This year, the International Competition of Films from Central and Eastern Europe IFF Art Film 2025 presents a selection of works that map cultural memories, contemporary challenges and individual destinies. Each of the films carries an echo of historical experience and a reflection of the changing identity of the region.
The Slovak film ACTION MONACO directed by Dušan Trančík reconstructs a dark chapter of post-war history – the infiltration of the French consulate by the State Security. The docudrama about omnipresent surveillance and persecution becomes a memento of the recent past.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_51SsdKJ_g0
In contrast, the current testimony of the war stands – Ukraine's HONEYMOON captures the invasion from the perspective of a young couple who find themselves in the death trap of their own home. Made by Zhanna Ozirna, the film is a chilling study of how quickly safety can turn into a threat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r60720Ow93w
The Polish MINGHUN connects cultural worlds – the ritual of the posthumous wedding reveals how close seemingly different traditions are in times of grief and loss. The sadness and despair of the characters during the negotiation of the meaning of this minghun ritual as well as the preparation for its execution, become a metaphysical way of accepting death and coping with the loss of a loved one.
The Hungarian documentary I WAS BORN AS A SERVANT follows the lives of brothers marked by poverty, alcohol and helplessness, thus holding up a mirror to social structures that have failed. The brothers went to school for only a few years to learn to read and write at least a little. Levante and his brother Csaba have fallen into alcohol and are unable to fight this addiction. The time-lapse documentary, which follows the fate of the Levant until adulthood, takes place in Romanian Transylvania, a region of Szeklerland where the Hungarian minority lives.
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1087696207
A dreamy, philosophical level is represented by Martin Kollár's CHRONICLE – a visual essay about the landscape, memory and human activity. The photographer and director is a talented observer of small everyday scenes. He sees them through an original surreal lens with a subtle dose of humour. He moves between the images of the landscape in all seasons and situates in them a man working and resting, active and traumatized by diseases. Mutual interaction is destructive and then constructive. It is a visual meditation on the state of our presence in a country where everything begins and ends.
https://youtu.be/krNGIgDmQS8
Bulgarian WINDLESSNESS brings a quiet awakening of identity at a time when we are getting rid of the past as unnecessary furniture. After the death of his father, Kaoljan returns to Bulgaria, where he has to face the memories of his surroundings, but also the image in his own memory. It is not a harmonious interplay, but it offers him a chance to return and reflect on everything he lived and who he was. There is an "awakening of a soul without roots, in the midst of the remnants of an abandoned past," this is how Bulgarian critics reflected on No Wind. The film won the FIPRESCI Award at the Sofia IFF and was the best Bulgarian film of 2024.
https://youtu.be/-v4_qV0oeYM
The Polish debut THAT'S NOT MY FILM sensitively explores a relationship crisis that culminates in a symbolic journey along the winter sea. The marriage of Janko and Wanda somehow involuntarily found itself in crisis. She tries to analyze her and understand what's going on, he doesn't need it and talking about the two of them gets on his nerves. In the end, they decide to restart their relationship in an original way. They pack their essentials and set off on a 400 km long journey along the coast of the winter Baltic Sea. If they can't handle it, they break up.
https://youtu.be/y2AlE6A3q14
The selection also includes the Czech musical celebration GRAND FINALE PSO – a documentary about the enthusiasm, music and strength of community in a small town. The Police Symphony Orchestra is an amateur musical ensemble from Police nad Metují, which has brought it to an admirable level. As the first amateur group, they played the Grand Finale at the international music festival Smetana's Litomyšl, they performed on the stage of the Rudolfinum and the Rock for People festival. The time-lapse documentary captures all phases of collective enthusiasm, but also fatigue and the difficult choice between personal life and great work commitment. It is a captivating film about the love of music, full of joy from a collective performance experienced together with a fascinated audience.
https://youtu.be/AkbL0Fizw_s
U. S. Steel Košice is the advertising partner of the event.
We will announce a competition next week in which you will be able to get tickets for this event. There will be 4 eight-day and 4 three-day tickets in the game.
The cover photo is from the Polish film MINGHUN.
