Lombardo Films works regularly with national and international networks and local television and is dedicated to support affiliated writers and directors not only throughout the production of their work, but also in the distribution of their films.

Lombardo Films attends the major international television markets. Our strength in the marketplace rests on our flexible approach with producers and in our well-established relationships with broadcasters and distributors in Europe and around the world.

CELEBRATION OF FLIGHT

A film about the love for flying and about the unique friendship between 78 years old Swede and 16 years old Carribean boy. They share their only dream: To build an airplane in the middle of the jungle of Dominica . With it, they are planning to take part in one of the world's biggest air shows for airplane designers in Florida and win a prize. For the boy, it is the beginning of all his dreams. For the old man, it is his very last dream. And it's the legacy of a father-and-son relationship.

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www.celebration-of-flight.com

THE REAL DAKTARI

The Film tells the extraordinary story of Dr. Sue Hart, the first female wildlife vet in Africa and the role model for the world famous series Daktari. She embosomed not only the animals of the wild continent but also risked her life for the African people during Apartheid in South Africa. Today aged 79 she is looking for the right person who may step into her shoes. Will her work go on?

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SALAH - AN AFRICAN TOUBAB?

Every African wants to go toEurope is the common public opinion. The young and energetic will rise to the opportunity of finding a better life, as if they have nothing to lose. But there are young people who choose differently.
Salah Salahina Sounfountera lives in Mali and he has decided to stay. But his ides conflict with the expectations of both his family and his wife. He is seen as a toubab, an outsider, a white man. He constantly needs to prove that he is still one of them, to demonstrate that he has not become godless. But he opposes strongly to some of the ingrained customs and traditions that encourage dependence and inertia.
In this intimate portrait of a young man struggling with his identity, we get to see a different picture of contemporary West-Africa.

IMPRISONED IN PERU

Instead of a beautiful sunset, all she can look at are the walls of a Peruvian prison. A love affair brought Tove from Norway to Peru where she was arrested with 8 Kilos of cocaine in her suitcases at the airport of Lima in May 1999.She was sentenced to 15 years in prison without parole. This is the first time a film director has ever been allowed to film inside a Peruvian Prison. The film allows an exclusive insight into the ups and downs of Tove's life, her friendship with a Peruvian inmate and her Norwegian translator and to get to know her new love, Pepe, who devotes all his time and money in trying to rehabilitate her and in restoring her freedom.

PAINTED BLACK    

Painted Black reveals black people in paintings by famous Dutch and Flemish artists during the 17^th century, the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic. The documentary sheds new light on famous and less famous works of art, but also on Dutch history and culture. The film tempts us to look at what was meant to be seen, but has often been overlooked.

BOLINAO 52

Bolinao 52 is the Vietnamese boat people's first attempt to speak a long silenced voice, an unspoken legacy of the Vietnam War - the story of their struggle to find freedom.

When Tung Trinh, a survivor of the Bolinao 52, stepped foot onto a crowded boat one night in May 1988, she did not know it was a trip that forever changed her life. After leaving Vietnam the Bolinao 52 engine died. They were ignored by passing ships. 19 days later, a US Navy ship came by. But the captain refused to pick them up. Facing death, they resorted to cannibalism. After 37 days at sea, 52 of 110 survived. Now 17 years later, she returned to her past to close off the unresolved chapters.

JAPAN - A STORY OF LOVE AND HATE

Noaki, 56, had it all in Japan's bubble economy days: He drove a BMW, lived in a six bedroom house. When Japan's economy crashed in 1992 he lost everything. He was saved from being homeless by his new girlfriend, Yoshie, 29, who took him in. Yoshie now works 15 hours a day in three jobs to support him. Each evening Yoshie leaves Noaki to a sleazy chat bar, she is paid to drink with men. She comes home drunk and teases Noaki about his poor income. Their struggle is a love story of survival in the world's second richest economy.

CONEY ISLAND - A LAST SUMMER

It was as much a part of New York as Wall Street and represented the multicultural US society, but most of all it was life: The Coney Island Amusement Park. After decades this New Yorkan institution has to make way for a Las Vegas-style synthetic world. With the destruction of these old amusement sites, New York does not only lose parts of its history, but also living spaces and workplaces of the people for whom Coney Island was much more than just an amusement park. The film accompanies the "Coney Islanders" through the last weeks of their presumably final season and captures them when they talk about the Coney-Island-lifestyle from their personal points of view.

