Published: July 02, 2023| 11:00 AM

On the third day of the festival, Proxima Competition will bring a breath of fresh air to the programme of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival with two imaginative films from Eastern Europe. The documentary Arsenie. An Amazing Afterlife, focusing on the fate of Arsenie Boca, an Orthodox priest, theologian and mystic, will premiere internationally at the Karlovy Vary Municipal Theatre at 4:00 p.m. 

Documentarist Alexandru Solomon, whose film Tarzan’s Testicles competed at the 2017 KVIFF, follows the footsteps of a man persecuted by the communist regime, whom many consider holy. He is not alone – he goes on a pilgrimage alongside selected believers, discussing with them the priest’s miracles or the state of the faith and the world today. 

The spiritual contemplation will be followed by the Polish film Imago, which will have its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary Municipal Theatre from 7:00 p.m. Its heroine Ela seeks refuge from the insipidness of a life in the 1980s communist Poland among artists, on club stages or at endless parties. The film gives the viewer the opportunity to experience the iconic Baltic Tricity as a vibrant art centre, but also presents a comprehensive picture of a fragile artist struggling with her inner demons. 

Director Olga Chajdas, who presented herself to the festival audience in 2018 with her debut Nina, collaborated on Imago with screenwriter and actress Lena Góra.