On Friday 31 January, the audience was taken on a cinematic journey of insights from Tibet, Japan, Romania, Afghanistan and the UAE during an evening of Shorts at the Frontline Club. The selection showed five very different but equally compelling short documentaries. This time the films provoked thoughts on the consequences of tourism on ancient traditions, the dedication of individuals who take on a community’s responsibility and the forming of different memories that, combined, create our history.

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Russel O. Bush’s film Vultures of Tibet was set in the striking Tibetan mountains, home to the monks who continue the ancient tradition of sky burials. The sacred practice offers bodies of the dead to the mountain’s vultures. With cameras at the read and hungry for a spectacle, a new phenomenon of tourists now preys on the burials. The unwelcome invasion of mainly Chinese tourists is depicted in the film as a direct threat to Tibetan culture. With reference to the tourists’ disrespect of the local dead, a monk reflected: “They think death only happens to others not themselves.” The voyeuristic banality of the tourists is in stark contrast to the pensive monks. Although another monk explains that the Chinese tourists are not conscious of their negative impact on their practice, the film painfully echoes wider Chinese–Tibetan tensions.

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The sanctity of identity was even more explicitly explored in the film Recollections by Nathanael Carton. After the 2011 tsunami in Japan, around 750,000 photographs were found severely damaged by the sea near the city of Yamamoto. This film documented a group of Japanese volunteers who repair and reconstruct these photos. When possible the photos are returned to their owners, reuniting them with their memories. One volunteer explained that the photographs act as “proof of their existence”. The photos evidently brought with them the pain of loss but importantly, in some cases, the trigger to move forward.

Following on from Recollections was Layla’s Melody by Jens Pedersen which also deals with family identity and looking to the future. Layla is an Afghan girl growing up in an orphanage. Despite the harsh Taliban stance on women playing musical instruments, she plays the drums and dreams of becoming a musician. Her story took an emotional turn when her mother comes for a rare visit and reassures Layla that she can stay in the orphanage away from the problems plaguing her family. The film was an intimate reminder of the ongoing fight for women’s emancipation in the country.

While the evening’s films dealt with some difficult subject matter they did not lack humorous moments. Feeding 500 by Rafed Al Harthi, follows Sediq, an Indian working in the UAE, who for 15 years has taken it upon himself to feed 500 of its stray cats. As the film demonstrated, this requires a daily routine taking up most of Sediq’s time and money. The underlying question was how his apparent duty to feed the hungry cats could be at the expense of seeing and providing for his family back in India. Nevertheless, Sediq’s jovial and unflinching efforts to feed his furry friends along with his ability to ignore the locals disdain had the audience laughing loudly.

The same can be said of the final film, Stremt 89 by Anda Puscas and Dragos Dulea. Taking us to Romania, the film captured the reflections of its rural village countrymen and women recounting their interpretations of what can only be described as a revolution of sorts. The anti-Communist revolution took place in Romania’s bigger cities in 1989 but the excitements failed to impact the small rural area of Stremt. Evidently this did not deter the local men, who eagerly jumped at the opportunity of change or counterchange (they would decide later). Their enthusiasm was fuelled, much to their wives’ concerns, with local wine and lots of it. Perhaps the only sane man explains how he managed to stop the men killing each other by stealing their bullets. The locals’ witty anecdotes painted a chaotic and honest picture. Some wise words filtered through as an old man declared that he was no longer sure what the fuss was about, saying that revolutions were merely “trading powers”.

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By Nicole Hunt

Anders Behring Breivik, the man who admitted to setting off the 22 July bomb in Oslo, killing eight people, before killing 69 people on the island of Utoya, makes his first public appearance at Oslo City Court on Monday. On 12 September, the court rejected a police request for another closed door hearing, meaning media and victims’ families will be able to attend.

In Geneva, the UN Global Fund releases the findings of a four-month independent review into its financial safeguards, following accusations of mismanagement of funds in recipient countries.

Monday is also the six month anniversary of the beginning of military action in Libya. Forces from the US, the UK, France, Canada, UAE and Qatar began enforcing the no-fly zone authorised by UN Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973 on 19 March.

The trial of seven Italian scientists charged with manslaughter for failing to predict the April 2009 earthquake that killed over 300 people kicks off in L’Aquila on Tuesday. The scientists, who made up the city’s Great Risks Commission, are accused of failing to warn people of the potential risk of an earthquake and convincing people not to leave town a week before the earthquake struck.

In a Paris court, former News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and representatives for News Group Newspapers appear charged with breaching France’s privacy and defamation laws in relation to a 2008 story about former FIA president Max Mosley. Mosley was awarded £60,000 in damages by the UK High Court in 2008, but the European Court of Human Rights rejected an application by Mosley in May that would have required media to inform a person before publishing a story containing their private information.

Amid concerns of potential post-election violence, Zambians go to the polls to elect their president and members of the National Assembly. Levy Mwanawasa won the 2006 election, but died in August 2008 and was replaced by Rupiah Banda, who is seeking his first full term.

The UN General Assembly general debate opens in New York on Wednesday, with all eyes on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who, barring last-minute diplomatic developments, is expected to seek a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood.

On Thursday, a verdict is expected in the first case brought in under France’s ‘burka ban’ laws. Two women in the town of Meaux were arrested for wearing the niqab veil in May, with one of them banned from attending the last hearing because her face was still covered.

At the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe are both scheduled to speak. Ahmadinejad’s past speeches have prompted walkouts from some delegations, while Mugabe’s have typically been anti-western. British Prime Minister David Cameron, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ivorian President Alassane Ouatarra are also on the bill.

The week draws to a close with some high-profile court hearings and elections. Closing arguments are set to begin in Amanda Knox’s murder appeal in Perugia on Friday, while Egyptian courts are busy with the testimony of ruling military council member Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi at former President Hosni Mubarak’s trial on Saturday in Cairo, as well as the verdict in the Khaled Said murder trial in Alexandria. Two policemen are on trial for Said’s June 2010 death, which prompted widespread protests in Egypt at a time when police were rarely prosecuted.

In Bahrain, by-elections are held to replace 11 opposition lawmakers who resigned in March over government crackdowns on anti-regime protesters.

French Senate elections take place on Sunday, with half of the 346 seats up for grabs. Party performances will be closely watched ahead of next year’s presidential elections.

In Freiburg, Pope Benedict XVI wraps up a four-day visit to Germany to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his ordination as a priest