1986: a time of increasing confusion and instability.
Through the perception of the nineteen-year-old Karl Koch,
the world is a muddle. He is fascinated and inspired by the
imaginary rebel, Hagbard Celin, from the cultish
“Illuminatus!”. A sensitive young man, Karl engages in
the search...
A painter is approached by a mourning woman to do a portrait
of her two children – her twenty-two year old daughter and
nineteen year old son who has recently died in a car
accident. Before the stunning portrait is born, a strong
interaction...
This film explores the peripety of Machisu who, as a child,
discovered an unusual love for painting which has stayed
with him ever since. In fact, he has been fully dedicated to
painting for a long time and is now obsessed with the...
A film that explores ties; the ties that bind us to each
another, that help us to stay in touch with family, advanced
technologies and the modern world.
Sabine, a high school French teacher, gives translation
classes. The translation she is currently dealing with...
A very basic human feature all over the world is the craving
for freedom. Yet it may vary in its forms and characters.
Afghan women strive to obtain a driving license as the first
step to reach their personal freedom. Although the society
they...
Coralie lives with her father in a small village in rural
Quebec. Worn, fragile, vulnerable and serious, the young
woman wanders the countryside where time stands still. Her
mother recently and abruptly left them. Rather than
indulging in conversations, she seeks solitude and
contemplation. Her...
The title of this documentary feature comes from a
traditional tattoo worn by Russian convicts. It says that
the particular prisoner has spent some time behind bars. In
this case though, “bars” do not indicate a real jail but
a reform school for juvenile...
Abdel is driving his son, Amin, through the Parisian
suburbs. The radio broadcasts the news of the day, while
Amin is playing with the world floating by the window.
Suddenly, they are stopped by the police… .
Her credits include portraits of Mick Jagger, Hillary
Clinton, Patti Smith, Demi Moore, Keith Richards and Arnold
Schwarzenegger. Camera in hand, Leibovitz has also boldly
captured the apocalypse of war in Sarajevo and Rwanda. Over
the past thirty years, she has contributed to the...
A video depicting a Chinese idiom “zhu-tuo-jen-wu” which
translates into "to fall into the smoke and fog” and its
use in context is similar to “at one’s wits’ end.”
A transition between the word of children and adults.
A pure and playful attempt to return to the world of
children, this time though in a real family car that is an
indicator of maturity.
Anna Hallgrimsdóttir lives with her two sons in Reykjavik.
Growing sick of Icelandic winters, she decides to shut down
her business and move to the countryside. She has earned her
living as a drug dealer and is now looking to sell her
prosperous activities...
Lali, a bearded Hungarian Roma, and his bald friend, Lori,
decide to deliver a German shepherd to a wealthy sheik and
set off across Europe intending to go all the way from their
native Transylvania through Vienna down to Egypt, a place
where dogs...
Bhutan is said to be forgotten by people, but never by gods.
The ancient mountain realm hidden between Assam in India and
Tibet, is called The Land of The Thunder Dragon in the
language of the local tribes. Wandering across the forsaken
country where...
A film about young people seeking happiness. A light comedy
depicting the small worries of ordinary people. The main
characters, Peter and Michal, both grew up in shattered
families; Mišo hardly knew his father, and Peter was
devastated after his mother recently left her...
Saara is a Helsinki gynecologist. An elegant, good looking
woman, she is friendly and open-minded. Yet, just like
Helsinki when covered with snow, no one knows what Sara is
like under the surface. After she discovers that Leo, her
husband, is having an affair...
“Blind Loves” is a film about love between blind people.
Love can be soft, love can be silly, love can be blind at
times... To find one´s place in this world is not an easy
thing to do for people with good sight,...
Thirty year old Bogan, nicknamed Boogie, has settled down
and started a furniture business. He is has a wife and a
son. Now he is enjoying his holiday by the Black Sea. Set in
the sad atmosphere of off-season hotels vaguely recalling
their former...
Osbourne Cox, a CIA old-timer, is given the axe because of
his drinking problem. He can’t think of any better way of
venting his spleen than writing a detailed memoir about his
recent past. By pure chance, the manuscript finds its way
into the...
A convoy of Russian soldiers finds itself trapped in the
mountainous Chechen landscape, lost in the stifling heat of
an unfamiliar and hostile territory. After being pinned down
by blasts and gunfire from the unseen enemy, the commander
assigns the more-experienced Rubachine and a...
