KVIFF 2023: Ernst De Geer’s Hypnosen («The Hypnosis») put a spell on audiences at Karlovy Vary last week. It’s hard to think of a more telling and darkly ironical critique of the seldom-questioned, self-satisfied direction of modern society.
KVIFF 2023: Never underestimate the proverbial margin; it’s where new things are born. Karlovy Vary International Film Festival’s (KVIFF) signature programme “East of the West” may be gone but the concept resonates more than ever.
Horror? No. A whole new genre, maybe? Unease, Disquiet, Confusion…? There will be no easy ride in Enys Men.
What lingers after Aftersun is the overarching feeling of love it intricately captures, and the impossibly haunting desire to capture time itself.
Forget the totalitarian terror – this is worse – and here lies the true genius of Merkulova and Chupov’s Captain Volkonogov Escaped.
Nicolas Roeg was one of the few British filmmakers who was willing to risk it all; and while sometimes the shots didn’t land, how extraordinary it is, still to this day, to see a film that refuses to cater to the caprices of the industry.
Holy Spider portrays threats and terrors rising from “holy” ideologies with their claims of supremacy. It portrays a narcissistic narrative about a hegemonic ideology that ensures its persistence by masquerading as holy, whereas, in truth, it threatens humankind.
What is the appeal of Jeanne Dielman for the viewers and critics in 2022? Is it possible that its influence stretches far beyond our immediate understanding, and is enveloped by external forces that wreak havoc on the film industry?
Without showing any violence, this emotionally stunning descent from pathetic misfit into merciless killer is utterly striking, convincing and instructive.
Karlovy Vary 2020: We live in an age of creative awakening. This is the flipside, the upside of ‘post-truth times.’ We know not where this leads but it behoves us to make the best of the journey. The alternative is dystopia – and we all know what that is like!
KVIFF 2022: The truth about ‘girls on film’ according to director Nina Menkes.
Cannes 2022: It feels so apt that Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli, on stage in a crisp suit at Cannes and wresting the spotlight away from Thierry Fremaux himself, called his feature debut Sick of Myself a ”toast to the assholes”.