Árni (Dorka Vermes, drama, 103 min, eng subtitles)
5.10.2024, 19:30, Cinémathèque - with director Dorka Vermes
17.10.2024, 19:00, Utopia - Salle 3
In the small and dingy travelling circus where he works as an animal keeper, Árni is almost invisible. He hardly occupies any space at all, going about his daily chores. He is the only non-family member of the family troupe running the circus enterprise. His domain is not the circus arena, but the backstage, the caravan, the no-man's-land. He prefers the company of animals to humans, yet his self-effacing life is full of burning loneliness.
Produced by Béla Tarr, this is an extraordinarily confident feature film debut: slow, meditative, cinematographically exquisite, riveting in its use of sound and powerful in its poetic realism and subtle storytelling.
The film premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival as part of the Biennale College Cinema.
With the participation of the director Dorka Vermes
Lesson Learned / Fekete pont (Bálint Szimler, drama, 119 min, eng subtitles)
7.10.2024, 20:30, Cinémathèque
13.10.2024, 18:30, Utopia - Salle 2
At a time of crisis in the Hungarian school system, two newcomers, a teacher, Juci, and a boy, Palkó, arrive at a struggling school. Juci is unexpectedly made head teacher of a fifth-grade class due to a teacher shortage. Meanwhile, Palkó, recently relocated from Berlin, struggles to adapt to the demanding educational system. As Juci attempts to challenge the outdated methods and Palkó tries to fit in, a childish prank lands him in trouble, making life at school miserable for both of them.Their personal stories offer insight into an oppressive system, while reflecting on Hungarian society as a whole.
This independently produced film (involving not less than 10 different Hungarian production companies) was presented at this year’s Locarno film festival where it received a Special Mention as well as Pardo for Best Performance (for actress Anna Mészöly).
Libertate (Tudor Giurgiu, drama, 109 min, eng subtitles)
7.10.2024, 21:00, Utopia - Salle 3
20.10.2024, 18:30, Utopia - Salle 3
The small city of Sibiu in Transylvania, in the chaos of the Romanian revolution, December 1989 and early 1990. The military school and army headquarters are across the street from the police and Securitate, the secret police of Ceaușescu’s regime. Shots are fired (though not claimed) in the square nearby. Protesters storm the police building. Some militia and secret police officers, a few revolutionaries and civilians caught up in the pandemonium seek refuge with the army but get detained at gunpoint for a month in a military swimming pool as suspected terrorists, hungry, wounded, amid fear, mistrust, revenge, hatred, profiteering, paranoia, traces of common sense and even fledgling compassion.
Based on real events at the fief of Ceaușescu’s youngest son, after the dictator’s mock trial and execution, the movie does not judge, nor defend, but questions human reactions, group dynamics, rewriting the past, memory and history, the effects of such trauma and the process of lustration, anytime and around the world.
The film received 10 Romanian National Film Awards (Gopo awards), as well as the Best Film award at Chennai FF and other prizes at Transilvania IFF, Sarajevo FF and Cottbus FF.
Some Birds / Valami madarak (Dániel Hevér, drama, comedy, 90 min, eng subtitles)
9.10.2024, 20:00, Ancien Cinéma
12.10.2024, 18:00, Cinémathèque, with actor Lilla Kizlinger
Some Birds tells the story of Béla, who feels like the world is conspiring against him when his son puts him in a nursing home. Here, he crosses paths with a rebellious teenager, Zoé, who has been sentenced to community service. While Zoé desperately tries to connect with her single mother, Béla wants to prove to everyone that he can live independently so that he can go home. Despite the almost sixty-year gap between them, their similarities and loneliness turn them into allies.
Some Birds tells the tale of a friendship transcending age barriers, and sheds light on the under-represented social issue of how we process aging. It’s a story of two people trying to find a place in the world, and end up creating a special bond that transcends generations. The friendship of Béla and Zoé is full of bittersweet moments, told with a lot of humour, compassion and optimism
Tony, Shelly Und Das Magische Licht / Tonda, slávka a kouzelné světlo (Filip Pošivač, children animation, 82 min, German version)
12.10.2024, 15:00, Utopia - Salle 2
19.10.2024, 15:00, Utopia - Salle 3
Eleven-year-old Tony is different because he glows. Understandably, his parents are worried, so they make him wear masks and tell him never to leave their apartment. Tony spends most of his time in his blanket bunker, dreaming of having a friend. When he meets a quirky, bespectacled girl named Shelly, she turns his world upside down. Together they embark on an adventurous search for the source of the mysterious clouds of darkness that suck the light out of their building.
Filled with imaginative detail that will appeal to children and adults alike, this is a beautiful, heartfelt, stop-motion animated film about being different, friendship and first love, but most of all, about light and darkness.
The film received the Contrechamp Jury Award at the Annecy IAFF 2023 and the Czech Lion for Best Animated Film.
Kix (Dávid Mikulán, Bálint Révész, documentary, 92 min, eng subtitles)
15.10.2024, 18:30, Cinémathèque
19.10.2024, 16:00, Cinémathèque
At the beginning of the film, there is a chance encounter between the filmmaker and Sanyi, a smart, charismatic, brash and unruly 8-year-old street kid who spends his days drifting through Budapest, testing boundaries. The filmmaker asks whether he could follow him with his camera. “Sure, faggot!” is the reply. The film takes us on an immersive urban odyssey from Sanyi´s childhood and his endless breakneck-speed skateboard city rides into the troubled waters of his adolescence.
Filmed over a period of 12 years, in the spirit of cinema verité, Kix has it all. It is a captivating and poignant coming-of-age story, an extensive and sharp-eyed social study, and a delightful and disarming ride of a movie.
The film premiered at CPH DOX 2024 and it received the Special Mention and FIPRESCI awards at goEast 2024.