MAMA MASSAI

They used to be kings of the steppe: the Massai of Eastern Africa. Being shepherds and nomads God gave them all the cattle on the Earth - according to the "Legend of the Lost Warrior". But their culture is being fundamentally threatened by the effects of globalization forcing the proud warriors to change their way of life. Since 1983, Angelika Wohlenberg, a German nurse, midwife, and missionary has been fighting for the survival of the Massai culture as well as for their salvation. This documentary focuses on what the life of a missionary looks like in the 21st century. And it tells the story of a Massai choir - a group of people who are now masters of their fate...

ISETA - BEHIND THE ROADBLOCK

In the 1994 Rwandan Genocide a British journalist, Nick Hughes, filmed an infamous event of two persons being brutally murdered. In various documentaries, the footage has been shown all over the world but this time Nick himself is willing to go back to Rwanda to find out what really happened to the victims.
"Iseta- Behind the Roadblock" is an observational documentary, which follows Nick revisiting the murder scene, trying to find the families and discover who were the killers but also the witnesses of this horrible act. The film is also an attempt to display the horrors the survivors felt during the Rwandan Genocide.

FROM PRISON TO PARLIAMENT

Peter Ranginya, 41, came to Norway as a political refuge in 1991. After studies at the University of Trondheim and economical studies in Oslo he started working for the Norwegian Immigration Directorate. In May 2004 he was sentenced to three years in prison for fraud, after transferring 450 000 euros from his employers account to an independent political organization in Kenya.
Peter's motivation for committing the crime is, in his own words: "to bring democratic rules to my native country." His dream is to bring Norwegian democratic principles into Kenyan politics.

NEEDLE THROUGH BRICK

Needle Through Brick is a documentary about the struggle for survival of traditional culture in the face of a rapidly changing and modernizing world, told from the perspective of traditional Chinese Kung Fu masters living in Borneo, East Malaysia. The story explores the history and culture of Kung Fu and asks deep and important questions about how traditional culture can be kept alive in a world that is forgetting about it.

ICON

She claims not to paint for her own self esteem but through the hand of God. This is a journey into the world of an Eastern Orthodox icon artist whose goal is to bring "God to America" through her paintings. We are invited to look over her shoulder to understand the status of iconic images in the Orthodox faith. Additionally we are given a rare look into the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as into some hidden monasteries where her art is painted and blessed. Originally iconic images were the equivalent of the Bible for the illiterate. Find out why a picture says more than 1,000 words.

KISSED BY THE GRAPE

The fruit of "liquid pleasure" emerges from deep down in the earth. But grape cultivation is not as simple as that! It’s a science of its own.. From "voodoo" viticulture to the latest technologies, experts from the most important wineproducing countries introduce us to their fascinating methods of organic (biodynamic?) winegrowing. This film gives an extraordinary insight into the world of this exquisite drink, complemented by the knowledge of a wine journalist and importer. Accompanied by the exclusive soundtrack "Oda al Vino" from Thomas Bank and the internationally-renowned saxophone player Candy Dulfer this documentary is pleasure for eyes and ears.

OAK #419

Imagine you climb a tree, but don't climb down again for more than two months. It's impossible? Not for John Quigley. The environmental activist spent exactly 71 days on a 400 year-old oak tree to save it from being cut down to make way for a new highway close to Los Angeles. By his total commitment he started a movement for the preservation of nature which became much bigger than just this tree. Receiving great media attention and support from all parts of society, the film shows an attempt to reclaim democracy in today's divided, neoconservative America.

PAPER CITY

The inhabitants of Valdivia in Chile fought for their health, their environment and against short-sighted politics. In October 2004 hundreds of dead swans were discovered in the nature reserve of the Cruces River, due to the pollution from a cellulose plant. The discovery made the inhabitants aware that their fate and that of Valdivia was akin to the fate of the swans and they decided to act. The film describes the most significant episodes of this environmental conflict, which initiated a historical breakdown for several institutions and the Chilean environmental policy, through the voices of the citizens who fought for the cause.

COPSA MICA

Copsa Mica is best known as one of the most polluted towns in Europe - people died in its unhealthy environment. As a victim of communist Romania's economic plan, for decades everything in the area has been covered with soot emitted by the heavy industry. But now Copsa is fed up with its bad image and is determined to transform itself into a better place to live. Accompany this process with four citizens from 2003 until 2007, when Romania joined the EU, focussing on the town's ambitious mayor Dudu. Discover how a town tries to leave its past behind and follow the development of its environmental improvement as well as the minds of the citizens.

"...AND FILL THE EARTH AND SUBDUE IT..."

The Ilisu-dam in Turkey is one of the most controversial building projects in Europe. Thousands of people have to be resettled and the cultural treasures of a whole region will be destroyed. It becomes obvious that economic aspects are more important than humans and nature. The film gives both victims and responsible politicians a chance to speak and takes stock of the doomed cultural heritage and unique eco-system of South East Turkey.

