On Tour: New Female Voices at Kriterion, Amsterdam

Filmtheater Kriterion, Amsterdam | Wednesday, 9 October 2024 | 19:15 hours

Short Film Night! Next Wednesday, October 9, ENFF is organizing a special film night to introduce strong, new female voices from Eastern Europe to our audience. The festival will screen four short films from ENFF New Talents Competition program, including My Uncle Tudor by young Moldovan director Olga Lucovnicova, winner of the European Film Awards.

Don’t miss out! During the evening, ENFF will serve a Balkan cocktail to all attendees. Furthermore, the director of one of the short films being showcased, Anastasija Piroženko (Beyond the Sea), will join us for a Q&A with the audience.

All short films have English subtitles. The total screening time is 91 minutes.

My Uncle Tudor | by Olga Lucovnicova | 20 min | Belgium, Portugal, Hungary, Moldavia | 2020

A poetic journey into the filmmaker’s past, where nostalgic memories of a happy childhood are shattered by a deep-rooted trauma. After 20 years of silence, the filmmaker travels back to the house of her great-grandparents, where she experienced events that left a deep imprint on her memory. The long-awaited family gathering runs counter to her attempts to overcome the past. Moldovan filmmaker Olga Lucovnicova won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at Berlinale and the European Film Award. 

Then Comes the Evening | by Maja Novakovic | 28 min | Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2019

A wonderful portrait of pastoral life in the remote hills of Eastern Bosnia and the day-to-day life of two women who worship nature. Nature is the entity with which grannies speak, listen to, and respect. The documentary emphasizes the intangible cultural heritage, through the presentation of chants and rituals for taming the adverse weather, hail and storm. It reflects the simplicity and purity of their way of life, as well as their painstaking work. 

Don’t Hesitate to Come for a Visit, Mom | by Anna Artemyeva | 13 min | Belgium, Hungary, Portugal, Russia | 2020

This is a story about the separation of a mother and 3-year-old daughter, who live far from each other because of visa issues. Every day they communicate through video chat and dream of an imminent meeting. Little Grania comes up with various games that help her to deal with the separation trauma. She plays online apps with her mom. While studying in another country, her mother is trying to be with her family, but each time her hopes are crushed by a bureaucratic machine. All of this lasts a month, half a year, a year… 

Beyond the Sea | by Anastasija Pirozenko | 30 min | The Netherlands, Lithuania | 2020

In 1973, a Soviet writer travelled to Western Europe to explore a newly built modernist town for her next sci-fi novel. The film follows her steps while juxtaposing past dreams with present realities. It’s a short fiction documentary about Emmen, one of the first planned cities in the Netherlands, and home to textile and metal industry workers. A social experiment, meant to become the embodiment of a committed, happy and united society. But the planned idyll did not last long, or perhaps never existed. In this poetic, sci-fi-like film journey, speculative fiction intertwines with the present-day narratives of the city, revealing modernist dreams and a complex shift in the history of its community.