Galia survives an attack in Jerusalem during which her
fiancé dies. The attack appears just like a simple traffic
accident and it is its consequences what matter: how can
you survive when your loved one dies, how not to feel guilty
for having survived, how...
Having two penises at once in your anus does not necessarily
have to be so terrible if you are paid 3,000 dollars for
that, drive the biggest jeep ever and if at yearly awards
event the full hall applauds you for your last...
Tristan is convinced he is no longer a man. He is unable to
communicate with his father, even his girlfriend does not
look at him anymore and the fish he tries to catch treat him
with total disregard. He gets caught up in...
Herzl is an overweight, underemployed chef living at home
with his mother in the Israeli city of Ramla. Unable to find
a cooking job, he becomes a dishwasher at a Japanese
restaurant. One day he notices his co-workers watching sumo
wrestling on television. To...
A Place of One's Own jumps from story to story, and in each
we notice ripples of the absurd. Master Lin makes giant,
elaborate origami houses which get burned down during
funerals. His son Xiao Gang passes out real estate flyers in
the streets...
The setting of Jacques Audiard’s fifth film is a prison.
The film won Grand Prize in Cannes and proved the screenplay
cooperation of the duo Audiard and Thomas Bidegain to be one
of a million. A young Arab called Malik, nineteen, is
sentenced to...
The Brain is a professional hit man who kills his victims by
trapping them in “accidents” that are in fact perfectly
staged acts of crime. Plagued with guilt, he is also
suspicious and morbid by nature. After one mission
accidentally goes wrong, causing the...
Agrarian Utopia focuses on several peasant families who work
persistently but their income hardly covers debts which they
have run to. Despite their profound relationship with their
ground the peasants are inevitably forced to leave and
extent the queue of exiles heading for Bangkok...
Two ministrants standing on sides of the Virgin Mary statue
are staring at us; then they put on masks of the Sun and the
Moon. The camera is turning around its axe and capturing
a small gathering in a church in the Andes. Presenting
celebrations of...
To provide a future for his son Fadi, Muna, a Palestinian
single mother from West Bank decides to go to the promising
lands of the US after obtaining a green card grant. She
wants to make a new life in ‘Amreeka’ because she...
Remo is a specific author. So far he has shot only films
depicting the country or region of his origin. And that is
his great advantage. He knows this environment very well and
is able to transform it into an audiovisual form with
tenderness....
“It was the first time that agricultural workers from the
developing world gave testimony against a US-based
multinational in a US court” say the filmmakers of
Bananas!* about their film in a letter to the international
documentary community. In Los Angeles, Swedish director
Fredrik Gertten...
Bassidji opens on a desert, men, children and women in
chadors wandering in a vast open air "museum" dedicated to
the Iran-Iraq war. A ceremony is organized in the memory of
the martyrs of war by supporters of the regime. For almost
three years, Mehran...
A huge service station found in the middle of a scorched
earth in the northeast of Brazil. Cocada and Nero are 14 and
13 years old. Cocada dreams to become a truck driver. Nego
lives in a favela, surrounded by many siblings. While...
"There are images that one does not forget, that are with
you forever. The first time I attended hearings in a
Juvenile Court, the faces of the minors (the accused
adolescents) lingered in my mind for days. When I decided to
make Behave, I was...
The much-awaited second feature film of Sri Lankan Vimukthi
Jayasundara, who had garnered the Cannes’ Camera d’Or
with his acclaimed debut The Forsaken Land, is a
fascinating, visionary and enigmatic reworking of the
political themes that inspired his first film. Jayasundara
once again depicts with...
If you thought Brazilian music started with Carmen Miranda
and ended with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Beyond Ipanema is
just the pulsing primer for you. David Byrne, Devendra
Banhart, M.I.A., Os Mutantes, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil,
Tom Zé, Seu Jorge, Thievery Corporation, Bebel Gilberto,
CSS, and Creed are...
The age-old conflicts between settlers and native are
sensitively and intelligently handled in Marco Bechis’
pensive examination of modern day colonialism in southern
Brazil. Sparked by a double suicide, a group of
Guarani-Kaiowa Indians leave their reserve to set up a
ramshackle camp. But, as...
“There you go, we offend nature but we bring nature back
to our homes with its scars, with its laments” saddens
Raffaele del Giudice, an ecological activist and the main
protagonist of Biutiful cauntri. This Italian documentary
confronts with the scandalous garbage problem of...
