News

The Hungarian Dressmaker, Slovakia’s official submission to the Academy Awards for best international feature film, is more apt than ever, says its director and writer, Iveta Grofova.

Through interpretation by translator Jakub Tlolka, the filmmaker shares her insight into spotlighting a specific part of political history with the World War II drama, which screened in Karlovy Vary Film Festival’s main Crystal Globe competition and stars Alexandra Borbely. “I found it very important to highlight the subject again,” Grofova says during a recent THR Presents panel, powered by Vision Media. Marika (Borbely), a Hungarian widow dressmaker, shelters a Jewish boy in her home on the Slovak-Hungarian border. Adapted from Peter Kristufek’s book Emma and the Death’s Head, the movie takes place during the turbulent years of the Nazi-aligned Slovak state, forcing Slovakians to confront a dark era of their past that many, Grofova says, would prefer to forget.

Slovak director Iveta Grofova says she became fascinated with one of the darkest periods in her country’s recent past when she read Peter Kristufek’s book “Emma and the Death’s Head,” which tells the story of Marika, a Hungarian widow who shelters a young Jewish boy in her home.

Set near the Hungarian border during WWII in the Nazi puppet Slovak state, the novel embraces the imagery of the Death’s Head Moth, whose pattern reflects the same skull adopted by the Nazi SS, to force readers to confront a period Grofova says most Slovaks would prefer to forget.

This was part of the appeal of adapting it for the screen, she says – but what really interested her was the perspective of Marika and impossible decisions she would be faced with. Thus, “The Hungarian Dressmaker,” as she called her film, screening in the Karlovy Vary fest’s main Crystal Globe competition,...

Long a champion of human rights-focused work, the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival screened a compelling collection of films focused on Roma inequality issues in its 26th edition.

One of the most moving, “Leaving to Remain,” which follows three Roma figures who have emigrated from Central Europe to the U.K., survived a host of challenges to become a telling story of change and possibility.

“I think it’s really important,” says director Mira Erdevički of the doc, which takes on the decades-old problem of Czech and Slovak public schools that segregate Roma children, forcing them into special education programs that offer minimal academics.

“When you have a system that segregates Roma kids just because they are Roma, they don’t actually get any choice,” says Erdevički. “And then they are going to be blamed because they are poor – but the poverty comes with the lower education.”

“Leaving to...

IFC Films has acquired the U.S. rights to “The Painted Bird,” a Holocaust drama starring Stellan Skarsgård, Harvey Keitel and Udo Kier that played at Venice and Toronto earlier this year, the distributor announced Tuesday.

“The Painted Bird” is directed, written, and produced by Václav Marhoul and is based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski. The foreign language drama will be the official Oscar submission from the Czech Republic. IFC Films is planning a theatrical release for 2020.

The film was praised on the festival circuit for its bleak, unsparing look at Holocaust atrocities and evil, but the nearly three-hour saga, all in black and white on 35mm film, also prompted walkouts among moviegoers and split some critics.

Also Read: 'The Painted Bird' Film Review: Jerzy Kosiński Adaptation Is Gruesome, Poetic Epic of Inhumanity

“Marhoul’s film isn’t shy about the steady stream of ugliness, and that...

IFC Films has acquired U.S. rights to “The Painted Bird,” the critically acclaimed and controversial adaptation of the Jerzy Kosinski novel. The film will be the Czech Republic’s Oscar entry for the foreign language category at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Directed, written and produced by Václav Marhoul (“Smart Philip”), the film is an unsparing look at the horrors of the Holocaust. Its violence reportedly prompted audience walkouts at the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival, but also drew rave reviews for its uncompromising depiction of evil.

In a five star review, the Guardian’s Xan Brooks acknowledged the movie was a tough sit, but added, “I can state without hesitation that this is a monumental piece of work and one I’m deeply glad to have seen. I can also say that I hope to never cross its path again.”

Variety‘s Guy Lodge also praised the film,...