2020 Officially Selected Films
Danger Close
Danger Close // 118min // Drama // 2019 // Australia
Director: Kriv Stenders
Writers: Stuart Beattie, James Nicholas, Karel Segers, Paul Sullivan, Jack Brislee
In August 1966, in a Vietnamese rubber plantation called Long Tan, 108 young and inexperienced Australian and NZ soldiers are fighting for their lives against 2500 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers.
A Mirror for the Sun
A Mirror for the Sun // 60min // Documentary // 2018 // Israel
Writer/Director: Neta Ariel
Producer: Avigail Sperber
Tamar Ariel was the first-ever Jewish Orthodox combat navigator.
Surviving the Silence
Surviving the Silence // 79min // Documentary // 2020 // USA
Director: Cindy L Abel
Writer: Cindy L Abel, Jesse Stephen Freeman
Surviving the Silence tells the story of two women in love who played a part in changing military policy.
Otto Neururer: Hope Through Darkness
Otto Neururer: Hope Through Darkness // 89min // Drama // 2019 // Austria
Director: Hermann Weiskopf
Writers: Dr Peter Mair, Kirsten Ossoinig
In May 1940, Catholic priest Otto Neururer suffered an agonising death which lasted 36 hours in Buchenwald concentration camp.
Architecture of the Blockade
Architecture of the Blockade // 80min // Documentary // 2020 // Russian Federation
Writer/Director: Maxim Yakubson
Rediscovering the events of the siege of Leningrad.
The Day of Wrath
The Day of Wrath // 85min // Drama // 2019 // Poland
Director: Jacek Raginis-Królikiewicz
Writers: Roman Brandstaetter, Jacek Raginis-Królikiewicz
During World War II Poland is kept under German occupation. In the autumn of 1943, a young Jew, a refugee from a nearby ghetto, appears in a Polish monastery, asking for help.
The Inspection
The Inspection // 88min // Docudrama // 2018 // Poland
Director: Jacek Raginis-Królikiewicz
Writers: Grzegorz Królikiewicz, Jacek Raginis-Królikiewicz
A docudrama of the last few months in a prison camp for Polish officers before the Katyń massacre.
Family Work
Family Work // 54min // Documentary // 2019 // Ukraine
Director: Valery Balayan
Writer: Yevhen Polozhii
The story of three families from the Eastern Ukraine, stereotypically Russian-speaking part of the country.
U311 Cherkasy
U311 Cherkasy // 101min // Drama // 2019 // Ukraine
Director: Tymur Yashchenko
Writers: Tymur Yashchenko, Robert Kwilman
The story of the last Ukrainian ship in Crimea, which resisted and continued the courageous fight.
The Missing
The Missing // 11:21min // Documentary // 2019 // Australia
Director: Jary Nemo
Writers: Jary Nemo, Lucinda Horrocks
When WW1 brought Australians face to face with mass death a Red Cross Information Bureau and post-war graves workers laboured to help families grieve for the missing.
Swift and Bold
Swift and Bold // 22:30min // Documentary // 2019 // Canada
Director: Tracey Strnad
Writers: Tracey Strnad, Tom Strnad
A documentary film that chronicles the history of the Queen’s York Rangers, Canada’s oldest military regiment.
I Am Not Alice
I Am Not Alice // 14:52min // Animation // 2016 // Iran
Director: Mahdieh Sadat Ahmadi Soleimani
Alice lives in a world where a children’s innocence are under the influence of the war and modern societies corruption…
Bass Line
Bass Line // 14:52min // Drama // 2016 // New Zealand
Writer/Director: Mandalina Stanisich
A suburban tale exploring society’s generational gap. The impact of debilitating health issues in an adverse environment – where true love prevails.
