Director: Maren Ade
Cast: Sandra Huller, Peter Simonischek
Awards: Nominated as Best Foreign Film 2016 at Academy Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTA, Cannes, with 43 wins and 71 nominations
Winfried doesn’t see much of his daughter Ines who’s working for a company in Romania. The suddenly student-less music teacher decides to surprise her with a visit after the death of his old dog. It’s an awkward move because serious career woman Ines is working on an important project as a corporate strategist in Bucharest. The geographical change doesn’t help the two to see more eye to eye. Practical joker Winfried loves to annoy his daughter with corny pranks. What’s worse are his little jabs at her routine lifestyle of long meetings, hotel bars and performance reports.
Father and daughter reach an impasse, and Winfried agrees to return home to Germany. Enter flashy ‘Toni Erdmann’, Winfried’s smooth-talking alter ego. Disguised in a tacky suit, weird wig and even weirder fake teeth, Toni barges into Ines’ professional life, claiming to be her CEO’s life coach. As Toni, Winfried is bolder and doesn’t hold back, but Ines meets the challenge. The harder they push, the closer they become. In all the madness, Ines begins to understand that her eccentric father might deserve some place in her life after all.
For three weeks in August the Melbourne cinemas open their doors to films from all over the world at Melbourne International Film Festival. See our pick of Storie From The Other Europe.
D Andrey Zvyagintsev | FranceBelgiumGermanyRussia (2017)
From the director of Elena screened at Euraw Stories last year, comes “a razor-sharp portrayal of a marriage in a state of collapse, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s searing drama was awarded top prize at the Munich Film Festival as well as the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Boris and Zhenya’s relationship is all but over. Caught in a spiral of vicious slanging matches and eager to be in the company of their new lovers, the only thing keeping them together is their 12-year-old son, Alyosha. When he doesn’t come home one night, the sparring couple are forced into an increasingly desperate search, with the lovelessness of their marriage mirrored by the indifference of the society around them.”
D Agnieszka Holland | PolandGermanySwedenCzech RepublicSlovakia (2017)
“Agnieszka Holland, one of Poland’s most distinguished directors, won the Berlinale’s Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize with this feminist, ecological thriller sprinkled with surreal touches.
Duszejko is a retired engineer living in a log cabin in a remote, mountainous corner of rural Poland. Obsessed with astrology, and ferociously protective of the local wildlife – especially when it comes to the area’s deer hunters, who have the police and even the church on their side – Duszejko is aghast when her dogs go missing and, in the following months, a series of hunters are found dead. Could nature itself be taking revenge?”
“The superhero genre collides with the rolling tragedy of Europe’s refugee crisis in previous Cannes award-winner Kornél Mundruczó’s action-packed assault on tribalism, human indecency and the basic laws of gravity.
Aryan is a Syrian refugee trying to make the dangerous journey from Serbia into Hungary – and the protection of the EU. When he’s shot by an overzealous immigration cop as he crosses the border, Aryan suddenly discovers he can fly. It’s a power that could change everything for him and his family, but people fear what they don’t know, and the authorities will do whatever they need in order to neutralise a perceived threat.”
“Jan Hřebejk returns to MIFF with a darkly funny Czech primary school take on 12 Angry Men, featuring an award-winning turn by Zuzana Maurery as the titular teacher.
In the dying days of communist Czechoslovakia, the chilling Comrade Drazdechova (Zuzana Maurery) rules over her high school with cunning and corruption. The rules are simple: you help her out, your children do well. You don’t? Well, life can be hard for those deemed enemies of the state. But hers is a fragile empire, and when she tries to blackmail the wrong parent, those she’s wronged rise up against her.”
From the Director of Child’s Pose screened in April at Euraw Stories comes a new, “intellectually complex, emotionally harrowing dissection of the travails of a long-term relationship.” – Screen Daily
In a psychoanalyst’s clinic, Toma recounts the euphoria and dysfunction of his relationship with Ana; their shared affection and desire whittled away by her depressive tendencies and his issues with jealousy and control, each seemingly doomed to repeat their own parents’ destructive dynamics.”
“Over 62,000 oil paintings and a cast including Chris O’Dowd and Saoirse Ronan bring the story of Vincent Van Gogh’s life and death to the screen in the world’s first feature-length painted animation.
