The Orchard keepers takes us on a journey into the rugged the Sinai desert. Behind intricate stonewalls we meet Dr. Ahmad, the last surviving herbalist trained in the ancient ways of desert healing. But it is Amariya – the resilient and exuberant naturalist whose scars and charms dominate the tale. Her relationship to the land has transformed her life in unlikely ways. The Orchard keepers pays homage to her hypnotic freedom.
For filmmaker Bryony Dunne, what began as a short photography trip to focus on the few remaining orchards, evolved into a personal breakthrough. After living for a year with the Gabaliya tribe, she gained unique insight into the stratified tribal structures and layers of myth that enshroud the mountain region.

Director, Script, Camera: Bryony Dunne
Production: Les Film du Renard
Edit: Julien Schmid, Tamer Ashry

Language of dialogues: English, Arabic
Language of subtitles: English, Czech

Bryony Dunne is an Irish artist based in Cairo whose work engages Anthropology, Sociology, Ecology and Visual Arts. Her various projects have sought to explore human’s relationship with the landscape, and the evolution of cultivation and settlements. Working through installations, film and photography, she explores concepts of intangible cultural heritage, myths and traditional practices. She holds a position teaching still image at the German University in Cairo.

Festivals (selection):
Ismallia International Film Festival, Egypt
Saratov International Film Festival, Russia
Banff Mountain International Film Festival, Alberta, Canada
Goldsmiths University, Dep. of Visual Anthropology, London, UK
German University, Cairo, Egypt
Bilbao Mountain Film Festival, Spain

After dedicating the whole of his life to puppets, Desirée has had to abandon them for a while.
However his friend Fabe, among her various jobs has decided to create her own puppet performance to teach children how important it is to attend school.
A cemetery of puppets in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, is the starting point of this story full of dreams and aims.

Director, camera, script, edit: Elena Molina
Production: Ariadna Dot

Language of subtitles: French
Language of dialogues: English, Czech

Elena Molina graduated in Audiovisual Communication at the “Universidad Complutense” in Madrid (Spain). Completed her studies at the “Università degli Studi di Perugia” (Italy) and “Universitat Pompeu Fabra” in Barcelona (Spain) in 2005.
She collaborated with several Spanish production companies as Playtime sl., Canónigo Films, Kilimanjaro Prod., BNC productions, etc. as assistant director, cinematographer and editor.
She loves documentary films, and she has two years’ experience as a director of short documentary pieces for Catalunya Television (Channel 33) and also she collaborated in the production and photography of the last four editions of the Creative Documentary Workshop of the Francesca Bonnemaison Women Cultural Centre in Barcelona.

Festivals (selection):
Film Festival for Women in Harare, Zimbabwe
Women and Films Festival - Best short Doc Award
Femcine, Santiago, Chile
Festival Int. Cine, Pamplona, Spain

Three-year-old Jasmin is having her first haircut. Danish Benedikte has a daughter with Nazyn from Tuva in Siberia. She has chosen to follow the traditions of Nazyn’s shamanistic culture, and therefore Jasmin is now going to visit her dad in Tuva in order to follow the local tradition for three-year-old children: a ritual haircut. As a Danish mum, what elements to choose from the dad’s nomadic culture? We follow the mother and daughter on their family visit to faraway Tuva, six time zones away from Denmark.

Director: Christine Fentz
Production: Ch. Fentz, co-produced Dánská národní televize a Turbinefilm
Camera: Kirsten Simonsen
Script Ch. Fentz, B. Moeller Kristensen
Edit: Formosa Film

Language of dialogues: Danish, Russian, Tuvan
Language of subtitles: English, Czech

Christine Fentz, MA in Dramaturgy, artistic director of Secret Hotel, creating participatory performing arts relating to landscapes.
Benedikte Moeller Kristensen, PhD student in anthropology, specializing in shamanistic practices and landscape relations among the reindeer nomads of NW-Mongolia and Tuva.

The movie was repetetivly shown at Danish National Television and on Swedish and Norwegian television. Also it has been shown on some film festivals in the Nordic countries.