Thousands of people in Colombia have been “forcibly disappeared,” as the euphemistic expression goes, since conflicts began in the mid-1960s between the Colombian government and various paramilitary and guerrilla groups. This reality is well known, and has been for some time; an awareness that, over such a long period of time, can mitigate the horror
This week at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, the 10 participants of Future Frames, the program for young European directors, were joined by Greek director Christos Nikou as a mentor. Variety sat down for their discussion. Nikou, who directed “Apples” and “Fingernails,” began by underscoring the importance for filmmakers to “find their voice.” He said:
“I’m a lover, not a fighter / And I’m really made for speed,” Kinks frontman Ray Davies sang in at least one of the songs that shares a title with Slovak writer-director Martina Buchelová’s enormously engaging debut feature. The first half of those lyrics ring true for Andrej (Adam Kubala), the floundering 20-year-old protagonist of
Acts of kindness are few and far between in the harsh textile factory of Myanmar, where young San Kyi (Nandar Myat Aung) ekes out a meager living, hunched over a sewing machine. When new employee Theint (Nandar Myint Lwin) tells a white lie to cover it up after an unauthorized bathroom break, San Kyi’s face
There’s a more interesting story lurking in Jan-Eric Mack’s “The Happy Family” than what’s actually told. At times, the Swiss filmmaker teases the possibility that the conventional narrative shown so far could take a bold and daring turn. It’s a broken promise, though, and those glimpses of something thornier and more daring ultimately seem like
The fashions and furnishings of Czechoslovakia in the 1980s (the height of the state’s racist program to repress the Roma population through forced sterilization) are painstakingly evoked in Slovak filmmaker Ivan Ostrochovský’s “Only Beautiful Things to Look At.” But the film’s attractive but strangely bloodless presentation gives the impression of a period drama set much