It sounds mad: inspired by a letter Vincent Van Gogh penned in the week before he died, in which he noted that “we cannot speak other than by our paintings”, Oscar-winning filmmaker Hugh Welchman (Peter and the Wolf) and Polish painter Dorota Kobiela decided to make a movie doing exactly that. Hiring an army of painters from across Europe, each trained in the Dutch master’s style, they set out to tell his story the way he himself would. Consequently, every single frame of the resulting film, Loving Vincent, is an oil painting (12 per second!); the noir-like detective plot is drawn from the artist’s many letters; and the cast – O’Dowd and Ronan alongside Douglas Booth, Helen McCrory, Aidan Turner and more, with music by Clint Mansell – were chosen based on their likeness to real-life characters in Van Gogh’s works.”
Director: Ariel Kleiman
Cast: Vincent Cassel, Jeremy Chabriel
Awards: Sundance 2015 (Grand Jury Prize Nomination), 8 AACTA Nominations
Alexander is like any other kid: playful, curious and naive. He is also a trained assassin. Raised in a hidden paradise on the outskirts of town, Alexander has grown up seeing the world through the eyes of his father, Gregori. As Alexander begins to think for himself, creeping fears take shape and Gregori’s idyllic world unravels.
Featuring international superstar Vincent Cassel (BLACK SWAN) as the enigmatic, menacing Gregori, PARTISAN is a taut thriller from one of cinema’s freshest new voices.
Director: Nana Ekvtimishvili & Simon Gross
Cast: Lika Babluani, Mariam Bokeria
Awards: 2014 Academy Awards selection (Best Foreign Language Film) & Winner of BEST FILM at: Berlin Film Fest, Sarjevo Film Fest, Hong King Film Fest, Milan Film Fest
Celebrated by critics and audiences at over 30 major international film festivals, Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross’ multi award-winning IN BLOOM depicts the unforgettable story of two young girls navigating the complex ties of friendship, love and family within a world of upheaval.
Tbilisi, 1992: the newly independent state of Georgia must fend for itself, even as civil war rages in the provinces. For 14 year-old best friends Eka (Lika Babluani) and Natia (Mariam Bokeria), their childhood in the run-down but still beautiful city has come to an abrupt halt, as insecurity and fear of what the future might bring holds sway in everyday life.
The introverted Eka lives in a book-filled apartment with her dismissive sister and her distracted mother; the precocious Natia, just becoming aware of her appeal to the local boys, lives in the chaotic atmosphere of a cramped apartment with her extended working-class family, dominated by her alcoholic father. But like most schoolgirls, Eka and Natia are far more concerned with the drama of teenage life outside their homes.
Indeed Natia has already attracted not only the attention of handsome Lado but also local criminal Kote, who is not going to tolerate rivals without a fight. It is the gift by Lado to Natia of a pistol, something to ‘protect herself with’, that fractures the lives of both girls and tests their relationship, as each responds to pressures beyond their control in very different and life-changing ways.
Drawn from writer & debut co-director Nana Ekvtimishvili’s childhood memories, IN BLOOM has the rich texture of authentic lived experience. Anchored by radiant performances and beautiful cinematography by the renowned Oleg Mutu (4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu), this gripping and profoundly affecting film marks the directors as among the most exciting new talents in world cinema.
Director: Sinisa Galic
Cast: Leni Wesselman, Jelena Rakocevic
Ana, a young photojournalist from Berlin, travels to Serbia to make a photo documentary about refugees. Through the cabdriver Dzeki, she meets the distrustful but interesting young refugee Maja who works at a nearby fast food restaurant. Miserable with her life in Serbia, Maja dreams of a new beginning somewhere abroad. In an attempt to successfully finish her project, Ana starts photographing Maja, secretly making a documentary about her. Blinded by the wish to change her life, Maja doesn’t realise Ana’s true intentions.
For our end of the year screening party, this Saturday, we’ve joined forces with our friends from Stoneclap to bring you the lovely Romanian band We Singing Colors. They’ll perform live for us from, ahem, Bucharest!
