Recommended by Festival Team
Helena Zajícová, Program Director
Her Name is Sabine is a sensitive and intimate movie about Sabine, an autistic woman. The movie is a portrait of Sabine’s talent and skills, the support of her family, and how she has been repressed due to an incorrect diagnosis, and what happens as her condition deteriorates. During the movie, one becomes annoyed at how institutional care has destroyed Sabine’s fragile inner world. I think the very same frustration must have lied at the creation of this movie by the French director and actor Sandrine Bonnaire. This film is full of empathy, and it also tries to focus more attention on people with autism.
A splendid picture that certainly will become part of film history, not only because it describes the consequences of the water intoxication in Japan, but because it documents the struggle of those who have been affected by it. Above all, this picture is an excellent illustration of an ageless film language.
Michaela Klečková, Programmer
This engaging film follows the story of a woman who always believed that she was doing her best for her children, but ends up losing them. After seeing this very intimate film, I had a feeling that I knew the main character in person.
Several former female recruits describe their own experiences in the Israel army. Some of the experiences are humorous, although most of them are quite painful. These stories present a collection of alarming evidence concerning human reactions to an aberrant armed conflict, and the power of guns.
Karel Strachota, One World in Schools Program Director
A couple of days before this year’s film festival, one musician from the dictators’ band seems to have retired. The Future of Yesterday brings us an authentic look into the daily life of a country run for many decades by the horrible accordionist with cigar. On the one hand, this picture shows the frustration of those who believed in the communist ideology, and on the other hand, it reveals young peoples’ expectations towards an uncertain future.
A fundamental democratic right, is the right to vote, and Kid Power takes a humorous approach to how the right to vote is being denied to most teenagers. Kid Power is a playful picture from India that shows how things could be different if teenagers were allowed to vote. The movie shows how the level of political culture would be raised and public affairs would benefit from more teenagers taking part in the political dialogue.