A man wakes up and finds himself on a bed in the sea ...

Azerbaijan’s education culture is built in a way that after graduation from high school those who are capable of having to move to Baku for university education and eventually to start a “better” life there. It is mostly because, unfortunately, there are not many opportunities for young people in the other districts of the country and the decentralization process is very slow in the regions. The situation makes many young people leave their life behind and start a new beginning in a huge and gray city. Many things do not translate the same when you move from a district where life is slower, nature is beautiful and green, people are kinder and know each other and most importantly there is a sense of community around the neighborhood you used to live in. In return, Baku is very hectic, the weather is toxic, people always rush somewhere and the high buildings and city infrastructure leave you with minimum contact with people and nature. Most women who have mental health problems such as general anxiety and depression find it hard to adapt to a new toxic environment. Most women also feel more insecure about their safety and security in Baku due to the higher chances of harassment compared to the regions. The sense of being a “stranger” to a big city you newly moved in also adds up to the general anxiety and mental health problems. Some spaces help to relax and find peace such as the shore of the Caspian Sea. However, it is getting increasingly crowded and dirtier every other day. Conditions in the country leave many young people with little to no choice but to move to the capital city at some point in their lives. The city design with its many problems from transport to overpopulation makes it hard for most to adapt.

It is a fictional film focusing on the experiences of queer people in the general public and public toilets with a twist. Generally, queer people feel uncomfortable in the streets and public places in Baku including the restrooms. There are many unfortunate cases of physical attacks, harassment, and hate crimes. Baku’s streets ARE NOT SAFE for queer people. But, the movie takes a different look at the issue and tells a story of a gay man using public toilets as cruising areas.

Our short film investigates matters of urban spaces and their perception and critically approaches their potential for the adaptation of new residents. The particular potential of becoming a new or a second home to each individual. How easy is it to achieve this effect, and how can we measure this city's quality? Can the urban landscape define notions of home, and what properties of the city's spatial organization can create a homelike atmosphere? The notion of home is very personal to everyone, it is hard to quantify, but the concept is united by a strong shared sense of values. Home means a friendly place, a comfortable one, accessible and open. Such a perception can contribute to the natural development of both young people and adults. This story is about two friends who recently moved from their native Kyiv to Berlin and Warsaw and faced the need of adaptation to the new context, both cultural and urban. We reflected on the process of interaction with the new urban environment, up to the point where the new city and its architectural landscape started to shape the sense of a home.

MuBE portrays the “Museu Brasileiro da Escultura” built in 1987 by the Architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha. The short movie invites the spectator for a slow journey through the museum, enlightening the relation among the building, the cityscape and the nature, blurring the boundaries between private and public space. His attitude towards architecture was not just to make aesthetic and solitary architecture, but first of all he strived to change the thinking of the people, living, visiting or working in his buildings. In his architecture, rooms act like public spaces, where no divisions and privacy nor segregation take place. People are forced to interact and live together. In his mind, a house should not be more than a place to sleep. And all the rest of the functions are happening in the city itself. MuBE was designed as an introverted, restrained building, carved into stone, it does evolve all the necessary functions in the subterranean layers of São Paulo without disturbing the visual aspect of the surrounding landscape. The portico, the roof over the communal spaces, shelters sculptures and visitors from rain and sunlight, like a stone in the sky. The short movie emphasizes the stone in the sky, through the infinite palette of degradation, weathering patinas and the ever aging construction materials in opposition to contemporary forms of fast architecture and unsustainable resources. Paulo Mendes da Rocha's architecture transcends time and social limits of an inhospitable and inhuman society. Through the use of materials in their most legitimate aspects, Brutalism reveals itself in essence, thus echoing the meaning of architecture: to develop spaces that link city and people.

The film is about the toxic chaikhana culture of Baku. A chaikhana is a space where men come together to drink tea mainly in the company of domino and gossip. Many building complexes (particularly old ones from the soviet era) has an inner public spot for parking, playground, shops, and other businesses such as chaikhahas. Not only these places are very precarious for many to pass by, but also such facilities create a significant inconvenience for housewives. Sometimes the game and the chat last almost until early morning in the summer and the noise disturbs the citizens of the buildings very much. The film addresses the challenges of a housewife due to the situation and also, highlights the irresponsibility of public institutions regarding the issue.

A short film created as a spontaneous action of inclusion of a local taxi driver into the conversation of foreign passengers, three friends. Although we didn’t speak the same language as him, in this short moment in time we let the music he likes become our way of silent communication with him. The simultaneous scenes of walking along the labyrinth of meander lines, drawn on the floor of Rruga Sermedin Said Toptani, symbolize the complex paths of interpersonal relations between strangers. While I was staying in Tirana I had a strong feeling of empathy towards older, local people. I saw that often they don’t speak any foreign languages, while at the same time, because of economic challenges Albanian people face, they are “forced to” work with tourists. As Tirana is rapidly growing and changing, the city center is full of foreigners, both investors and tourists. Local people don’t take a taxi — they take a bus or they drive a taxi. Local people often don’t go out to eat in restaurants — the eat at home or they work in restaurants. Economic differences between local people and foreigners are felt in all areas of life. In Tirana, I had a strong feeling that local people from Tirana often feel as second-grade citizens in their own city, “occupied” by English-speaking foreigners, surrounded by fancy shops, cars and restaurants, which they, local people — can’t afford. This short film is a documentation of one humble effort of trying to make a local taxi driver feel he’s at home in his own city, by a simple act of showing an interest in his culture via his own personal — music playlist.

Sometimes memories suddenly caress you through sounds, images and even smells. They bring you back in time and, maybe, they can make you feel better.

The World And The Flock speculates about the capacities of the famous Geneva sheep flock to change our perception of the city. Thus, the flock that roams the gardens of Jardin des Nations, the heart of so called International Geneva, becomes a connecting and form-making element. The project offers an alternative reading, beyond the dispersed, isolated and fenced estates of International Geneva. The circulating flock becomes a spatial factor that is ordering social realtions through the (un)built. Seen, observed, monitored, the event unfolds its impact on multiple channels: from the physical to the digital. Thereby, the public space which nowadays is weakly articulated, scattered and isolated within the city of Geneva, becomes more connected and attractive to both locals and tourists and not only for members of International Geneva. Ingredients Grass, fences, water, trees – everything the flock needs can be found on site. The only missing elements, were a barn and salt for the sheep to winter. The flock is kept on rotating pastures, called padocks. There it grazes for four days before moving on, rotating from land to land, using normal asphalt roads. In the course of one year, the flock visits the United Nations, the U.S. Mission, the Rothschild estate, and many others. Every last weekend of the month, the flock leaves the Jardin des Nations and moves into the city. This urban event reconnects the isolated Jardin des Nations with the city of Geneva which is itself a city of (dis)connected madows.

"Unlocking the inner child" portrays the everyday difficulties of Sophia, who, due to her ADHD diagnosis, sometimes has problems letting her energy run free in an urban environment. That's why she likes to come to the trampolines at the harbour to exercise between her work and other commitments. Here she can live out her inner child and feel free. Leah Meinhof directed, shot and edited the film. Sophia Livecchi tells her personal story.