Soldier Hat
Soldier Hat // 18:28min // Drama // 2020 // Russian Federation
Director: Pavel Moskvin
Writers: Pavel Moskvin, Nikita Shchinnikov, Ruslan Kosenko
The soldier has lost his cap during the retreat and is ordered to return and find another. On the front line, the hero stumbles upon a surviving colleague and comes under sniper fire.
Wild Bill: In Search of Fool’s Gold
Wild Bill: In Search of Fool’s Gold // 29:51min // Documentary // 2020 // USA
Director: Nate Carroll, Don Leggans
Writer: Nate Carroll
A former spy and womanising gunslinger turns lawman to bring justice to the frontier while seeking a fortune in poker. During his 39 years of adventure, the “deadliest man with a gun” faces media-exploitation, vagrancy and assassins seeking his reputation.
Trust Frank
Trust Frank // 28:14min // Drama // 2020 // Australia
Writer/Director: Penny Moore
A sentimental and gently humorous film about two lonely elderly people struggling to battle serious infirmities as they age.
The Old Man Next Door
The Old Man Next Door // 15min // Drama // 2020 // New Zealand
Writer/Director: Aidan Otene Dickens
Matiu, a war veteran who struggles with PTSD and agoraphobia, is unable to leave the safety of his home since his wife’s passing. Shy student Yvonne from next door, his only visitor in self-imposed isolation, struggles with her own mental health.
The Khe Sanh Peace Garden
The Khe Sanh Peace Garden // 25:28min // Documentary // 2020 // Vietnam
Writer/Director: Tinh Mahoney
A touching and hopeful film about a medevac helicopter pilot who found peace within himself and with his mortal enemies when he tries to build a peace garden at the Khe Sanh Combat Base where he stationed during the Vietnam war.
One of the Missing
One of the Missing // 11min // Drama // 2020 // Hungary
Director: Gábor Szentiványi
Writers: Gábor Szentiványi, György Benyák
A freedom fighter trapped under the rubble of a bombed building… wrestles with his demons as he faces certain death.
My Lovely Lea
My Lovely Lea // 3:44min // Drama // 2020 // Cyprus
Director: Adonis Sergiou
During the events of World War II many letters never reached their final destination, some were lost, but some of them ingloriously made it back to sender …
L’Alleato (The Ally)
L’Alleato // 16:26min // Drama // 2019 // Italy
Writer/Director: Elio Di Pace
Is there a chance for the photographs taken by Robert Capa – portraying the Allied Invasion of Sicily – to come to life, bringing forth new stories?
Heritage
Heritage // 3min // Drama // 2020 // Iran
Director: Mana Pakseresht
Writer: Mana Pakseresht
A widow finds two tombs for her husband. A mystery that can only be solved by a shrewd professor and by two unlikely gravediggers.
ETOA A Kokoda Track Story
ETOA A Kokoda Track Story // 38:15min // Documentary // 2020 // Australia
Director: David Lloyd-Lewis
75 years after the horrors of the Pacific War, the forgotten perspectives of the local people emerge as a crew of archeologists arrive in Papua New Guinea to search for the remains of lost soldiers.
Tempi Morti (Dead Times)
Tempi Morti // 14:39min // Drama // 2020 // Italy
Writer/Directors: Damiano Monaco, Lucio Lionello
Writers: Gabriele Monaco, Simone Gigiaro
A widow finds two tombs for her husband. A mystery that can only be solved by a shrewd professor and by two unlikely gravediggers. What they find will open the doors to a forgotten past. Dead Times is based on a true story.
Days of May
Days of May // 15:54min // Drama // 2019 // Netherlands
Director: Juri Ferri
A Dutch soldier experiences the first days of the Second World War from the coast of Zeeland. As the rest of the country is quickly invaded, his faith in God will be put to the test.
Crystal City
Crystal City // 12:03min // Drama // 2019 // USA
Director: Geoff Mark
Writer: A J Devine
A teenage romance set in a World War 2 internment camp… He is Japanese, she is German, and tonight both their worlds will come crashing down.