High above the unexplored New Guinean jungle, jutting out
through the heavy rain clouds, emerge the Snow Mountains.
Above them rises a sharp-peaked pyramid of limestone; the
world’s most exotic and technically hardest mountain –
The Carstensz Pyramid. First climbed by Heinrich Harrer in
1962,...
We live in a world where communication with each other is
seldom done face to face. With all this new technology
preventing us from seeing one another, how can we tell what
we are really saying?
On a Saturday morning, Christine says good bye to her son
and leaves for work. Upon her arrival home she discovers her
son is nowhere to be found. She launches a desperate search
which ultimately proves fruitless. Several months later, she
is informed by...
Teenage Ana is raised according to the naturalistic way of
life of her German father in Ibiza. One day she meets
Justine, who invites her to come to Madrid offering her the
prospect of acquiring education and financial support. In
Madrid, they settle down...
A grandfather tells the true story of an intense
relationship between a man and a woman seen in its different
forms. A free-spirited man, growing in the course of time
and age, without reaching maturity, is pushed into a life
struggle which eventually turns...
Inge has decided to deliver a pair of mended trousers to
Karl, one of her clients. However, their encounter ends in a
sudden outburst of passion followed by sex. Inge lives with
her husband Werner which is why she tries to stay away...
Evaristo and Luis Antonio (starring the brothers Evaristo
and Luis Antonio) have just finished primary school. They
are Rarámuri Indians living in Sierra Tarahumara, in a
remote part of northwest Mexico. At home they speak their
mother tongue - just like the rest of...
On his way to work, Christer is “spotted” by a nearby
seagull. He has to leave his shirt in the laundromat in the
basement. Suddenly, he realizes that he left his rent money
in the pocket. In an attempt to get the money...
Any deed performed for the benefit of others also serves our
own benefit and vice versa.
It is another form of “parasitizing” that begets changes
which eventually in the final analysis turn out to be
altruistic.
A video contemplating the a current social problem – the
information overload (infoglut) followed by the inability to
choose, sort out, efficiently use and process the data; a
phenomenon that triggers information stress.
A restricted inner dialogue of a strange creature evokes the
intimacy of “„undoubtedly true stories”“ and,
ironically enough, grows in authenticity and provides a
faithful insight into loneliness and the desire to
communicate.
A minimalist film set in the attractive landscape of the
Danube delta and cut-off Hungarian-Romanian settlements. It
is a contemporary story though it could have taken place in
the past. Kornél Mundruczó, a well-known Hungarian
director, the only Central-European participant at this
year’s Cannes festival,...
A unique city tour around Budapest and Prague featuring
István Szabó and Jiří Menzel as tour guides. These two
world famous film directors were classmates in film school.
Both come from Central Europe and both have achieved
international success. Menzel’s “Closely Watched
Trains” and Szabo’s...
Beryl becomes obsessed with the filmmaking process, using it
to articulate her dreams & desires in a video diary. As
“cinéaste par excellence” she agrees to video her
friend’s wedding…
A full-length documentary by Daniel Liška, “East of
Everest”, is a poetic narration about life and death atop
the world’s highest mountain, featuring the voices of Andy
Billingham, Christopher Elston and Daniel Liška.
In the early summer of 1988, the director of the film...
Kepesh, a charismatic university teacher, enjoys the autumn
of his life that consists of lectures, friends, a
long-standing love affair and his favorite reading. Although
he glories in receiving affection from his female students,
he does not seek occasional liaisons. However, he finds his
stereotypical...
Andrij Kristijan, A.K., is a Ukrainian immigrant headed for
England. A would-be philosopher, poet and expert on
everything, he ´s currently working on a large-scale
project: to become an international star. he dreams of
"transcontinemtal superstardom" with his band, Gogol
Bordello, that boasts the unforgettable...
Leon Okrasa is a hospital crematory worker in a small town.
One day he witnesses a brutal rape. Anna, the victim, works
as a nurse in the same hospital. Leon spends all his free
time observing the young woman. One night he climbs...
A teenage trio, Gerdo, Nano and Razmundo, spend their free
time stealing gasoline to go joyriding. The youngsters drive
around in one of their mother’s cars without a fixed
destination to simply enjoy themselves.
