FILM SCREENINGS:

The Way Out | Cesta ven
April 20, 2016 6:30 pm
2014, 105 min., in Czech with English subtitles          
Directed by Petr Václav

Synopsis: Dubbed the best film of the year at the Czech Critics' awards, director Petr Václav's The Way Out (Cesta ven) follows a Romani couple trying to live a "normal life" in a community obscured by prejudice.Žaneta (Klaudia Dudová) and David (David Ištok) strive to provide for their daughter and Žaneta’s sister. To protect his family, David considers a life of crime, as the grim backdrop of unemployment, debt, and poverty weighs down. Žaneta wants a respectable life for her family, her sister to get an education, and an honest job. Trapped in the community’s anti-gypsy prejudice, can Žaneta find the inner strength to break out?     

HUNGARY
April 21, 7 pm     
White Palms | Fehér tenyér            
2006, 97 min., in Hungarian with English subtitles  
Directed by Szabolcs Hajdu     

Synopsis: An athlete recalls his troubled youth while helping to coach a talented but headstrong youngster in this drama from Hungarian filmmaker Szabolcs Hajdu. Miklos Dongo (Miklos Zoltan Hajdu) is a world class gymnast who competed in the Olympics before taking on his current career as a performer with Cirque du Soleil. He has been hired to help coach contenders for the Canadian Olympic team and finds himself working with Kyle Manjak (Kyle Shewfelt), an unusually talented young man whose mood swings make him difficult in which to work. As Miklos tries to help Kyle focus his talents and come to terms with his demons, he finds himself frequently looking back on his own early career in the eighties as a prodigy gymnast in the communist Hungary.        

Awards: The film won Best Director (Szabolcs Hajdu), Best Cinematography, Golden Scissors and the Audience Prize at the 37th Hungarian Film Festival.

Location: Embassy of Hungary, 2950 Spring of Freedom Street NW, Washington, DC 20008
RSVP: rsvp.was@mfa.gov.hu

Synopsis: The Candidate is a cynical black humor thriller which takes place in Slovakia during a presidential campaign. Created on the basis of a novel written by Maroš Hečko and Michal Havran, it follows a manipulative game of producing the president of a country out of Mr. Nobody. The campaign and a dangerous game is perceived through the eyes of two snoops, who are hired to tap and record Adam Lambert, a conjurer of the local advertising world. The Candidate is a witty political farce, indirectly depicting wide malignancies of a post-communist society instantly transformed into a money-ruled, rightist one.

Awards: The film was the most watched movie in Slovak theaters in 2013 and has received several awards including Best Camera and Best Editor at the National Film Awards 2014, Best Marking Campaign in V4 Countries  at the Rainbow Marble 2014, and Best Director at the Central European Film Festival (MECEFF, 2014).

Location: Embassy of the Slovak Republic, 3523 International Court, NW, Washington, DC 20008
RSVP: rsvp.washington@mzv.sk with “Candidate” in the subject line or at 202. 237.1054, ext.266

Synopsis: The Here After is a story of a teenager who goes back to his family after leaving a prison for young offenders. Seventeen-year-old John wants to return home, but his community does not want him anymore. He becomes the victim of social ostracism, bullied by his brutal classmates. A review by the The Hollywood Reporter states “An angry young man struggles to escape the shadow of his violent past in this somber Scandi-Polish drama. (…) Partly modeled on real case studies, Warsaw-based Swedish auteur Magnus Von Horn’s feature debut is backed by Lars Von Trier’s Zentropa Company and boasts handsome cinematography by Lukasz Zal.” The film is a story about the evil hidden under the cover of social norms.