23/11/2009

Twelve films are screening in competition at the 11th Bratislava International Film Festival (Nov 27-Dec 4), including five European titles and another three with European co-producers.

Among the most celebrated films bidding for the grand prix is Kamen Kalev's Director's Fortnight title Eastern Plays [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kamen Kalev
film profile]. The film, about two disaffected brothers in Sofia, won grand prizes at Warsaw and Tokyo, and is in competition for the European Parliament LUX Prize 2009.

The brooding Transmission is a set in a dystopian near future in which all televisions and computer screens have gone blank. It is director Roland Vranik's second feature after Black Brush. Transmission premiered at Hungarian Film Week in January and won Best Director at Seville earlier this month.

Philippe Van Leeuw's Belgian/French co-production The Day God Went Away, about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, won the Kutxa-New Directors Award at San Sebastian and also screened at Toronto and in competition at Thessaloniki.

Foxes [+see also:
film review
film profile], which portrays two Slovak sisters living in Dublin, is the local favorite and director Mira Fornay is portrayed as a new light of Slovak cinema. A co-production between Slovakia, Ireland and the Czech Republic, Foxes premiered at International Critics' Week in Venice.

Mathias Golkap's corporate-world comedy Nothing Personal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mathias Gokalp, director of…
film profile] opened Critic's Week at Cannes and screened in competition at Athens. The film is nominated for the Prix Louis Delluc (see news).

Competition films with European co-producers include Cristián Jiménez's Optical Illusions, Rigoberto Perezcano's Northless, and Omri Givon's Seven Minutes in Heaven.

The festival program also includes prize winners from major festivals, including Romanian omnibus film Tales From the Golden Age, Jordan Scott's Irish film Cracks [+see also:
trailer
interview: María Valverde
film profile], Alex van Warmerdam's The Last Days of Emma Blank [+see also:
interview: The Last Days of Emma Blank…
film profile], Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea Arnold
film profile], Oliver Hirschbiegel's Five Minutes of Heaven [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Patrice Chéreau's Persecution [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Fatih Akin's Soul Kitchen [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard and Tahar R…
film profile].