1744 White Alto
A colourful comedy featuring quirky characters, a case of mistaken identity and one hell of a ride.
110'
India
IFFR 2023
There is much talk in the modern world of the need to create safe spaces within society for individuals facing oppression or disadvantage. But there are no such spaces in the ironically titled Safe Place, a debut feature by Croatian filmmaker Juraj Lerotić.
Set largely in the administrative offices and high-rise apartments of Zagreb and Split, the film shows the fraught interactions between two adult brothers (Damir and Bruno, the latter played by Lerotić) and their mother, beginning from a moment of crisis: Damir’s suicide attempt. The diagnosis of Damir’s condition is open to ongoing speculation – is it depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia? – but the film’s focus lies squarely on the less-than-compassionate treatment he receives at the hands of medical and police personnel, as he is passed from one bare room to another.
At first glance, Safe Place would appear to be a grimly realistic film, graced by highly naturalistic acting. But its visual treatment, alternating between static long takes and camera movements that record the characters’ passage between spaces, is firmly systematic. And stay attuned to the unusual, surreal or reflexive moments that underline the film’s artifice, and signal Lerotić’s debt to figures such as Abbas Kiarostami.
– Adrian Martin
IFFR 2023
Programme IFFR 2023
Echoing Rotterdam’s port city identity, Harbour offers a safe haven to the full range of contemporary cinema that the festival champions.
Read more about this programmeA colourful comedy featuring quirky characters, a case of mistaken identity and one hell of a ride.
110'
India
IFFR 2023
A wordless, dream-like, post-apocalyptic horror movie full of sounds of fury. A darkly trippy avant-garde scare fest!
82'
Austria
IFFR 2023
A suicidal police officer finds a reason to live: catching the killer preying on migrant women.
128'
Taiwan
IFFR 2023