Films with extraordinary characters whose lives deeply connect to the animals and land of their ancestors. In The Landscape of Human Essence (Jana Hunterova) 80-year-old Ljubica lives in harmony with the rhythm of the landscape to ‘The Legend of the Dun Cow’ (Colm Higgins) a playful take on the place of the cow in the Irish consciousness.

Sebastian Molina Ruiz Total Life Forever is an anthology of dreams from people who had to leave their home for the urban village where no one speaks the same language while Joseph Inman and Bear Behind You Collective give voice to a community in crisis exploring what home really means in Village with a View.

Village Hours (Matthew Reid) tells the story of Britain’s village halls exploring the people, practices and passing moments which make up contemporary rural life and in France Tireless tells of a young advertising executives’ trip to the Ardenne village where his urban naivety comes up against the reality of a world he doesn’t really understand.

Emerging filmmakers Edward Smyth and Olivia Hird voices represent how people can simply exist a little differently. In a world of fictional characters emerging from a village life and as a woman in a male dominated workplace. And interested in feminist subversions of personal and social histories Sasha Waters Freyer’s found footage Respiration gives breath to backyard deities.