Mami Wata (2023), dir. C.J. "Fiery" Obasi
Section: OKO GLOBAL FICTION 2025
The story unfolds in Nigeria. In a coastal village, the shaman Mama Efe is the conduit between the water deity Mami Wata and the community. However, the shaman's revered status is called into question after the arrival of the revolutionary Jasper.
This is an incredibly interesting film that conveys the peculiarities of West African folklore. Towards the end, the story increasingly immerses the viewer in a world of magical realism, bringing the viewing experience closer to a dream. This black-and-white parable reflects on the global issue of the importance of tradition in an ever-changing world.
The Road to Patagonia (2022), dir. Matty Hannon
Section: OKO GLOBAL NON-FICTION 2025
A great documentary road movie about an Australian ecologist who decides to take an incredible journey across the American continent on a motorbike.
This documentary is a fascinating story about how the road can radically change a person's life. Some of the protagonist's reflections seem surprisingly naive and funny, but the subjective view of his camera gives us an understanding of how diverse the American continent is. It is an interesting experience of getting to know the Other with its unique ancient history.
To the West, in Zapata (2025), dir. David Bim
Section: OKO GLOBAL NON-FICTION 2025
A dramatic story from Cuba about peasants who, in order to save a child, hunt crocodiles in a biosphere reserve, risking their own lives and freedom.
David Bim has made a contemplative documentary that uses minimal means to create a constant sense of anxiety and physical tension. The director makes the viewer empathise with the main characters' family and outlines the deep problems of social instability in Cuba.
Baghdad Messi (2023), dir. Sahim Omar Kalifa
Section: OKO GLOBAL FICTION 2025
A fairly simple but incredibly touching story about an Iraqi boy who lost his leg but does not give up on his sincere dream of becoming as outstanding a footballer as his idol Lionel Messi.
Sahim Omar Kalifa tells the story of growing up in war. His film is a very hopeful tale about how sincere love and support can overcome even those obstacles that seem insurmountable.
Our Lovely Pig Slaughter / Mord (2024), dir. Adam Martinec
Section: OKO GLOBAL FICTION 2025
In the Czech town of Osoblaš, pigs are slaughtered annually. A whole series of rituals take place around this agricultural process, bringing several families together. From preparing for the slaughter to making blood sausage, all of this is accompanied by tense but comical discussions of family problems.
To a certain extent, Our Lovely Pig Slaughter is similar to Arkadiy Nepytalyuk's short film Blood Sausage, where family miscommunication also revolves around pig slaughtering and blood sausage preparation. Adam Martinec shoots grainy footage that emphasises the erosion of values in post-communist societies. This context is particularly close to Ukrainian viewers.
Waves of Bakota (2025), dir. Volodymyr Bakum
Section: OKO SPECIAL 2025
Volodymyr Bakum continues his documentary research of Ukrainian space. His previous work, Bartka, is a contemplative film about the Carpathian forests, told through the life of a professional forester. In Waves of Bakota, Bakum explores villages that were flooded in the late 1980s to build the Dniester Hydroelectric Power Plant.
The director again draws on the experience of one character — this time a local guide and former resident of a flooded village. This film raises not only the issue of ecology in Soviet reality, but also the theme of memory of a lost home as a component of identity.
The Reeds (2023), dir. Cemil Agacikoglu
Section: OKO GLOBAL FICTION 2025
In a mountain village in Anatolia, young Ali resists local oligarchs and gangsters in order to win back his wife's love.
The film The Reed offers an unexpected perspective on Turkey, which has firmly established its image as a country of eternal resorts and all-inclusive holidays. By depicting the reality of Turkish villages far from the world of tourist brochures, Agacikoglu creates a very slow-paced and Eastern-style thriller. He points to the real situation in Turkey, which is not usually discussed publicly. This is a very interesting film that shows another dimension of a seemingly understandable country.
Checkpoint Zoo (2024), dir. Joshua Zeman
Section: NASHE OKO 2025
An incredibly dramatic and poignant documentary story about how an employee of Feldman Ecopark, together with volunteers, rescued more than 5,000 animals from shelling in Kharkiv at the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
The work of American documentary filmmaker Joshua Zeman is a complex film, compiled from the memories of those involved in the evacuation and the videos they shot in the process. The director tells a heartfelt story about Ukrainians who, despite the threat to their own lives, showed the highest degree of humanity by rescuing those who were unable to save themselves.