Havel
Winner of the Czech Lion 2021 with 7 winning awards: Director, Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best make-Up, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress
Slávek Horák is a Director, Writer and Actor, who I met at VIFF in 2015 ,when he attended VIFF for his first full feature film “Home Care”
Our society, as a community partner, had chosen to sponsor this film and a year later I had the opportunity to partner with VIFF and play the film again in their year round programming.
It is only natural I would want to see his next film 5 years later! What a Delight!
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Slávek and his co-writer Rudolf Suchánek have made an exciting, biopic of Vaclav Havel, playwright turned president, covering a period of more than 20 tumultuous years. Perhaps as a playwright, he was destined from the outset to fight for freedom and human rights as is evident from his writings and absurdist style he used in his plays to criticize the Communist system.
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Viktor Dvorák is superb in the role of Vaclev Havel., especially as the younger Havel. The film covers an enormous amount of ground showing all of Havels’ personality and flair, his mistakes, his infidelity yet dependency on his wife Olga, his stubbornness, boldness, and his conscience when he was forced to make a decision to gain freedom from prison. The costumes and settings in the early period are magnificent.
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The film moves rapidly through the many stages of transformation, through the Charter and The Velvet Revolution, from playwright to the first post Communist leader of the Czech Republic and all the stages thereafter. My attention and engagement never lapsed and there are some wonderful touches at the end of the film.
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For me this was a “Not to be Missed” film
AZOR
This film, the debut of director Andreas Fontana, received 8 nominations at some of the top International Festivals
Having visited Argentina in late 1974, I had a taste of what was destined to be a period of chaotic financial stability, prior to the overthrow of Isabel Perón in early 1976 by the military Junta.
I never changed money at a bank, only on the streets, at half the published exchange rate. The vendors checked our US currency with special magnifiers! The young students I met were already fearful of what was to come and extremely cautious.
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Andreas Fontana , born in Switzerland and based in Argentina has made a remarkable film of that period. Assisted by his co-writer Mariano Llinás and with financing from Switzerland, France and Argentina he has created a super, intriguing film, with a top seasoned cast.
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The opening scene , very realistic for that period, sets the tone. Swiss banker Yvan and his wife Inés are in Buenos Aires, sitting in a vehicle belonging to the Swiss consulate. While waiting at a road block, they check out the military searching some young students at gun point When soldiers approach the vehicle the driver explains that his passengers They are Swiss tourists invited by the embassy on a so – called Camel Tour of Argentina. Yvan is on a trip to discover what has happened to his Swiss banking partner, Keys based in Argentina, who has mysteriously disappeared. He suspects the worst. Keys is a risk taker, revered by many of the bank’s Argentinian clients. Yvan, much more reserved and cautious, needs to ensure that this disappearance will not result in the loss of many of their valued clients.
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The film moves along at a slow burn but suspenseful pace, with many secret and not so secret meetings. There are meetings with the wealthy at their lavish residences, with people connected to those in power, and also with those who have not supported the Junta and and are suffering from the takeover. Many people have disappeared and somehow Keys always seems to be connected.
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It is pure conversations with no images of the subjects of the discussions. This is what makes the film so intriguing and keeps you focused. There is a beautiful scene accompanied by some wonderful music at a special party planned and mentioned earlier in the film. It takes place at a spectacular residence with a large pool just to give you the sense that those, who know what is happening, pretend to keep it quiet, which is the meaning of the word AZOR
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An outstanding film with an unexpected ending. It kept me totally involved!
Clara Sola
Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s is a Costa Rican -Swedish Director Her debut feature film CLARA SOLA premiered in Cannes 2021 in the Director’s Fortnight section.
An alumna of the Berlinale Talents, TIFF Filmmaker Lab and NYFF Artist Academy, Nathalie’s shorts have screened at film festivals all over the world. Her short, FILIP, won Best Film Under 15 Minutes at the 2016 Palm Springs Shortfest, and ASUNDER, screened at the 2016 Telluride Film Festival.
Clara Sola is co-written by Maria Camila Arias.
It was released in 2021 and received 3 nominations
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The film is set in Vara Blanca, an area in the central volcanic mountain region of Costa Rica. Known for it’s large tracts of unspoiled virgin forests, due to the heavy rainfall in this region. It is a perfect village setting for the story of Clara.
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The role of Clara is played by non-actor Wendy Chinchilla Araya, a dancer. Her performance is incredibly captivating with her movements (Clara has extreme curvature of the spine). She is deeply involved in mysticism and the sensory world, with her closeness to nature and other living creatures, especially her beloved white horse Yuca. Clara is protected, but at the same time controlled, by her deeply religious mother, Fresia, who accepts that she is born that way, as god intended. Fresia believes that Clara is blessed with special healing powers. The 2 main breadwinners in the family are Clara, healing with her special powers, and Yuca, who is rented out for tourism in this lush region.
Also living in the house is Clara’ s 15 year old niece Maria age 15. Her late mother and Clara were sisters. The film has one other major player, Santiago, a kind young man who enters the scene when he is hired to care for Yuca and take him to the tourists.
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Maria at 15, is now entering womanhood under the village tradition. The arrival of Santiago ignites her awakening and she gets romantically involved with him. This also creates a change and an awakening in Clara.
