At a time when men are under fire globally, this irresistible film provides a breath of fresh air. It’s about playing, about the beauty of the game and the men that play it. They play, deadly seriously, yet with airy joy somewhere by the Mediterranean (Slovenia, Croatia). In a time that may or may not be ours. Wrestling, rolling a cheese through village streets or the rapid-fire reciting of the right numbers are occupations of the highest importance.
Filmmaker Matjaž Ivanišin, Slovenia’s great hope, shot everything with serious lightness until he hit a creative block. Reconstructing a recent sporting event, Croat Goran Ivanišević’s win at Wimbledon in 2001, put his project back on track. That’s how a game should be played, won and celebrated.
Programme
Not short, not long: just as long as it takes. IFFR puts the mid-length film in the spotlight.
Read more about this programmeIs it possible to be together and still be true to yourself? This elegant essay, shot on misty 16mm film, takes us through Europe and India in search of what love and relationships – good and bad – can be, in a broader sense. What is ideal for one person, is unbearable to another.
53'
France
IFFR 2018
In the late 20th century, the El Cartucho neighbourhood in the Colombian capital Bogotá was hell on earth, ruled by the drugs mafia. Raw, intimate images from that time contrast with the urban planners’ solution: a city park. But the ghosts of the past will not rest easy beneath the concrete.
55'
Colombia
IFFR 2018
On La Gomera, youth ends abruptly at age 16, when teens have to leave this paradise for higher education. This threat looms over a group of skateboarding, flirting friends. In this intimate documentary, everyone is beautiful, almost carefree and above all forever 15.
57'
Germany
IFFR 2018