January 10, 2025, 10:12
Explanation for Everything – It could be a true story…
On 29 June, Hungarian director Gábor Reisz presented his latest film at KVIFF 58. His third feature film explores the educational system and the current situation in Hungary, illustrating an ideologically divided society that is one step away from exploding through the story of a graduation exam. The film provoked a wide range of responses in Hungary, with media close to the government trying not to mention it at all. For the left-wing and independent media, on the other hand, it was proof that independent filmmakers continue to make films in Hungary despite being under relentless political pressure. Explanation for Everything won the Orizzonti Award for Best Film at last year’s Venice Film Festival.
“There was a kind of scandal around my university because the government wanted to reform the educational system. The students started to demonstrate because of this, and a lot of artists and filmmakers stood with the students. That was the point when I realized that the system labeled the students, labeled them because they were criticizing the government. It was terrible to watch. I knew that I needed to do something. I got the basic idea for the movie on my way home from a demonstration,” says the director, who was also a juror at last year’s festival. The entire interview can be found HERE.
Czech cinematic premiere: 9 January 2025
Crossing – a difficult yet humorous journey
Before her sister’s death, retired Georgian teacher Lia promises to find her sister’s daughter Tekla, whom the family has disowned because of her trans identity. Accompanied by her young neighbor Achim, she sets off for Istanbul, where Tekla has found refuge. Istanbul plays a central role in the film, and its winding streets full of local history, its hidden neighborhoods, and its quirky inhabitants represent the hope not only of finding Tekla, but also of discovering new friendships, new horizons, new values. The opening film of the Panorama section at last year’s Berlinale was rightly one of the festival’s most popular films. Swedish director Levan Akin’s fourth feature film delivers an emotional and visually stunning journey towards forgiveness and acceptance.
Our programmer Petra Vočadlová described Crossing as human, humorous, and sad.
Czech cinematic premiere: 9 January 2025
Parthenope – When the most beautiful woman enters the world’s most beautiful city
Another city – this time, Naples – is also one of the main protagonists in the latest film by Italian visual genius Paola Sorrentino. The Oscar-winning director has shot a spectacular cinematic treatise on the power of human beauty that is also a love letter to his hometown. It is his first film with a female protagonist, the bewitchingly beautiful Parthenope, whose life he depicts in chapters spread out over several decades. Parthenope is also the old name for Naples, a city whose beauty can prove just as fateful as the melancholia-shrouded maiden. The film’s showing in Cannes was the seventh time Sorrentino brought his irresistible, stylistically refined filmmaking to the festival.
First-hand brews throughout the year.
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