13th Annual European Union Film Festival
SLOVAKIA
BROKEN PROMISE
(NEDODRZANY SLUB)
2009, Jirí Chlumsky, Slovakia, 129 min.
With Ondrej Vetchy, Ina Marojevic
- March 28th—6:45pm
- March 30th—7:45pm
Slovakia’s official submission for Academy Awards consideration is based on the true story of a Jewish teenager’s seven-year struggle for survival through the Holocaust. Life in a provincial town is idyllic for young Martin and his family until 1938, when the “Aryanization” begins. Only a prodigious talent for so
ccer saves his life at first, and he quickly learns to live by his wits, finding both friends and enemies in surprising places. Rich in historical detail, BROKEN PROMISE is especially notable for its warm evocation of pre-WWII Jewish family life. In Slovak with English subtitles. 35mm print courtesy of Film Europe. (BS)
- March 21st—3:00pm
- March 23rd—6:00pm
“A nuanced study of small-town life with lots of dark corners.”--Leslie Felperin, Variety
Feisty, middle-aged Tono returns to his small town in the Carpathian Mountains after five years in prison and finds that his friends and neighbors may forgive but they never forget. Jobless, doubting his wife’s fidelity, and in debt to the questionable friend who may hold the keys to his future, he begins to see the world with new eyes. This well-crafted film, making stunning use of a beautiful locale, is as much a portrait of an insular culture as it is an intimate look at a man’s quest for redemption. In Slovak with English subtitles. 35mm print courtesy of Forza Production House. (BS)
CZECH REPUBLIC
EL PASO
2009, Zdenek Tyc, Czech Republic, 100 min.
With Irena Horvathova, Linda Rybova
Based on a true story, EL PASO puts Vera
(Horvatha, an emotional dynamo), a widowed welfare mother with a brood
of seven kids she is in danger of losing, at the center of a turf war
between an ambitious young lawyer anxious to impress her boss with a
pro bono project, and a serious but unorthodox social worker. Raw
emotion is the order of the day, as Vera, a woman of the Roma
subculture, faces the non-Gypsy world with a towering anger largely
justified by the prejudice and condescension that even her would-be
helpers can’t hide. In Czech with English subtitles. Special advance
screening courtesy of courtesy of Menemsha Films, Inc. 35mm. (BS)
- March 8th—8:00pm
- March 10th—6:00pm
CZECH REPUBLIC
SHAMELESS
(NESTYDA)
2009, Jan Hrebejk, Czech Republic, 88 min.
With Jiri Machacek, Simona Babcakova
“Masterly…scaldingly ironic.”--Dimitri Eipides, Toronto International Film Festival program
The
sudden onset of TV weatherman’s mid-life crisis, triggered by a
newfound aversion to the size of his wife’s nose, is just the start of
a rollicking comedy of divorce and romantic regrouping that director
Hrebejk (I’M ALL GOOD, BEAUTY IN TROUBLE) based on Tales of a Marriage
and Sex by best-selling Czech writer Michal Viewegh. Oskar makes good
his escape from the marital bed and tries younger (the squeezable au
pair), and older (an earthy veteran pop star) but finds himself on the
outside looking in when ex-wife Zuzana threatens to settle down happily
with a tree surgeon. In Czech with English subtitles. Special advance
screening courtesy of Menemsha Films, Inc. 35mm widescreen. (BS)
- March 14th—7:30pm
- March 17th—6:15pm
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Chicago, Illinois 60601
MOVIE HOTLINE: 312-846-2800164 North State Street
Chicago, Illinois 60601
MOVIE HOTLINE: 312-846-2800