Black Dynamite is a former CIA operative, war veteran and
baddest brother on the block. His skills in kung fu are
prodigious, his skills with the ladies even more so.
Director Scott Sanders and writer-producer-star Michael Jai
White have succeeded in doing precisely what...
Border documents in a few striking images the border area of
the 'Republic of Serbian Krajina', one of the focal points
in the Yugoslavian/Croatian war. Twelve years after the end
of the conflict, the traces of altercation are still
present. Dilapidated houses act as...
On an island of the Philippines, islanders who used to be
wealthy go through economic difficulties when a goldmine
company withdraws from the area. One day, a Canadian
woman’s visit changes everything...
With Capitalism: A Love Story, Michael Moore returns to the
issue he has examined throughout his career: the disastrous
impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of
Americans and citizens of the world. But this time the
culprit is much bigger than General...
Thirty five-year old Robert and his young daughter Ana leave
on Christmas Eve morning from Braila train station to
Bucharest. Robert has to take a jar of black caviar to Mrs.
Zina, a rich lady, the owner of a modelling agency. Ana does
not...
1937: China and Japan are at war again. Japanese imperial
army is at the gates of Nanking, the Chinese capital. The
siege lasts several weeks and then turns to a massacre of
tens of thousands soldiers and civilians. The movie City of
Life and Death comes...
Varakine, an engineer from Moscow, sets off on a mission to
a provincial town where he finds himself in the middle of
bizarre events. Surprise by surprise on his way to a factory
where he is supposed to join a meeting. He is...
Constantin miluje Elenu. Elena miluje Constantina. Spoločne
bývajú v malom domčeku s dymiacim komínom, rozprávajú
sa o minulosti, ale nie priveľmi. Pomaly si nažívajú
a sami si zaobstarajú všetko, čo potrebujú, chovajú
zvieratá a pestujú zeleninu. Patria do inej doby, všetko
je také, ako vždy bolo....
Looking at wars and history in the kitchens, Cooking History
portrays military cooks during wars in Europe of the 20th
century. With ten recipes (from Germany, Russia, Hungary,
France, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Croatia and Serbia), six
wars (before and after the World War II) and...
Set in an isolated girls’ school in the mid 1930s, Cracks
is a sensuous drama of obsession and misguided love,
confidently directed by Jordan Scott (daughter of Ridley),
making her feature debut. The story centres on a clique of
teenage girls who are all...
The story of Abdullah, father of two young children, and Ali Faris Mustafa, an old man and former resistance fighter. In a country that is one of the major oil producers, they survive recycling cans used to sell gasoline at...
Antonio Martins is a respected theatrical critic whose life
is marked by his methodical control. Not a single detail
escapes his astute analysis. A chance encounter in a bar
presents Antonio with a disturbing element of this order:
the young Ines. Inhibited and attractive,...
You will not easily forget the blood-stained bunny-shaped
slippers in Sun Koh’s unpredictable, cruelly sexy and
utterly entertaining Dirty Bitch. S&M daydreaming, an
amazing rap en français and socio-political critique
combine in the bitchiest film of 2009!
A ten year old boy and his little sister live in a humble
semi-underground house. Their father, who left them with a
message “Never go out of here”, has not sent any news
for a long time. A bell rings just then. A...
In his first feature film, Kamen Kalev makes an echo of his
disillusioned juvenility in Sofia. Eastern Plays is a
sincere portrait of two brothers who have lost all their
appetite: Georgi is younger and dangerously inclines to
hooliganism, while Izo is thirty-five years...
Encirclement – Neo – Liberalism Ensnares Democracy, the
fruits of nearly twelve year lasting labour, wants to throw
light on the true nature of neoliberalism. Richard
Brouillette in his many interviews has shown that
neoliberalism, although wrapped in a cover of scientific
neutrality, is evidently...
Politics and erotica have dated in the latest film by Peter
Begányi. A view behind the curtain of sex business
intermingles with overview of crucial social and political
events of modern Slovak history. The key moments of Slovak
history are served with sharp comments...
Ruurd Walrecht’s interest in historical crops began when
he was very young. He started a life-long crusade to
protect, preserve and maintain them. This rare vegetables
lover built an incredible collection of crops that were on
the brink of extinction, to preserve for posterity...
The streets of Beirut are packed with demonstrators. In the
meantime, three women who do not know each other, get on the
same bus, travelling to the same place, Mermel prison.