CHICAGO BLOCK

This is the home of people from the lowest level of society. For the inhabitants of Antwerp it's a no-go area - a dull tower block called "Chicago Block" on the left bank of the Scheldt river. Belgians of modest means live here door to door with immigrants, representing the multicultural society of Europe with 35 nationalities on 26 storeys. The camera is set up in the elevator catching the occupants as they pass by. It follows some of them home and discloses the stories of people whose voices aren't heard in a superficial society.

IN THE SHADOW OF A MOSQUE

Integration vs. parallel society - in the Rotterdam working-class district of Hillesluis, the largest mosque in Europe is under construction. While the mosque continues to rise, we immerge into the microcosm around it: a diversity of people leading completely separate lives in their own worlds while living next to each other, each with their own opinions about the significance of this mega mosque. This film documents the prejudiced and sometimes humorous stories and rumours about the mosque that abound in the neighbourhood and that are as diverse as the people who relate them.

JUST LEAVE DADDY BE

"Just Leave Daddy Be" is a documentary about the twelve-year-old Melvin, whose stepfather Hans has a personality disorder. For almost two years director Debbie Kleijn filmed the family in their daily struggle to cope with the problems of Hans. The documentary unravels the vulnerability of children in problematic family situations. While the adults are entangled in their own problems, the young Melvin keeps his worries to himself.

THE WOMEN OF SANNE SANNES

A personal quest into the life and work of legendary Dutch photographer Sanne Sannes, who died in a car crash in 1967, aged 30. Sannes was internationally renowned for his erotic pictures. His legacy included thousands of photographs of female nudes. These are dark, experimental and mysterious. These days, Sannes is a virtually forgotten figure, except for some stories of almost mythical proportions. Director Frodo Terpstra seeks out Sannes' original models as he tries to unravel the story of his life and the meaning of his mysterious work.

ABOUT LOVE : MR AND MRS CHAN

They are forced to love each other in a foreign country. This is the story of the victims of an arranged marriage and their adaption to another society. Filmed by their daughter, the elderly Chinese couple discloses its feelings and frustration about its situation in the Netherlands. In search of her own identity and the answer to what love really is, the daughter tackles issues taboo to a Chinese family. Thereby coming to the very emotional conclusion that her parents are united rather by their sad destiny than by love.

LAST BUS STOP

Imagine a village somewhere deep in Eastern Europe. For more than a hundred years, its nationality has changed in a season-like cadenza: one time, it belonged to the Habsburg Empire, then to Czechoslovakia, next to Hungary, then to the Soviet Union. In recent years things have grown even more complex. The artificial border the Soviets put down at the end of World War II straight through the village of Szelmenc, with its 1100 souls, divides the village over two states. Families on one side live in Slovakia, which by now has entered the European Union. On the other side, their relatives suffer from the unstable circumstances in the Ukraine. One solution would be to build a border crossing point, to reunite families after sixty years and to generate some economic structure. The film starts with the trip that the mayors of Little Szelmenc and Great Szelmenc made to Washington in 2004, where they urged the necessity of constructing a border crossing point at the congressional Human Rights Caucus. Two years later, it is indeed built - but who benefits from it?

IT NEVER HAPPENS AS EXPECTED! Lived Past In The Black Forest

It seems to be a long time ago but the era, the 43-minutes long documentary immerses in, is more contemporary than thought. Although it is not a story about nostalgia or glorification of the “good old times”, but a realistic image of the everyday life of four aged Black Forest protagonsits and their extraordinary, endangered profession. This generation was affected by work and acquittal, but these exponents still understand working as a kind of quality of life, despite age-related physical reduction and the dying away fitness. Viewer will experience them at their authentic employment and also as narrators, which can look back on eventful lives. 

ONLY AVAILABLE IN GERMAN

TULIA TEXAS

On July 23, 1999, undercover narcotics agent Thomas Coleman executed one of the biggest drug stings in Texas history. At the end of that blazing summer day, 46 residents of the small farming town of Tulia had been rounded up and thrown behind bars. Thirty-nine of those arrested were black. In the years to follow, troubling evidence about the undercover investigation and the police officer's past began to surface. "Tulia, Texas" is the story of a small town's search for justice, and the price Americans par the war on drugs.

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SONEROS DEL TESECHOACÁN

Along the Tesechoacán River, in the state of Veracruz, México, a tradition perdures: The Sound of the SON Music. Here, the old and young generations fight a battle against modernity, trying to keep their music, celebrations and way of life safe. Through the voices of his men and women, and the sound of their instruments, this story is told.

