2nd June (Thursday), 18.30, Cinematheque
4th June (Saturday), 16.30, Cinematheque

When Hassan receives the news that an electric pole is to be installed on the family estate inherited by his father, he becomes worried about his future…
A moral story which exposes the hypocrisy of rural farming families and shows how pride can prevail in the face of humiliation. The forthcoming pilgrimage of Hasan is, in fact, an opportunity to realize the mistakes of the past and a chance to achieve repentance, primarily by asking for forgiveness from all those to whom he has done wrong, and especially asking for blessing from the man before whom he feels the greatest guilt — his brother.
Kaplanoğlu's film has been screened at the ‘Un certain regard’ sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival 2021, and was later shown at the festivals in Chicago and Karlovy Vary. It won the Best Foreign Language Film Award at Sao Paulo IFF by the film critics.

3rd June (Friday), 17.00 Cinematheque
6th June (Mondy), 19.00 Кинотекa

What would you do if you were left alone and discovered that in fact you didn’t really know the partner with whom you lived with and that his investment was only a small fraction of your complete and devoted sacrifice? After Love takes us on a moving journey through loss, sorrow and the quest for identity. The secrets, lies, the deceptions and sacrifices that linger throughout the life of one woman resonate as an echo of love in this debut feature of Aleem Khan.
The film explores love, among other things, as the ultimate act of infidelity and deception, and attempts to demystify it by portraying it (also) as a duty. On one side of this love triangle is the (already deceased) husband Ahmed, who led a double life and had a parallel relationship with another woman, and on the other side is Mary who was fully devoted herself to him and to their life together as a family.
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the ‘Critics’ Week’ selection in 2020, and it was also shown at the film festivals in Telluride, Toronto and BFI London Film Festival. Joanna Scanlan received the Best Actress Award at the film festivals in Thessaloniki, Dublin and at the BAFTA Film Awards in 2022.

3rd June (Friday) 18.30 Cinematheque
followed by a Q&A with the film director
8th (Wednesday) 18.30 Cinematheque

Set in a dark, dystopian and claustrophobic atmosphere, this film, with elements of the drama of the absurd, lies somewhere between the works of Franz Kafka and Lewis Carroll. The disorientation, confusion, and the sense of being utterly lost of the film’s antihero in an unknown and strange world are just some of the key elements of Jonas Kærup Hjort's debut feature. Through specific humor and allegory, and using minimalist scenography, the Danish filmmaker invites us on a grotesque journey into a space (an object) which is very much looking like a labyrinth.
In the film’s world, it is not really known how time flows. But, death is a symbol of time. That is why death is as far away as it is near. The film refers to the fact that we are never completely alone and, at the same time, to the fundamental human need for transcendence in the very labyrinth of life.
The film premiered in the First Feature competition at the Black Nights Festival (PÖFF) in Tallinn 2020.

4th (Saturday), 19.00, Cinematheque

The debut feature of Lebanese director Mounia Akl, Costa Brava, Lebanon, with Nadine Labaki (Caperrnaum, 2018) in one of the main roles, explores environmental questions through the perspective of one Lebanese family from Beirut. The family moves to a house isolated from the urban jungle, wishing to create a small utopian community. However, the much desired peace is not fated to last long…
The film of Mounia Akl is an elegant political allegory, as well as a poignant parable of individual freedom and the compromises of life within a community. But, the film is also a subtle critique of the absence of collective and moral responsibility in the face of the immeasurable dangers of the destruction of our environment.
Costa Brava, Lebanon premiered at the ‘Horizons’ sidebar of Venice IFF 2021, and then traveled to the festivals in Toronto, Chicago, Sydney, receiving also the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the BFI London Film Festival in the UK.

7th June (Tuesday), 18.30, Cinematheque

The main heroine, Clara, is placed in the crossfire between the paternalistic behavior of the family and the inhibition of the natural passions and instincts. Wrapped in the discrete guise of magical realism, this debut feature by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén tells an intimate story of the spiritual awakening and explosion of hidden and repressed female sexuality of the distant and a bit unusual Clara.
Provocative film meditation on the discrepancy between the conservatism of folklore tradition and religious restraints and restrictions, and the discovery of the intimate nature of the woman placed in an extremely limited everyday.
“Clara Sola” has premiered at the ‘Directors' Fortnight’ at Cannes IFF 2021, and it was also part of the selections of the BFI London Film Festival and the Thessaloniki Film Festival (Special Jury Award). The film is also the winner of the Best Feature Film Award and Best Actress Award (Wendy Chinchilla Araya) at Sao Paulo IFF.