Festival “must-see” films: tips from debate dramaturg Tereza D. Reichelová

Every year I’m surprised by how One World changes from edition to edition, how—almost imperceptibly, along with society—the atmosphere of the films, their themes, their storytelling approaches shift… I keep wondering: would we be able to tell, blindly, which films belong to which year? And I find myself thinking about which of this year’s films are pure, unmistakable today. Signs of the times.

Take the women, for instance. We screen films about female strength and tenderness every year, but this year they strike me as somehow… it’s hard to name it. More straightforward? They radiate a complete certainty that, no matter how tangled the world becomes, women’s emancipation, introspection, and mutual support are a train in full motion—unstoppable.

In the breathtaking documentary A Fox Under a Pink Moon, we follow a young Afghan artist, Soraya, who repeatedly attempts to cross the border illegally and escape from Iran to freedom. She transforms her frustration at constantly failing into beautiful paintings and sculptures. She is no victim of patriarchy, no poor thing we European feminists ought to rescue—she is a strong, free woman who simply cannot live within a rigidly conservative culture. Just as we could not.

Sara, the Iranian protagonist of Cutting Through Rocks, chooses a different strategy—although she shares Soraya’s absolute, uncompromising determination not to surrender her freedom or influence, and not to yield an inch to conservative forces. A free-spirited motorcyclist who decides to run for mayor of her village so that, in exchange for getting a gas pipeline built—something the men somehow never quite manage—she can protect young girls from forced marriages. Few European feminists have things as firmly in hand as this magnificent, razor-sharp woman.

And to complete this trio of indomitable women, I want to mention Káťa. An eighteen-year-old Belarusian welder who, despite her own fragility and injuries, fights for a free life for her little half-sister. Welded Together may seem rather understated at first glance, but I must admit it cut deep into me. As did, while I’m at it, Manas. And Flood.

But that’s exactly it. This year’s filmmaking confidence in stories about women—women who simply will not give up, ever—resonates with the stories about men, about male introspection, male tenderness, and the desire for mutuality. Perhaps the strongest, most topical and most profound film you can see at One World this year is Portrait of a Confused Father, in which Gunnar Jensen uses archive home videos to show just how fragile and hesitant today’s men’s path to freedom truly is.

After the screening at the Municipal Library, there will also be a major panel discussion: with psychotherapist and psychologist from the League of Open Men, Martin Jára; psychologist Vlaďka Bartáková, whom you may know from the project How to Raise Kids Without Losing Your Mind; degrowth activist Tadeáš Žďárský, who focuses on contemporary transformations of masculinity; and journalist Petr Bittner.