TRES PESOS

Unfolding in three chapters of rare intimacy and candour, Tres Pesos offers an insight into everyday lives of young Cuban reggaeton musicians. Living in the neglected outskirts of Havana, the musicians who rap and jam together share a relentless hunger for success despite the poverty of their daily existence. This exquisitely shot portrait is a counterpoint of observational scenes of young, marginal lives rarely seen on screen, raw musical improvisation and poignantly direct conversations. We are invited to share at close range the balance of day-jobs, family life and live performances. Tres Pesos reveals young people whose survival depends on music, offering the only way out for themselves and their families.

www.trespesos.net

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TO WHERE THE WORLD BEGAN

The cameraman and film producer Roman Teufel accompanies an artist and painter on his inspiring travels through West Africa, back to the roots of human civilisation - into the heart of the Sahara dessert. The Journey leeds along the river Niger, to the mysterious DOGON people and further to the secret town of Timbuktu. Then he escorts a caravan of the Tuareg across the Hoggar Mountains into the loneliness of the Sahara. Fantastic Landscapes, fantastic pictures in best HD Quality!

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MEGUMI

MEGUMI is a deeply moving film about the dramatic disappearance of the 13-year old Japanese schoolgirl Megumi Yokota on 15 November 1977. In the form of the actress Janica Draisma, the film maker visits the coastal town of Niigata from whence Megumi disappeared. Thirty years later, the family and the acquaintances of the girl are still stunned. The are still incredulous. Still filled with a sorrow they can't come to terms with. In the meantime it has become apparent that Megumi was kidnapped to North Korea to teach North Korean trainee spies to speak fluent Japanese.

The Parents of Megumi are convinced that their daughter is still alive, even though North Korea alleges that she has committed suicide. The film maker tells a poetic and emotional story. She was not primarily interested in the political side of the story. Hart breaking interviews with Megumi Yokota's parents, brothers and former head master show their never ending love for Megumi. Impressed by the hope and power of the parents, the film maker used elements of the feature film in order to make visible that also she came to believe that Megumi is still alive.

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www.mirjamvanveelen.com

MYANMAR - JOURNEY INTO A LOST ERA

Hermetically isolated almost a half century from the military regime, Myanmar, the further Birma, is hardly affected by the impact of globalisation. This involuntary conservation of a whole nation provides an opportunity to review into the past, like in an animated museum - permits a theatrical time travel. 

By doing so the traveller systematically is looking for values, which have been sacrificed the furious belief in progress elsewhere. Parallels of the own culture area's are being reflected. Without the aim of a whole portrait but with particular individual portraits, the film provides an insight into the ancient culture of South-East-Asia. Hardly a nation is affected by spirituality like Myanmar by the Buddhism. Nowhere else everything that happens is submitted to the Buddhist philosophy more than in Myanmar. That's why even the film cannot elude the superior impression of an intensively practiced belief - fascinating every foreign visitor - everything seems subordinate to.

The picture language is the power of the film, a kind of cinematic dream of a time which is on the point to disappear. A picture grave portrait of the mystic Myanmar, that gets along without the common conflicts and effects but impresses with atmospheric pictures. Although this country tempts to a romantically transfiguration, the film doesn't let a doubt of the elusory character of the magical sceenery.

YOU ARE MY AFRICA

The film "You are my Africa. A Black and White Love Story" is an autobiographical documentary about the filmmaker Helmut Schulzeck and his Kenyan wife Wangechi Schulzeck. Africa was for Helmut mostly for years Cape Town. There he met one day the Kenyan woman Wangechi Njenga. She became his "Africa". The film "You are my Africa" tells the story of loving each other and coming to terms with each other. It captures a gradual development and an adventure, in which two cultures clash and show only a limited understanding of and dealing with each other. How does Wangechi deal with Germany and how does Helmut with Kenya? How does Germany deal with Wangechi and how does Kenya with Helmut? The film gives answers to these questions at a personal level. Locations: Germany, Cape Town and the Kenyan Highlands in the Rift Valley area.

ICELAND - THE WORLD BEHIND

BALI'S REEF CONSTRUCTORS 

SEVEN BROTHERS

Seven brothers (born between 1929 and 1945) come to a neutral space to individually tell their family's story from Mülheim. Seven different paths in life attest to a rarely heard generation whose childhood ended or just began with the “Stunde Null“ in 1945. An intimate mosaic between the brothers emerges forming a type of family universe mirroring German history in an unusual way. 

A documentary experiment! Storytelling at its best!

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