Without Borders Film Festival: a bold mix of doc and fiction films

This year's opening film is "Cocoon," a coming-of-age story by German director Leonie Krippendorff that tells the tale of a young girl searching for her place in the world. Nora, the main protagonist, learns how to deal with her own body while searching for her own identity and coming out of the closet during a summer of big changes.

For years, Khatera, a 23-year-old woman from Afghanistan has been sexually abused by her father. Now she is pregnant and wants to take him to court at any cost. She refuses to give up, despite the death threats by her own uncle and Afghanistan's corrupt legal system. This documentary by Sahra Mani tells of Khatera's plight in a country where women are systematically oppressed.

The drama film "Persian Lessons" tells the story of a Belgian Jew fighting for survival in a concentration camp in 1942. He pretends to be Persian and is asked to teach the camp's commander his alleged mother tongue — without actually being able to speak a word of it. The film was adapted from Wolfgang Kohlhaase's story "Invention of a Language."

How can the world become a better place? Erwin Wagenhofer deals with this question in his documentary "But Beautiful." In it, he meets people from around the world, including musicians from Colombia, a Swiss couple who are transforming a wasteland into a paradise and the sister of the Dalai Lama. The result is a two-hour plea for mindfulness and compassion.

In "Love Sarah," 19-year-old Clarissa fulfills the dream of her late mother: to open her own bakery in the center of London. Together with her grandmother and her mother's best friend, she bravely takes up the new challenge. Director Eliza Schroeder received support for her feature film debut: Star chef Yotam Ottolenghi created delicious tarts especially for it.