Directed by: Cat McClay, Éiméar McClay
United Kingdom, 2021, 12 min
Section: Imagina

“I didn’t think about religion until it became a violence.” A personal film, where religious iconography merges with intimacy, and in which a dense text accompanies images of Catholic icons and personal items. A colourful prayer which reminds us that faith is bound by many frontiers.

Directed by: Gastón Solnicki
Austria, Argentina, 2022, 81 min
Section: Horizons

A way of seeing which endows its objects with nobility and connects the far and near, the open and the closed. Angeliki Papoulia, a wealthy yet perpetually dissatisfied woman, is looking for an apartment in Vienna at a time when the smoking ban in public places impacts the city’s coffeehouse culture. After its premiere at the Berlinale the film won Best Director at the BAFICI festival in Buenos Aires.

Directed by: Charlotte Wells
United Kingdom, USA, 2022, 98 min
Section: Horizons

Sometime in the nineties, somewhere in a Turkish coastal resort, Calum (Paul Mescal), a young, divorced father, is spending the vacation with his daughter Sophie (Francesca Corio), a girl almost in her teens. This debut by Charlotte Wells, one of the most agreeable surprises at this year’s Cannes festival, captures fragments of childhood memories and doesn’t require flamboyant gestures to portray unutterably intense life impressions.

Directed by: Gerard Ortín Castellví
Spain, United Kingdom, 2022, 21 min
Section: Imagina

Here's work in progress that’s relaxing to watch. A stark, analytical and meticulous film which nevertheless pulsates with life as it demonstrates that machines, animals and people can function in a fascinating synergy. Does efficient industrialisation give you a sense of well-being or is it more likely to make you feel nervous? Whichever answer you give, Agrilogistics is a film that will have you reaching for those tomatoes.

Directed by: Yi Tang
Hong Kong, 2021, 14 min
Section: Pragueshorts at KVIFF

18-year-old Shengnan is invited to a mysterious party by her cousin. The party is full of greasy, middle-aged Chinese men, but Jianguo is so very different.

Directed by: Ofir Raul Graizer
Israel, Germany, Czech Republic, 2022, 127 min
Section: Crystal Globe Competition

Eli works as a swimming coach in Chicago but news of his father’s death necessitates his return to his native Israel. His decision to contact a friend from his childhood sets in motion a series of events that have a lasting impact on everyone’s lives. An affectionate tribute to 60s and 70s cinema and an enchanting tale of love and friendship – that’s the essence of America.

Directed by: Šimon Holý
Czech Republic, 2022, 85 min
Section: Proxima Competition

What do you do when love simply isn’t on the cards and keeps passing you by? 60-year-old Kristýna has lost her last ray of hope, so she goes off with her daughter Sára to talk to a fortune-teller about her sorry lot in life. One year on from Mirrors in the Dark, Šimon Holý brings us another wholly independent film about life’s traumas as seen from a female perspective, this time with a liberal dose of esoterica on top.

Directed by: Mladen Kovačević
Serbia, France, Qatar, 2022, 90 min
Section: Proxima Competition

In 1972 Yugoslavia became the site of Europe’s last smallpox epidemic. This gripping archival documentary, aptly described by its creators as a medical thriller, reconstructs the dramatic events of those spring months, and viewers will find it difficult not to draw comparisons with the worldwide events of the past two years.

Directed by: Tomáš Bojar, Adéla Komrzý
Czech Republic, 2022, 102 min
Section: Proxima Competition

Artistic endeavour isn’t about competing; even so, applicants still have to be placed in order of merit at the academy’s entrance exams. But how do you assess artistic talent? And what role can art play in today’s world? A layered, observational documentary which presents a portrait of an institution and a light generational statement in one.

Directed by: Yuri Ancarani
Italy, France, USA, Qatar, 2021, 100 min
Section: Imagina

The young and the restless from the Venetian Lagoon. The heroes of this impressionistic docu-fiction piece are shrouded in a dreamlike atmosphere; their prospects, however, are not entirely favourable. A film about a shared experience where, in a world of fast motorboats, there is no room for gondolas.

Directed by: Jöns Jönsson
Germany, 2022, 112 min
Section: Horizons

A chilling character study. When the likable young Julius invites his co-workers to go sailing with him on his family yacht, nothing feels out of the ordinary. But even before the group gets on board, serious cracks appear in the image of the main protagonist. Who is this Julius, and what drives his actions?