Mark Brown’s great dream is to recreate a primary forest in his own garden. The film crew follows him along the French coast as he identifies the plants growing there. The resulting close-ups accompanied by his commentary are pure poetic science.

What’s it like to be an artist named “John Smith”? Despite his success, avant-garde artist John Smith continues to have insecurities about his nondescript name. He ponders the matter in this humorous, multilayered, and stylistically novel account.

“Private ear” Lawrence Abu Hamdan collected data and audio recordings from Israeli fighter jets over Lebanon. This “symphony of violence” is the soundtrack to shots of Lebanese airspace in an audiovisual essay.

In a 1950s film by the Dutch Reformed Church, ‘Indians’ in Suriname are ‘saved’ by a missionary worker. Paula Albuquerque unmasks the paternalism by radically obscuring the indigenous people in the film from view.

Drivers of okada motorcycle taxis risk their lives every day on the congested streets of Lagos. Okadas are their source of income and pride, so it’s no surprise when these young Nigerians ignore the blanket ban on them.

Truly observant people ask questions about what they see. Filmmaker Miranda Pennell did just that when a photograph of a scene in Gaza was posted on social media in late 2023. Answering those questions makes neutrality impossible.

Ansuya Blom alternates a powerful scene of a young man behind barbed wire with 8mm footage from the family archive and footage shot more recently in Suriname. Physical and mental confinement form the common thread.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, activist and filmmaker Oleh Sentsov enlisted with the Ukrainian forces. Real-time footage from a battlefield trench brings home the reality of war.

Time and space dissolve in this cinematographic exploration of a winter field and a young pea plant, to the sound of a rattling projector. From tranquility to an explosion of colors in a threedimensional experience without 3D glasses.

Can touch can be a powerful remedy for the modern epidemic of loneliness? When the Body Says Yes invites the audience to reflect on the meaning of touch and intimacy in relation to their own bodies.