Captives / Foglyok - Drama, HU, Kristóf Deák, 100’, 2019
Directed by Oscar-winning Kristóf Deák, the film is based on real events of the Communist-era Budapest. A story of an ordinary family appears before the eyes of the audience, whose life is turned upside-down from the moment the secret police knocks on their door. Instead of arresting them, they decide to move in and hold the family captive, along with anyone who comes to visit…
In Hungarian with English subtitles. Q&A from 7PM via Zoom with the director.
Parking - Drama, Romance, RO, E, CZ, Tudor Giurgiu, 110’, 2019
Adrian, a Romanian poet flees his country in hope to make a better life. An undocumented immigrant, works as a security guard at a parking lot in Córdoba, Spain. The movie presents the challenges of leaving it all behind while new hope comes in the form of romance. A personal drama and a story of a society, about the desire to make a better life, to go unnoticed, the fear to get sick and not be able to work, the fear of failure.
In Romanian with English subtitles. Q&A via Zoom from 7PM.
Blue Mountains or an Unbelievable Story / ცისფერი მთები ანუ დაუჯერებელი ამბავი - Satire, Comedy, Drama, GE, Eldar Shengelaia, 98’, 1983
A young Georgian author, Soso is trying to get his novel published in Tbilisi, Georgia. While all of the employees of the publishing house seem to be flooded with work, webbed in the Soviet controlled bureaucracy, no one is doing any productive work. Not even a giant structural flaw in the building can get the employees attention. The piece of Eldar Shengelaia is a superb satire of the communist era that shows the ludicrousness of bureaucracy.
In Georgian with English subtitles. Q&A with Irina Demetradze, Georgian film critic from 7PM via Zoom
The Dissidents / Sangarid - Action, Comedy, EST, Jaak Kilmi, 90’, 2017
Influenced by the series Miami Vice and Knight Rider, a trio decides to escape from the Soviet Estonia to Sweden in the 1980s. The young adults are looking to fulfil their dreams in the free Western world, they dream about a new, carefree life, only to realise that real world is nothing like television.
In Estonian with English subtitles. Q&A with the director, Jaak Kilmi from 7PM via Zoom.
Register here for the screening and Q&A.
Cosy Dens/ Pelísky - Comedy, Drama, CZ, Jan Hřebejk, 116’, 1999
A family saga, from a novel by Petr Sabach. The date is winter 1967, a few months before the Prague Spring two families celebrate Christmas. Several political views unfold from the discussions; the tension is tangible between the supporters and the opponents of the regime. However all hopes are destroyed by the coming Soviet invasion.
In Czech with English subtitles. Q&A from 7PM via Zoom.
Servants / Služobníci - Drama, Fiction, SK, RO, CZ, Ivan Ostrochovský, 80’, 2020
Michal and Juraj, are students at a theological seminary in the 1980s, totalitarian Czechoslovakia. The two friends are standing behind an ethical dilemma, whether they are to choose the easier way of collaboration or they will subject themselves to the surveillance of the secret police. They soon discover that the Roman Catholic seminary willingly collaborates with the regime…
In Slovakian with English subtitles. Q&A with the director Ivan Ostrochovský and Katarina Tomkova from 7PM via Zoom.
NO COMMAND! / NINCS PARANCS! - Documentary, HU, DE, Péter Szalay, 71’, 2020
A documentary about the last days of the Iron Curtain: the eerily similar story of lieutenant colonel Árpád Bella and Harald Jäger, border guards. Exceeding their authority, Árpád Bella let the East German crowd through the Hungarian-Austrian border and Harald Jäger did the same at the Berlin Wall when he let East Berliners go to the West without a rifle shot. Their courageous action accelerated the course of historical events and prevented a mass tragedy.
Q&A with the director Péter Szalay and László Nagy from 7PM via Zoom.
