The festival says: "Twelve documentaries by some of the most courageous and extraordinary international filmmakers working today." The final addition to this programme has yet to be announced.
A Flag Without A Country and The Settlers
All These Sleepless Nights
(Country: UK, Poland; Year: 2015; Director: Michal Marczak)
What does it mean to be truly awake in a world that seems satisfied to be asleep? Kris and Michal push their experiences of life and love to a breaking point as they restlessly roam the streets of Warsaw in search for answers.
World premiere
A Flag Without A Country
(Country: Iraq; Year: 2015; Director: Bahman Ghobadi; Writer: Bahman Ghobadi; Stars: Nariman Anwar, Helly Luv)
Docu-fiction following two Kurds hoping to construct a better future for the next generation.
North America premiere
Hooligan Sparrow (Hai Nan Zhi Hou)
(Country: China, US; Year: 2016; Director: Nanfu Wang; Stars: Ye Hainan, Wang Yu)
A portrait of women's rights activist Ye Hainan, detailing her struggles with the Chinese authorities.
World premiere
The Land Of The Enlightened
(Country: Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Afghanistan; Year: 2016; Director: Pieter-Jan De Pue; Writer: Pieter-Jan De Pue)
A group of Kuchi children in Afghanistan dig out old Soviet mines and sell the explosives to child workers in a lapis lazuli mine. When not dreaming of an Afghanistan after the American withdrawal, Gholam Nasir and his gang control the mountains where caravans are smuggling the blue gemstones.
World premiere
The Lovers And The Despot
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Robert Cannan, Ross Adam)
Following the collapse of their glamorous romance, a celebrity director and his actress ex-wife are kidnapped by movie-obsessed dictator Kim Jong-il. Forced to make films in extraordinary circumstances, they get a second chance at love - but only one chance at escape.
World premiere
Sonita and Hooligan Sparrow
Plaza De La Soledad
(Country: Mexico; Year: 2016; Director: Maya Goded)
For more than 20 years, photographer Maya Goded has intimately documented the lives of a close community of prostitutes in Mexico City. With dignity and humour, these women now strive for a better life - and the possibility of true love.
World premiere
The Settlers
(Country: France, Canada, Israel, Germany; Year: 2016; Director: Shimon Dotan; Writer: Oron Adar, Shimon Dotan)
A comprehensive examination of the settlement movement in the West Bank.
World premiere
Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang
(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Kevin Macdonald)
Having reached the pinnacle of the global art world with his signature explosion events and gunpowder drawings, Chinese contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang is still seeking more. We trace his rise from childhood in Mao’s China and his journey to attempt to realise his lifelong obsession, Sky Ladder.
World premiere. Day One film
Sonita
(Country: Germany, Iran, Switzerland; Year: 2016; Director: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami)
The story of an aspirational young Afghan rapper whose family plan to sell her into marriage.
North American premiere
Tickled
(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2016; Director: David Farrier, Dylan Reeve; Stars: David Farrier, Dylan Reeve, David Starr, Hal Karp, David D'Amato)
What starts out as an innocent investigation of a tickling competition turns into something that's no laughing matter.
World premiere
Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang and All These Sleepless Nights
We Are X
(Country: UK, Japan; Year: 2016; Director: Stephen Kijak; Stars: Gene Simmons, Wes Borland, Richard Fortus, Hiroshi Morie, Toshi, Sugizo, Yoshiki, Pata)
As glam rock's most flamboyant survivors, X Japan ignited a musical revolution in Japan during the late '80s with their melodic metal. Twenty years after their tragic dissolution, X Japan’s leader, Yoshiki, battles with physical and spiritual demons alongside prejudices of the West to bring their music to the world.
World premiere
When Two Worlds Collide
(Country: Peru; Year: 2016; Director: Heidi Brandenburg, Mathew Orzel)
An indigenous leader resists the environmental ruin of Amazonian lands by big business. As he is forced into exile and faces 20 years in prison, his quest reveals conflicting visions that shape the fate of the Amazon and the climate future of our world.
World premiere
