Spirit of the Festival
Bringing to you the best of new European cinema. These filmmakers wowed us with their first or second feature film and will compete for the Best Film and Best Screenplay awards.
2024 Programme
ARCADIA
Subtitled, Fiction
In this genre-twisting mix of supernatural erotic thriller and psychological drama, we meet Katerina, a neurologist, and her husband Yannis, a former well-respected doctor, as they drive to a deserted seaside resort. Yannis was called to identify the victim of a tragic accident at the hospital of the small town. When the local policeman informs them that the victim’s vehicle had plunged over the parapet of a stone bridge and leads them to the morgue, Katerina sees her worst suspicions confirmed.
Together with Yannis, but also on her own nightly excursions to a mysterious, rustic beach bar called Arcadia, they begin to put the pieces of the puzzle together, revealing a haunting story of love, loss, acceptance and letting go.
TUE 12 | ARC CINEMA | 21:00
THU 14 | ARC CINEMA | 15:45
GLORIA!
Subtitled, Fiction
The year is 1800. The place, Sant Ignazio College, a decrepit old musical institute for girls, somewhere near Venice. Here lives a silent, solitary maid tasked with the humblest chores. No one knows that her name is Teresa. No one suspects that she possesses an extraordinary talent that enables her to sense the harmony of the universe and reshape reality through music.
While everyone at the college is making a huge fuss about the imminent visit of the newly enthroned Pope, and the old chapel master is struggling to put together a new composition for the Pontifex, Teresa makes a discovery in a storeroom: a brand-new invention, a beautiful instrument – a pianoforte. Around Teresa and her revolutionary ‘music machine’ gathers an amazing quartet of young women: they are the true musicians of Sant Ignazio. From this secret cell of overlooked talents, a new music will be born that takes the Pope, and the entire world, by surprise.
The first directing effort from Italian singer-songwriter Margherita Vicario, Gloria! is about the imagination and talent of all the many female composers who, like pressed flowers, are hidden away in the pages of history.
FRI 8 | EVERYMAN | 17:30
WED 13 | ARC CINEMA | 15:00
THE IMMINENT AGE (L’EDAT IMMINENT)
Subtitled, Fiction
Bruno’s (18) life is increasingly limited by the growing dependence of his grandmother Natividad (86), the only family he has ever known. When the opportunity to take her to a nursing home arises, both will have to deal with a decision they had not allowed themselves to consider before.
Directed by a collective of young Catalan filmmakers, The Imminent Age is conceived as a dialogue between generations, balancing the implicit seriousness of its subject with touches of humour. In the filmmakers’ words, “we are raised to become independent, live our own lives and learn to take care of ourselves. But on our way to that goal, we must confront the fact our grandparents need caring for again, with the sense of uselessness it can bring them. The Imminent Age is a letter to our parents, grandparents, caregivers. A story about taking care of the ones who have taken care of us. (…) It is about love and what it means to grow up. For us, it was also fundamental to put on the table new realities of today’s society, such as the cultural diversity that inhabits the periphery of Barcelona, the difficulty of being granted a place in a care home, and the precarious employment of young people.
As young creators, we defend a collective and horizontal cinema, following the heart of the project in every decision.” This sincerity is so palpable and powerful, it makes The Imminent Age linger in your mind long after discovering it on the big screen.
TUE 12 | ARC CINEMA | 15:30
SAT 16 | ARC CINEMA | 17:00
JULIE KEEPS QUIET (JULIE ZWIJGT)
Subtitled, Fiction
Julie is the star player at an elite tennis academy. When her coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club’s players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep quiet. Why does she and how long can she sustain it?
Belgian newcomer Leonardo Van Dijl impresses with the miraculously coherent way he handles these mysteries. One thing is immediately clear: this film is about a young woman’s experience and this informs all of the filmmaker’s choices. He has the viewer drawn to Julie as if by osmosis and this link only deepens and intensifies. It’s Julie’s repeated movements we look at when she practices, it’s the nuances of her body language that we perceive when she does not express her feelings through words. We come to feel her repeated evaluation of the potential consequences of speaking up. Tessa Van den Broeck is incredible as Julie, both strong and fragile at the same time, determined to make it in professional tennis, while preserving her psychological balance and moral compass.
Shortlisted for the 2025 LUX Audience Award.
WED 13 | ARC CINEMA | 17:30
SUN 17 | ARC CINEMA | 16:00
LESSON LEARNED (FEKETE PONT)
Subtitled, Fiction
Juci, an idealistic young teacher, and Palkó a 10-year-old boy, are both newcomers in the same school. Juci is unexpectedly made head teacher of a fifth-grade class due to a teacher shortage. Meanwhile, Palkó, recently relocated from Berlin, struggles to adapt to the demanding Hungarian educational system. As Juci attempts to challenge the outdated methods and Palkó tries to fit in, a childish prank lands him in trouble, making life at school difficult for both of them.