Tamara is going to visit her husband who was incarcerated on
their wedding...
A dark, humorous semi-documentary about the loss of cultural heritage in the Czech Republic -- from the perspective of a character with everything to lose.
After her debut Red Road got critical acclaim at Cannes in
2006, Andrea Arnold’s second feature was awaited with
great expectations. Finally, the director won once again the
Jury Prize. It seems that there is another director to the
group of independent British filmmakers...
In Bat Yam, a working-class suburb of Tel Aviv, Yigal drives
a taxi for a living. Even though he is a master at ground
travel he still cannot overcome his deep fear of flying. He
dreams big but takes no action, listening to...
German director Oliver Hirschbiegel comes to the UK to make
a thriller based on Guy Hibbert’s screenplay. This is the
story of two men, Little and Griffen, who should conciliate
in front of TV cameras, thanks to a special programme of
British and Irish...
The sound of sausage: when a bite produces a distinct
crunch, they taste particularly good. Fish sticks, on the
other hand, do not make such great noises, but can be
arranged nicely in the pan. And why tea biscuits must have
precisely 52 notches?...
A tea break-sized glimpse into the many and varied ways that
Britain’s favorite brew is enjoyed today – and it’s
not always a simple case of a tea bag and milk.
Foxes might be a character driven drama of two Slovak
sisters living in Ireland and their love and hate
relationship in the first place but goes further than that.
It reflects a European young generation on move, in search
of their own happiness, outside...
With freestyle camerawork that makes you smell the pavement
of New York, the brothers Safdie paint Lenny, a man on a
high rope with right his personal urges and left his –
temporary – responsibility for his two young sons. In the
opening scene...
Film history is littered with the carcasses of unfinished
films, legendary ideas that never got off the ground. Among
them, the aborted Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno is one
of the more notorious. Clouzot, scorned by the authors of
the French New Wave for his tightly...
High – rise explores the social and cultural mindset of
the Brazilian upper class through dialogues with the owners
of penthouses in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Recife.
“From here we can see all the beauty of Rio de Janeiro,
despite the poverty....
Pavel Branko, a doyen of Slovak film critic and journalism,
now aged 88, is still active in publishing and wins awards
for his lifetime merits. In spite of that he has already
started to feel like a stranger in this world. However,
Zuzana Piussi...
On a summer day four members of a Chilean peasant family
struggle to adapt to the world which they live in, a world
where a video game can be as precious as a liter of milk.
Values are quickly changing in a new...
Beautifully structured and ultimately transcendent, I Travel
Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You is a road
movie in its purest form, offering an affecting record of
processing loss and coming through to the other side.
Co-helmers Marcelo Gomes and...
Ilja Zeljenka counts among the most interesting figures of
the Slovak music scene of 20 th century. The documentary by
Ostrochovsky goes public two years after the composer’s
death and it is a dignified commemoration which will please
everyone who had the chance to...
A Canadian musician and songwriter, Gonzales currently
resides in Paris. He does not live in a luxurious apartment
but a tiny flat with his recording machines and old broken
piano towering over his bed. Gonzales is extraordinarily
talented, blending various genres such as French
impressionism,...
After the very self-centred movie Filmeur (2005), Alain
Cavalier leaves a view of him and turns to Irène, a woman
he loved and who died in 1972. The filmmaker returns to a
tragedy of passion which gives his project a salutary
openness to the...
Denise Garcia’s super energetic documentary explores the
musical and social phenomenon of Carioca funk (also known as
Favela Funk). The style, derived from Miami Bass, is based
on repetitive bass drum loops and lyrics full of sexual and
violent overtones. The ‘I am ugly...
Vivian, a young insecure Brazilian woman, arrives in London
under the wing of her cousin Jean Charles. She relies on him
for everything. He is fun-loving, outgoing, a free spirit.
He has been in London for three years and boasts about how
easy it...
70 years ago, a man visits a quiet village named Koma. He
accidentally saves a boy’s life and by way of thanks the
boy’s father gives him a hanging scroll. Time passes, and
now that man’s grandchild visits Koma again…
Ľahký vánokLight Breeze - Memoiers from the diary of an emigrant
Emigration, desire for a fuller life and settling in a
better place than one’s own – these are the motives of
the poetic film by Afghan woman director Sahraa Karimi.
Sahraa has experienced the long journey to freedom on her
own feet; on her...