Each stop is a crash with reality that puts their...
Michael Winterbottom is the most versatile of contemporary
film directors, a master of political thrillers, comedies,
docudramas, even erotic films. His stories vary, but what
remains consistent is the probe for the psychological truth
which Genova pushes forward into a new territory.
Joe, an Englishman,...
Eugene Hütz – who you can see at the this year’s
edition of the Bratislava IFF in Madonna’s debut “Filth
and Wisdom“ - and his band of gypsy punks have become
international superstars. Film takes viewers deep into
Hütz‘s artistic life and influences.
The...
Brutal and savage, "Gomorrah" shows in incredible detail the
stranglehold of the Naples-based mafia organization known as
the Camorra and the way it controls and rules the lives of
ordinary men and women.
The story is set in a northern Naples suburb, a...
It is a story of desire, self-confidence, love of music, the
story of a complicated human´s decision, of emancipation
and of the different but exceedingly poetic and attractive
Gypsy world. The story is set against the background of the
complicated period of Frantisek Rakoczi´s...
Should we call her foolish or irresponsible? Or is she, in
fact, highly perceptive and wise? One way or another,
everyone falls in love with her, some more, some less...
Poppy is a school teacher from North London with a seemly
complicated life. We...
In 2006, having toured the world over, Sigur Rós, the
impressionistic Icelandic post-rockers, returned home.
Instead of indulging in a well earned rest, they decided to
go on a two-week tour of free, mostly unannounced, concerts
at home. This is where the title of...
Pistolero, Gent and Comanche. Members of the Victors
motorcycle gang have a lot to settle among themselves and
even more with the 666 gang, especially with Deuco, the
boss.
Imagine Michael Madsen, Dennis Hopper and lots and lots of
well-built and often nude ladies, and...
An unfinished highway blends into the quiet, abandoned rural
landscape. Only a few meters away lies a house where a
couple and their three children have been living happily for
a decade. When the road surfacing is completed, a change is
thrust upon the...
A Sunday picnic seems like a good opportunity for a couple
to get over a crisis, spend some time together and maybe
reconcile. However, a series of strange and expected events
throws a wrench into their plans. The trip starts with the
two people...
A political film is a highly specific genre, usually
emerging as a direct response to an event or situation.
Strawberry Statement, All the President’s Men and the
series of films on the German Red Army Faction are good
examples. The response may be noteworthy, however it quickly
fades...
Set in Slovakia, the documentary reveals a young girl’s
spiritual experience on Zvir Mountain.On the afternoon of
August 5, 1990, Ivetka (10), Katka 11) and her little
brother Miťko (7), were absorbed in a game near the village
of Litmanová, situated in the northeastern...
Janík offers an erotic escort service for older gentleman.
He is always traveling between the city and the small
village in which he lives. Slowly, he starts to reconsider
his chosen way of life. An imaginative performance earned
the film makers the Literary Fund...
A portrait of a Slovak jazz musician, tenor and soprano
saxophone player, Ľuboš
Tamaškovič (born in Nitra in 1994) well-known to the
visitors to Bratislava jazz clubs as well as the
international audience. He started out performing with
various Bratislava jazz bands in the...
Jay, a young homosexual schoolteacher, has been brutally
murdered. Before his family can even find out about it, a TV
producer of the same name, along with his camera crew, make
their way into their home to record the shock and grief of
the...
After two feature films variously associated with Joy
Division – “24 Hour Party
People” by Michael Winterbottom and “Control” by Anton
Corbijn and starring Sam Riley who received the Best Actor
Award at last year’s Bratislava IFF for his stunning
incarnation of Ian Curtis,...
A documentary about the talented young guitar player and
songwriter Juraj Revicky. He was a part of the generation of
young people who were not prepared for the bad and the good
that came to our country after the Velvet Revolution. In
1998, he...
Salma, a widowed Palestinian, enters into a private battle
against Israel’s Defense Minister whose house is near her
lemon grove, right on the border between Israel and the
occupied territories. Salma’s trees are promptly claimed
to be an immediate threat to the minister and...
The perfect film for a winter evening. The story is based on
a novel by John Ajvide Lindgvist which became a Swedish
bestseller and was translated into several languages. The
title is meant to paraphrase the words of a popular song
while pointing out...
