Bratislava 2005

Liev Schreiber

The festival in the Slovak Republic invites first and second feature films to compete for its Grand Prix. Among them was the directorial debut of the Los Angeles based actor Liev Schreiber, Everything Is Illuminated — the story of a young American Jew who sets off to the Ukraine, where he looks for a woman who saved his grandfather during Nazi occupation. For our jury, it was the best film presented in competition (together with George Clooney's Good Night, And Good Luck that has won our prize already earlier, in Venice). The festival offered also an overview on new Slovak films (a series of a particular interest for foreign visitors), on films "Made in Europe" and on films "Off the Mainstream".
Details of the Prize

Reports:

With Infinite Heart. Phillip Bergson reviews Liev Schreiber's Everything Is Illuminated, "an American feature with a feeling for Europe, and with obvious disdain for the usual dictates of commerce-driven mainstream movies". Read more

Death Through Indifference. In The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Emília Kincelová sees a "classical Aristotelian narrative" that forces the viewer to "ponder the transitory nature of things..." It is a film that has won many awards, and being the first in a sextet of features on life in Bucharest from director Cristi Puiu, it is sign of good things to come from this Eastern European county. Read more

"Go West, Young Man". Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns meet the cinema of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Ahmed Imamovic's Go West. Probably not what Horace Greeley had in mind, but according to Vuk Perovic it is a sensitive look at the civil war from a fres and private angle. Read more

I Will Survive... The dark Balkan comedy Gravehopping is reviewd by Kata Anna Váró. She writes: "...graveyard humor and the notion of death, which crop up in almost every conversation and in every scene, foreshadow the darker ending that is to come and which takes the viewer by surprise."  Read more

Identity Crisis. France Hatron surveys the grim films in this year’s line-up. "It cannot be said that the films competing will make your spirits soar ... with few exceptions all competing features wallow in deep existential crises, induced by loss of identity..." But the report end on a positive note, with a look at Grand Prix winner The Cave of the Yellow Dog, a film that "reveals simple and healthy human relationships based on love and tenderness." Read more

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