The film is an unusual portrait of Slovak poet Jozef Urban
who tragically died. Nevertheless, his short life was enough
for his work to influence social and cultural spheres in
Slovakia. First of all, however, he was a bohemian and a
rebel able to...
Hercegová already shown her courage in the first year at
the Film and Television Faculty (Academy of Music and
Dramatic Arts) when she and her crew decided to ignore an
obligatory practice task. Again, in her latest film, the
director aims to cross the...
Misook is on her way to Jeonju to see her friend Jin-Young. Later on, she spends the night with Sangoak, her teacher and her ex-boyfriend. Next day, at Jin-Young’s place, Misook accidentally finds out the relationship going on between Sangoak...
Christine has been confined to a wheelchair for most of her
life. In order to escape her isolation, she makes a journey
to Lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the Pyrenees
Mountains. She wakes up one morning seemingly cured by a
miracle. Lourdes is a...
Luck by Chance, Zoya Akhtar’s debut feature, is a spunky
Bollywood film by that endangered species: an intelligent
Bollywood woman director. Besides the Bollywood
masala—melodrama, lively songs, high-protein dances and
the role of destiny - it is both an insider’s view of
Bollywood, and a...
This documentary constitutes the most pleasant invitation to
enter the universe of Maria Bethânia, the famous Brazilian
singer, once a muse of the ‘counter culture’. Narrated
by Bethânia herself, the film not only gives an intimate
insight into her creative process, but also puts...
At least the peas Toni has to eat, says her mother. But Toni
is not hungry at all! Maybe the fat mash can help her? But
he is very moody today. That is going to be dangerous,
because the mother is quite...
Bazil is an optimistic dreamer. He works for a video rental
until a bullet accidentally hits his head in a gunfight.
Then he loses his job as well as the roof over his head.
Therefore he has to live in the streets with...
During communist era, you could find them in every corner of
Poland. Extremely cheap thanks to the government’s
subsidies (even cheaper than cooking at home), their mission
was to serve fast and tasty food to all sorts of people. In
Milkbar, directors Terese Mörnvik...
Being stuck in Sao Paolo’s traffic jams Heitor has started
soliloquizing behind the steering wheel of his car. His head
is sparkling with memories, definitive ideas about his life,
one after another. “There’s no way to be happy in
solitude”. A play replica. “I can’t be...
Globalisation will not even stop for an ancient cultural
product as wine. Interviewing different winegrowers,
distributors as well as critics and other people related to
the wine making process, Jonathan Nossiter confronts the
visions -one should say philosophies- on how wine should
taste and be...
The theme of Mexican immigrants trying to cross the border
into the U.S. has been so overdone, that it's almost
shocking to discover there really are new, compelling ways
to tell this story. Rigoberto Perezcano keeps things in the
here and now, his interest...
Muller, a pharmaceutical company, wants to introduce a new
product; therefore it organizes an extravagant party and
invites their senior managers, managers and other employees.
During the night the guests are invited to take part in a
role-play which, however, turns out in a...
With kind causticity and all lucid humanity, Cristián
Jiménez’s debut portrays the absurdities of a society
that takes pride in its modernity and material achievements
but, as he enjoys saying, remains utterly provincial.
Several characters cross paths in two of ultraliberal
Chile’s most representative institutions:...
Welcome to the world of industrial food production and
high-tech farming! To the rhythm of conveyor belts and
immense machines, Our Daily Bread looks without commenting
into the places where food is produced in Europe: monumental
spaces, surreal landscapes and bizarre sounds – a...
Oxhide II is a work by a 28-year-old director. She made the
minimalist film herself in presence of her parents.
Father’s work table becomes a kitchen table where ravioli
are prepared and then they are cooked in wok outside on the
ground. The camera...
A girl and her friends are enjoying a careless summer day in
the sunlit streets of Vukovar and quiet river-banks of
Danube, where light-heartedness and leisure make everything
seem nice and simple. They are not aware that the youthful
idyll might be easily...
As movies about Clash, Joy Division and Gogol Bordello had
a very favourable response from the audience in the section
Music and Film which has been included in IFF Bratislava
since 2003, we have decided to bring another movie speaking
about music personalities into the...
Daniel, 35, seems fairly busy with his job as a building
worker. And if his existence at first appears to be a
solitary one, we come to understand that he has a tormented
relationship for three years with Sonia, a woman he seems...
