Spanish Civil War from the perspective of the rebel side, his granddaughter decides to carry out an investigation into his life and work.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the Second World War (1939-1945), around three thousand people managed to elude their pursuers, and probably also avoided being killed, thanks to the heroic and very efficient efforts of the Ponzán Team, a brave group of people — mountain guides, forgers, safe house keepers and many others —, led by Francisco Ponzán Vidal, who managed to save their lives, both on one side and the other of the border between Spain and France.

For two decades, the victims of the Six-Day War have been fighting in Kisangani for the recognition of this bloody conflict and demanding compensation. Tired of unsuccessful pleas, they have finally decided to voice their claims in Kinshasa, after a long journey on the Congo River.

Journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye talk about the horrendous days in the desert, rail executions and false terror charges. They were arrested before they could report on the violence in the closed state of Ogaden. But the Ethiopian regime failed to silence them. With the help of never-before-seen video material and testimonies smuggled out of the country by a high ranking official, the whole story can finally be told. About Johan and Martin. About the violence in Ogaden. And about the prisoners of dictatorship.

As an unwavering natural force, Maj Wechselmann produces at least one film a year, which is guaranteed to show troublesome connections between established power structures and maladjustments for people further down the hierarchy of society; this time through the Swedish Television photographer Claes-Göran Bjernér's fascinating fate of life. Bjernér, who reported from 23 wars in 83 countries, had his lungs injured for life in the poison gas disaster in Bhopal, India in 1984. The film begins with him almost dying several times, but miraculously returning to life. In interviews and archival photos, he shares his unique first-hand experiences of war, violence and corruption. A glowing agitation to never stop demanding responsibility for the world's tragedies.

Born in Austria in 1903, Jacob Rosenfeld was imprisoned in Dachau. He manages to flee and takes refuge in Shanghai, like 30,000 other people. He exercised his profession there and sought to get involved in 1941 alongside the revolutionaries of the Chinese Communist Party. Rosenfeld becomes a surgeon on the war front between China and Japan. Thanks to his talents as a doctor and an organizer, he soon became close to Mao Tsé-Toung. In 1945, he was appointed general, responsible for the health of the armies and the entire liberated area. He is now called General Luo. Later, he became the Minister of Health of the first communist government. Thanks to his journal found in 2001, this documentary traces its extraordinary destiny.

Contracampos is the attempt to (re)build a landscape. A recreational area and a shooting range in the west of Asturies, which, between 1937 and 1943, housed a Francoist concentration camp through which thousands of Republicans passed – firstly militiamen, later guerrillas and their relatives. Sharing a leisurely observation with the viewer, the film intends to resignify that space, giving it back its political meaning. But it is not a question of showing –of filming– the invisible, but rather of showing what is missing in what exists today. What was and is no longer, not even in people's memories.