Multi-genre Melodrama and Millennial Disillusionment. Proxima Presents Further Reflections on Life Choices

While at first glance, the films Renovation and They Come Out of Margo adopt a completely different approach, they have something in common: the topic of dreams thwarted in the rapidly advancing age and a distinctive filmmaking perspective. The two films will be screened in the world premieres within the Proxima Competition at the Karlovy Vary Theatre at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively.

Gabrielé Urbonaitė started writing the script for Renovation in her early thirties, inspired by Kieślowski’s film Camera Buff. Watching it made her contemplate all the things she had planned but failed to have achieved by this age. She decided to reflect (not only) her feelings and existential crisis in the story of a woman who seems fine and happy in a long-term relationship yet suppresses her growing inner pain. In her delicate feature-length debut, shot on 16mm film, she captures the weight of making choices in the accelerating world, as well as the shared traumas of people growing up in post-Soviet countries. The vulnerability and anxiety we must learn to process are mirrored in the plot and form. Yet there is place for subtle humour and artistic poetics of the seemingly mundane mise-en-scène.

In contrast, Greek director and musician Alexandros Voulgaris creates an unrestrained piece escaping any categories. They Come Out of Margo explores the boundaries of melodramatic traditions and a horror flick. The director’s previous films already were enigmatic and uncompromising in form, both demanding and rewarding for the audience, who were served with shocking plot twists and multilayered ambiguity. In his new film, Voulgaris follows in his footsteps but keeps varying his established style. This time, he probes into the midlife as well as artistic crisis. Margo, a songwriter who was once famous but who now isolates herself in her apartment, has her life shattered when she throws a party to celebrate her 40th birthday. The film, composed of expressive scenes in mind-blowing colour palette, is the ultimate roller coaster.