Official Selection - Competition
Sections of 50th KVIFF
- Official Selection - Competition
- Official Selection - Out of Competition
- East of the West - Competition
- Forum of Independents - Competition
- Documentary Films - Competition
- Special Events
- Horizons
- Another View
- Imagina
- Variety Critics’ Choice
- Midnight Screenings
- Czech Films 2014–2015
- Documentary Films - Out of Competition
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Tribute to Larisa Shepitko
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A Week of Lebanese Cinema
- Six Close Encounters
- Out of the Past
- Future Frames: Ten New Filmmakers To Follow
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Prague Short Film Festival Presents
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Antonia
Antonia /
Antonia
Directed by: Ferdinando Cito Filomarino
Italy, Greece, 2015, 96 min
Distinguished Italian poet Antonia Pozzi (1912–1938) was among those women who were at odds with the times in which they lived. Her poems record her inability to adapt to social norms and her desire to live fully, and in poetry she sought an escape from reality and from her own complex soul and emotional life. An exceptional debut from a talented Italian filmmaker whose short work was awarded at the festivals in Locarno and Sundance.
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Babai
Babai /
Babai
Directed by: Visar Morina
Germany, Kosovo, North Macedonia, France, 2015, 103 min
The story of ten-year-old Nori plays out in Kosovo, in Germany, and on the road between the two countries. His father Gezim dominates his entire world, however, one day he leaves for work in the “West” and Nori won’t be placated concerning his sudden disappearance. This feature debut from a talented Kosovan filmmaker is rendered with exceptional intensity and a flair for portraying the emotional complexities of the child’s situation.
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Bob and the Trees
Bob a stromy /
Bob and the Trees
Directed by: Diego Ongaro
USA, 2015, 91 min
Massachusetts logger Bob Tarasuk, a charismatic workhorse and hard-head with a soft spot for golf and gangsta rap, plays himself in this vérite-style drama – an unpretentiously intense character study of an individual surrounded by a landscape both majestic and inscrutable.
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Box
Box /
Box
Directed by: Florin Şerban
Romania, Germany, France, 2015, 93 min
The story of this keenly anticipated film by acclaimed Romanian director Florin Șerban (If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle, Berlinale 2010) follows a talented 19-year-old boxer named Rafael, for whom a session in the ring is everything, and Cristina, an attractive, 30-something mother who finds herself at a critical moment in her life. Two characters with their own secrets, two journeys, two outlooks. An intense drama that penetrates to the core.
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Gold Coast
Zlaté pobřeží /
Guldkysten
Directed by: Daniel Dencik
Denmark, 2015, 114 min
Young anti-colonial idealist Wulff leaves for Danish Guinea to set up a coffee plantation but not everything goes according to plan. This bold contribution to the historical film genre casts light on a dark chapter of European history, employing the music of Angelo Badalamenti to help shift the experience into a dreamlike trip that partakes in equal measure of lyric poetry and a horrifying nightmare.
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Heil
Heil /
Heil
Directed by: Dietrich Brüggemann
Germany, 2015, 103 min
Renowned German filmmaker Dietrich Brüggemann (Stations of the Cross) has come out with a radical satirical comedy where, in the carefree spirit of punk, he pitches into the neo-Nazis, the media, police, and the European Union. The acrid commentary on the state of contemporary German society fed to the viewer at an impressive tempo can easily be applied to the countries bordering the director’s homeland.
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Home Care
Domácí péče /
Domácí péče
Directed by: Slávek Horák
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2015, 92 min
Everyone knows about the finality of human existence but the realization of life’s actual limits comes to each of us individually and often unexpectedly. Dedicated home care nurse Vlasta (Alena Mihulová) lives for her husband Láďa (Bolek Polívka), her daughter, and her patients. But then one day things change and Vlasta is forced to react. This mature debut portrays deadly serious issues with a gentle humor.
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The Magic Mountain
Kouzelný vrch /
La montagne magique
Directed by: Anca Damian
Romania, France, Poland, 2015, 95 min
The Magic Mountain investigates the adventures of mountain climber and photographer Adam J. Winkler, who fought in Afghanistan with the mujahedin against the Soviets in the 1980s. The director employs a highly original artistic technique involving animated collage of period materials.
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The Red Spider
Červený pavouk /
Czerwony pająk
Directed by: Marcin Koszałka
Poland, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2015, 90 min
This feature debut by a leading Polish documentarist and cameraman was inspired by actual mass murders committed in the 1960s. A precisely constructed psychological thriller, the film delves into an intricate story of the fascination with evil that hides in places we would never expect.
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The Snake Brothers
Kobry a užovky /
Kobry a užovky
Directed by: Jan Prušinovský
Czech Republic, 2015, 111 min
This uncompromising drama tells the story of two brothers who answer to the nicknames Viper and Cobra, each dealing in his own way with the bleakness, lack of funds, and the alcohol-filled evenings repeated ad nauseam in their small Central Bohemian town. Brothers Matěj and Kryštof Hádek excel in one of the must-see domestic films of the year.
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Song of Songs
Píseň písní /
Pesn pesney
Directed by: Eva Neymann
Ukraine, 2015, 76 min
The acclaimed work by renowned Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem served as inspiration for the Ukrainian filmmaker, whose third picture offers a markedly stylized vision of the lost world of the Jewish shtetl at the beginning of the 20th century. Poetic scenes created using truly magical images are loosely connected via the motif of childhood love, while the film’s imaginative form is imbued with nostalgia.
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The Sound of Trees
Šum stromů /
Le bruit des arbres
Directed by: François Péloquin
Canada, 2015, 79 min
At 17 Jérémie dreams of a life different from the one that awaits him at the family sawmill in the small Canadian town where he lives. Jérémie is more interested in pimping his car, listening to hip hop, and slacking off with his friends. This impressionistic debut, built upon convincing performances, tells of a summer that completely changed a teenager’s life.
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Those Who Fall Have Wings
Má křídla, kdo končí pádem /
Jeder der fällt hat Flügel
Directed by: Peter Brunner
Austria, 2015, 92 min
In the face of death, time seems to stop for those left behind. What can they do to start the clock ticking again? This inward-looking, artistically striking, and exceptionally strong drama from one of Austria’s greatest talents presents its protagonists in moments of sorrow and the occasional joy, but always as fragile, vulnerable people.