On Thursday we have two new features from the competition program – a strange socialist dystopia and an indie drama. Besides we have opportunities to watch movies we missed in the previous days. The Open Eye program offers ‘Dovlatov’ that has played at the Berlinale with great success. Let’s check today’s program.

 

At 4 pm in the Pressburger room runs the repetition of ‘Wildlife’. Acting icon of American independent film Paul Dano debuts as director with this adaptation of Richard Ford’s novel about a thoughtful boy named Joe whose adolescence in 1960’s Montana is marked by the catastrophic marital crisis of his parents: Jeanette (Carey Mulligan), a stay-at-home mom, and Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal), who works at a golf course. “It is a coming-of-age story for all three: mother, father, and son,” says Dano.

 

At 4 pm in the Zukor room the repetition of the Slovenian feature is screened. In ‘Consequences’ the 18-year-old Andrej is sent to a youth detention center due to problematic behavior. There he meets Željko, the informal leader of the detainees. Upon discovering Andrej’s secret, Željko soon begins to take advantage of him: Andrej’s sense of responsibility and moral integrity are put on trial. Ultimately, he must choose between Željko and his reckless lifestyle and staying true to himself.

At 5 pm in the Uránia we can watch a classic again: ‘Sound Eroticism’ by Péter Tímár from 1986. Women in nylon housecoats put nails into unsellable crates in a factory somewhere in Eastern Europe in the last years of a soft dictatorship. In order to boost sales the deputy fireman installs security cameras so, in exchange of buying some crates, the comrades of the region have the chance to watch the women change. One day the women find the cameras. After the screening the audience can meet with Péter Tímár.

 

At 6:15 in the Pressburger room the first premiere of the day starts. ’Ederlezi Rising’ is set in a socialist dystopian future. Milutin is an astronaut sent on a long space flight to Alpha Centauri to deliver an ideology to the colony there. However, on this flight he will be accompanied by a female android, Nimani. The film explores the essence of love and emotion between Milutin and his cyborg companion. A visual, breath-taking analogy on the essence of human emotion against the complex new relationship between man and machine. The screening is followed by Q&A. (Thi film is repeated at 10:30 pm in the Uránia)

 

At 6:30 in the Zukor room starts Alexey German Jr’s ‘Dovlatov’. The film makes use of grand tableaux and extended tracking shots to portray the world of Russian-Jewish writer Sergei Dovlatov (1941–1990), whose brilliantly ironic texts were forbidden from being printed in the Soviet Union under Brezhnev. Out of a tragicomic rondeau of rebellion and assimilation, pain and fatigue, ensues a portrait of an era of stagnation and its destructive effects.

 

At 8 pm in the Uránia we get the chance to watch a very exciting documentary: ‘Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World’. The film brings to light a profound and missing chapter in the history of American music: the Indigenous influence. Featuring music icons Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Ed Davis, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, Randy Castillo, and Taboo, ’Rumble’ shows how these pioneering Native musicians helped shape the soundtracks of our lives.

 

At 8:30 pm the Béke hosts the first selection of the CineNewWave – the program for young Hungarian talents.

 

At 9 pm in the Pressburger room runs an American feature from the competition program, the ‘Madeline’s Madeline’. Sometimes Madeline is a cat, sometimes a turtle. But even when she’s Madeline, it’s hard to tell if she’s just playing the role of Madeline. In the eyes of her anxious mother she is a vulnerable creature whose obvious mental disorder requires care and medical treatment. But on stage, at the theatre workshop run by the extremely demanding, sometimes even reckless Evangeline, Madeline is strong, impressive – a force of nature.

 

At 9 pm in the Zukor room we can watch the Swiss fantasy ‘Blue My Mind’. Fifteen-years-old Mia is convinced that she has been adopted and her parents keep something from her. After moving to another town the young girl tries to fit in to her new class but it is not easy. As every teenagers’, Mia’s body is changing but these changes are different than those of other girls of her age. At first she tries to blot this process out, but the change becomes more and more frightening.

 

At 10:30 in the Béke room runs the sixth selection of the short feature competition program with German, Cyoprian, Japanese, Dutch and Hungarian films. The Hungarian competitor is Barnabás Tóth with his film ‘Chuchotage’ featuring Andrea Osváth.

The last screening of the day starts at 11 pm in the Pressburger room. ‘Ray & Liz’ takes us to the outskirts of Birmingham and the margins of society. The Billingham family performs extreme rituals and break social taboos as they muddle through a life decided by factors beyond their control. Based on director and photographer Richard Billingham’s memories, the film focuses on his parents Ray and Liz, their relationship and its impact on Richard and his younger brother Jason as they grow up in a Black Country council flat.