Their stories offer insight into a system both reflective of Hungarian society and universal in how they bring back our own (often unforgettable…) experiences with educational institutions.
The film is magnificently shot, on 16mm, by Emmy-winning cinematographer of HBO’s Euphoria, Marcell Rév. And Szimler’s insightful filmmaking makes it very much our story too, and our responsibility.
TUE 12 | ARC CINEMA | 17:30
SUN 17 | ARC CINEMA | 18:30
LOVEABLE (ELSKLING)
Subtitled, Fiction
Maria juggles with four children and a demanding career while her husband Sigmund travels all the time. One day they get into an ugly argument which leads Sigmund to ask her for a divorce. Faced with this unexpected catastrophic situation, Maria must come to terms with herself.
Loveable is Norwegian filmmaker Lilja Ingolfsdottir’s first feature but it is bursting with the wisdom accumulated through life’s joys and struggles. Her astute writing and empathetic direction of an excellent cast made the film an obvious favourite at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival where it world premiered in July. The sharp and poignant drama was rightfully awarded the Special Jury Prize, the Europa Cinemas Label, the FIPRESCI Award (critics’ choice) and the Ecumenical Jury Prize. And, of course, the Best Actress award for Helga Guren’s heartbreaking performance. Her truthful interpretation is all the more crucial since Loveable isn’t only a film about a break-up. It is about a woman´s opportunity for self-knowledge, growth and having to deal with unconscious and dysfunctional patterns in herself.
MON 11 | ARC CINEMA | 20:30
FRI 15 | ARC CINEMA | 20:30
RABIA
Subtitled, Fiction
Jessica, a 19-year-old French girl, leaves her a country for Syria, thinking that the humiliations of cheap labour will give way to a life of leisure in the villa showed off by her friend’s future husband, an Isis fighter. But in lieu of the handsome groom in the pictures, what they find in Raqqa is a locked house full of other young women from around the world. In order to survive, she becomes an assistant to the iron-fisted director, Madame, who renames her Rabia exerts a powerful fascination over her. How far beyond the limits of her convictions will Rabia accept to go?
In this assured feature debut, German director Mareike Engelhardt turns to fiction to tell the incredible, yet sadly true, story of what happened to too many young girls, lured by Isis propaganda, after they ran away from their home country….
Filmmaker in attendance.
WED 13 | ARC CINEMA | 20:30
SUN 17 | ARC CINEMA | 18:15
UNDER THE VOLCANO (POD WULKANEM)
Subtitled, Fiction
A Ukrainian family of four are enjoying the last day of their holiday on the island of Tenerife, Spain. Once at the airport, their flight is canceled: Russia has invaded Ukraine. Trapped on the island, the tourists become refugees.
Award-winning Polish director Damian Kocur (Bread and Salt) returns with this striking example of cinema’s capacity to articulate the intimate impact of global events, and to do so as the world-altering events it tackles are still raging. In a immensely fruitful move, Kocur takes a step out of the actual warzones to reflect on several primordial questions raised by such extreme events: what is the decent way to behave in the situations caused by a war? Do individuals bear the responsibility of their country’s leader’s acts? How does the fact that men are meant to defend their nation impact their role within the family? What does being ‘strong’ even mean?
The stupendous cast make this family’s members exist so strongly, you will never stop hoping that they will be all right.
Under the Volcano is Poland’s entry for the Academy Awards.
THU 14 | ARC CINEMA | 15:45
SAT 16 | ARC CINEMA | 21:00
THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE
Subtitled, Fiction
In a windswept Somali fishing village, Mamargade, a single father, works odd jobs to provide a better life for his son, Cigaal. Araweelo, his sister, comes back to live with them after her divorce. Each pursues their own ambitions in a country wrecked by civil war, natural disasters and the deadly threat posed by the U.S. drones constantly buzzing overhead.
On many occasions throughout this patient, and truly gorgeous, testament to love and resilience, multi-awarded director Mo Harawe could be tempted to sacrifice the truth of his protagonists for the sake of narrative shortcuts. He fends them all off and is rewarded, and us with him, with the kind of intense, slowburn emotional build-up that only such self-assured filmmaking can produce.
Mo Harawe emigrated from Somalia to Austria in 2009. After training as a filmmaker, he began to explore life in the country he left behind, using cinema to bridge the gap between the memories of his homeland and the way Somalia is perceived from Europe. His awarded short films signaled him as a powerful new voice in the film world.
The premiere will be presented by the filmmaker and followed with a Q&A.
THU 14 | ARC CINEMA | 19:45
