On Sunday, the Ukrainian documentary Divia, a picture of the wounded country, and the first Czech entry Broken Voices, inspired by the infamous Bambini di Praga case, join the Crystal Globe Competition.
Divia, which will have its world premiere at 5:30 p.m. in the Grand Hall, offers a meditative journey through a country scarred by war – a raw portrait of Ukraine before, during, and after the Russian invasion. The film unfolds without dialogue and plays like a metaphysical symphony, where the landscape bears silent witness to both devastation and resilience. Every frame carries the imprint of violence etched into the earth. Yet the nature presses on. The seasons continue their cycle. Grass breaks through scorched soil. Dmytro Hreshko’s film creates a space where beauty and destruction coexist, and where the act of watching becomes a form of renewal.
At 7:30 p.m., the world premiere of the highly anticipated Czech film Broken Voices will take place. Director Ondřej Provazník, who previously attracted attention at KVIFF as co-author of the drama Old-Timers, was loosely inspired by the sexual abuse scandal that emerged around the Bambini di Praga choir in the 2000s. “In cases like these that have been silenced for years, victims are often met with disbelief. But few people understand how complex the relationship between victims and perpetrators can be, the conflicting emotions they feel and the weight and fragility of their experience,” Provazník explains his motivation for filming the story. “With this film, we aimed to convey that inner world as closely as possible to the audience – not schematically, but through an emotional story, cinematic language and all the ups and downs.”