You wonder how? Stoneclap enables musicians and DJs to perform live for audiences anywhere in the world over a two-way streaming platform designed for music that feels as if they were in the room. Think Skype but with top notch studio sound quality. Stoneclap hopes to connect cultures through intimate, live performances across the world.
An indie-pop band from Bucharest, We Singing Colors have played all over Romania, as well Moldova, Bulgaria, Spain, India and most recently Australia where they played an intimate performance over Stoneclap to an adoring audience in Melbourne.
This is a not to be missed event: a great movie, food, drinks and the soon to be on everyone’s laptops at house parties, the Stoneclap platform.
And on top of this, entry is free for all! See you there!
We’re very happy to have with us in the audience one of Australia’s best television directors, Geoffrey Bennet!
Geoff has set up and directed some of the most popular TV shows like Heartbreak High, Wildside, Water Rats, Love My Way, Underbelly, All Saints, Rush, House Husbands, Love Child, and also launched Delta Goodrem’s acting career in Hating Alison Ashley, directed Jessica Mauboy in the soon to launch Secret Daughter and many other titles.
Hopefully we’ll have a chat to him after the screening. So come down in a few hours to The Dock – the weather’s bad so this is the best way to spend the afternoon!
Every year Melbourne International Film Festival takes us on a journey around the world. The festival opens tonight so here’s our top 5 Eastern European picks for this year:
1. Graduation (Romania 2016) directed by Palme D’Or winner Cristian Mungiu, and the director of the short film Turkey Girl screened at Euraw Stories with the collection Lost and Found. Graduation won him best Direction at Cannes Film Festival this year. The film is a suspenseful thriller about a middle aged doctor who takes matters into his own hands when his teenage daughter is sexually assaulted in the eve of passing her exams on her way to Oxford. (select English subtitles when watching this trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VimmuogOOks
2. I, Olga Hepnarova(Czech Republic 2016). Olga Hepnarova was the last woman executed in the former Czechoslovakia. In 1973, at the age of 22, Hepnarova ran down eight people on a Prague sidewalk. It was a ferocious crime whose subsequent trial shocked a nation. But who was Olga Hepnarova? What caused her to cross such a dangerous precipice? How did she become, in her own words, “a wreck, ruined by people”? (one session is already sold out and the other one is selling fast – select English subtitles when watching this trailer)
3. 11 Minutes (Poland 2015) acclaimed director Jerzy Skolimowski has won over his half a decade of activity awards at the most renowned film festivals. He has a reputation for creating eccentric films; 11 Minutes might just be his most ambitious work yet. Described as a ‘highly entertaining thriller and an exercise in startling cinematic invention – taking detours into extreme slow motion, distorted lens and a dog’s eye view’. The film seems to be unlike anything in its genre. (another selling fast film)
4. A Good Wife (Serbia 2016) Well known actress Mirjana Karanovic has taken the leading role of the film she co-wrote and directed. A human rights activist, Karanovic brings genuine warmth, insight and touches of gentle humour to the film – both in front of and behind the camera. It’s a subtle and intimate character study that’s both courageous and compassionate about the present times Belgrade and its people dealing with a past troubled by war and violence.
5. The Lure(Poland 2016) directed by 1st time Agnieszka Smoczynska, this is the winner of the Special Jury Prize for World Cinema at Sundance Film Festival. This looks like an outrageous musical/ zombie/ fantasy/ comedy described as if the people behind Eurovision were tasked with turning The Little Mermaid into a 1980’s vampire flick.
We hope to see you there. And don’t forget to mention to those around you about Euraw Stories!
Maybe you’re wondering why we’re screening a Georgian film, when geographically, Georgia might not be part of Europe at all. Most Georgians themselves like to think it is.
We thought there are enough cultural similarities to warrant its presence in our program. Georgia was part of the former Soviet Union alongside other Eastern European countries, it has a diverse and multicultural population, and yes, it also displayed clear signs of that fascination with the West.
Unrelated but note-worthy, Georgia gave the world comrade Stalin, a figure still strangely revered by its co-nationals, maybe as a claim to fame. Rumour has it you can still drop by any local market in Tbilisi and pick up Stalin memorabilia.
TONI ERDMAN GERMANY/ROMANIA 2016 Comedy 2'42min
