Sundance and Berlinale’s biggest hits, the already predicted Oscar contender Previous Lives, and the big return of CineFest favorite Gábor Reisz, Explanation for Everything, as well as two Hong Kong films with audience meetings are the highlights of Thursday. Here is the film guide:

In The Nature of Love, screened in the competition program, Sophia has been in a stable relationship with Xavier for ten years. When Sylvain, a handyman, is hired to renovate their new holiday home, her world is turned upside down and she finds herself in a passionate relationship with him. How will the manual worker be received in a metropolitan society where everything radiates superiority? This Canadian romantic film, with its subtle humor and eroticism, first swept audiences off their feet in the Cannes Un Certain Regard program.

The last screening of the film at the festival. Tickets for the screening are available for 1.000 HUF and should be purchased in advance.

In partnership with the Hong Kong International Film Festival, CineFest presents six outstanding Hong Kong films as part of this year’s Open Eye program. Among them is A Light Never Goes Out, in which widow Mei Heung has endured countless sleepless nights since the death of her husband Bill. One day, among the belongings Bill left behind, she finds a key that leads her to her husband’s secret workshop where she meets her husband’s young apprentice, Leo. She learns from Leo that Bill had an unfulfilled last wish: to recreate a legendary neon sign. With Leo’s help, Mei Heung tries to find out the history of the neon sign and learn the trade in the hope of fulfilling the deceased’s last wish. The film will be screened on Thursday, September 7 at 5pm at Uránia. The screening will be followed by an audience meeting with one of the film’s characters, 29-year-old Choi Cecilia. The actress, who has already had an exciting and colorful career, won the 26th Hong Kong Film Critics Association Award for her performance in Beyond the Dream a few years ago and was nominated for Best Actress at the 39th Hong Kong Film Awards for the role.

The only screening of the film at the festival! Tickets for the screening are available for 1,000 HUF and are best purchased in advance.

The biggest critical and audience favorite romantic film of 2023, American Past Lives is a heartbreaking story of life choices, missed opportunities and true love. Nora and Hae-sung were best friends as children, but the move of the little girl has separated them. Twenty years later, they find each other again. Presented in the Competition Program at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlinale, the film is also in the Competition Program here and was hailed by Rolling Stone as “the best film you’ll see this year”.

Tickets for the screening are available for 1.000 HUF and should be purchased in advance.

In partnership with the Hong Kong International Film Festival, another film is included in the Open Eye program today. In Guilty Conscience, the irresponsibility of the sharp-tongued lawyer Adrian Lam sentences the innocent Jolene Tsang to 17 years in prison. In his shame, Adrian turns to public service and becomes a defender of ordinary people. One day, new evidence comes to light that will allow Jolene’s case to be retried. The film will be screened on 7 September at 7:30pm at the Uránia Room, followed by an audience meeting. Two of the film’s stars, actress Yeung Renci and actor Lam Bowie, will be travelling from Hong Kong to attend the screening. Yeung Renci, 29, started her career in television before moving into films. In the film Guilty Conscience, she plays a lawyer, which she considers one of the most exciting challenges of her career so far.

The only screening of the film at the festival! Tickets for the screening are available for 1.000 HUF and should be purchased in advance.

This year in Cannes, the opening film of the Un Certain Regard competition program was Animal Kingdom, shown at the Competition Program at CineFest. In the near future, part of the population has mutated into a human-animal hybrid. Among them is François’ wife. He moves with his 16-year-old son Émile (the excellent Romain Duris and Paul Kircher) from Paris to a small rural town where they have set up a center for the “Others”. Stunning visuals and intimacy are a natural blend in this emotive French film.

The last screening of the film at the festival. Tickets are available for 1.000 HUF and should be purchased in advance.

Gábor Reisz’s first feature film, For Some Inexplicable Reason, was a huge hit with audiences at CineFest and won the festival’s grand prize, the Adolf Zukor Prize. It is therefore especially exciting news that Hungarian audiences will be able to see his latest film, An Explanation for Everything, for the first time in the Open Eye program. The film stars high school student Ábel. He should be preparing for his final exams, but he has just realized that he is in love with his best friend, Janka. She is also hopelessly in love, but with their history teacher, Jakab. The boy’s history exam is turning into a national scandal, with disagreements dividing his whole community and even the country. An Explanation for Everything will have its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, which runs in parallel with CineFest. The screening will be followed by an audience meeting.

The only screening of the film at the festival! Tickets for the screening are available for 1.000 HUF and should be purchased in advance.

What happens when humanity’s narcissism and the unfettered free market meet 45 billion cameras? Filmmakers Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck point their cameras directly at society, this time to discover, explain and expose how our unbridled obsession with the image has changed our behavior. From Camera Obscura and the Lumière brothers to YouTube and the world of social media, And the King Said: What a Fantastic Machine! uses only archival and found footage to show how we went from capturing the back garden to a multi-billion euro content industry in 200 years. The film is part of the CineDocs competition section.

The last screening of the film at the festival. Tickets for the screening are available for 1.000 HUF and should be purchased in advance.