The Helsinki Effect
Synopsis
Global peace is at risk. The borders of Western democracies and Communist Russia hang in the balance. Can diplomacy effectively conclude the Cold War? In this witty, clever, and insightful film about geopolitical gamesmanship, Finnish filmmaker Arthur Franck looks back at the 1973 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), a seemingly banal meeting of international leaders in his native Helsinki that would have far-reaching consequences for the future of our current global politics.
Using hundreds of hours of archival footage and amusingly off-kilter TV broadcasts, declassified documents, and some help from cheeky AI-generated voices, Franck brings to life the conference and the central figures of this high-stakes chess match, from a cynical Henry Kissinger to a boisterous Leonid Brezhnev. Following up on the promise of his 2019 Festival selection The Hypnotist, Franck returns with an equally droll historical docudrama uncovering truths, both humorous and heady, about the surprising results that can come from world leaders talking to each other.
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Media
Film Credits
- Sandra Enkvist, Arthur Frank, Oskar Forstén, Stefan Kloos, Anja Dziersk, Thorvald Nilsen
- Arthur Franck
- Markus Leppälä, Arthur Franck
- Henry Kissinger, Leonid Breshnev, Gerald Ford
- Uno Helmersson, Patrik Andrén
- Polygraf Film, Kloos & Co, Indie Film Bergen
- https://polygraf.fi
Sponsors
Program Partner
Program Patron
Cynthia Stone Raskin
With support from
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Franz Franz
Synopsis
A promising lawyer working in insurance, young Franz Kafka is newly engaged yet nearly bowed by the weight of his familial and professional obligations. Finding refuge in his passion for literature, Franz begins creating the surreal masterpieces that will ultimately win him artistic immortality, even as the world around him careens toward unimaginable conflict and illness threatens to cut short his own life. In present day Prague, the prescience of his great work is celebrated, even as his legacy is commodified in the ubiquitous Kafka-themed tourist trifles found across the city.
A lifelong student of Kafka, Polish master filmmaker Agnieszka Holland crafts a fittingly unconventional tribute to one of the 20th century’s literary masters, humanizing an icon and reflecting on his enduring international influence in this time-shifting cinematic portrait. Incisively exploring the young Kafka’s psychology and the forces that shaped him, the film delves into the root of his obsessions and peculiarities.
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Film Credits
- Šárka Cimbalová, Agnieszka Holland, Uwe Schott, Jorgo Narjes, Marcin Wierzchosławski, Alicja Jagodzińska
- Marek Epstein
- Pavel Hrdlička
- Tomasz Naumiuk
- Idan Weiss, Peter Kurth, Jenovéfa Boková, Ivan Trojan, Sandra Korzeniak, Katharina Stark, Sebastian Schwarz, Aaron Friesz, Carol Schuler, Gesa Schermuly, Josef Trojan, Jan Budař
- Mary Komasa, Antoni Komasa Łazarkiewicz
- Mike Downey, Kevan Van Thompson, Daniel Bergmann, Jeff Field , Emir Külal Haznevi
- Marlene Film Production, X Filme Creative Pool, Metro Films
Sponsors
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Dry Leaf
Synopsis
Lisa, a photographer, goes missing while on assignment to photograph rural soccer fields in Georgia. Troubled by her disappearance, her father Irakli embarks on a journey across the country’s vast and varied landscape in hopes of finding her. He’s accompanied by Lisa’s invisible best friend, Levani, and together the two travel from town to town searching for clues.
Shot entirely on an outdated cellphone (an ancient Sony Ericsson, to be precise), Dry Leaf is a radical reimagining of the “road movie” genre. Stunning Georgian scenery—from majestic mountains to idyllic sundrenched farms—is rendered in blurred, pixelated images that challenge our ideas about natural beauty in cinema. Backgrounded by an atmospheric, elegiac score and featuring a subtle, Kiarostami-like wit, the film is a moving, transcendent meditation on family, country, and life on the road written in a cinematic language all its own.
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Film Credits
- Mariam Shatberashvili, Luise Hauschild, Alexandre Koberidze
- Alexandre Koberidze
- Alexandre Koberidze
- Alexandre Koberidze
- David Koberidze, Otar Nijaradze
- Giorgi Koberidze
- New Matter Films
- https://cinemaguild.com
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The Cowboy
Synopsis
At 11-years-old, Crowley McCuistion has a bright future ahead of him as a cowboy in the plains of Colorado. Training since he was a toddler and encouraged by his strict father Curt, mother Farrah, and supportive older brother Yancie, the young Crowley knows exactly who he wants to be when he grows up. As he says, “Cowboys have to be tough… you have to shake it off and go on with life.” But when an unexpected tragedy hits the family in his teenage years, Crowley learns it’s not so easy to shake things off. Turns out the challenges of bull riding are nothing compared to the struggles of everyday life.
For 10 years, director André Hörmann (who returns to the Festival after his Chicago-set Ringside) visited with Crowley and his family members, observing them with sensitivity and sympathy. While the film initially shows many of the tropes familiar to cowboy life—a culture rooted in masculinity and ruggedness—such hardened layers quickly peel away, revealing the vulnerabilities and fragilities that lie beneath the surface. A longitudinal and piercing coming-of-age docu-drama, The Cowboy penetrates stereotypes to reveal a complex portrait of life in the American heartland.
Screenings & Events
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Film Credits
- Heike Kunze
- André Hörmann
- Vincent Assmann
- Tom Bergmann
- Roger Goula
- telekult Film, Mitten Media
Sponsors
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Program Patron
Cynthia Stone Raskin
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Cotton Queen
Synopsis
In a close-knit Sudanese village known for harvesting the purist cotton by virginal hands, teenage Nafisa is dreaming of something beyond fertile fields. Her ambitions are amplified with the arrival of a wealthy young businessman returning to Sudan after years abroad. His introduction of a genetically modified seed promises to make the village completely dependent on his profit-driven vision of the future.
Through a blend of magical realism rooted in local spiritual customs set by village legend and elder Al-Sit, the film explores the complications inherent in the pursuit of progress as commerce and cultural sustainability vie for the hearts of the community. Nafisa’s strong will, open mind, and profoundly principled nature deepens and uplifts her to become the new hero her village needs yet might not be ready for.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Caroline Daube, Didar Domehri, Annemarie Jacir, Ossama Bawardi, Jessica Khoury, Mohamed Hefzy, Alaa Karkouti, Maher Diab
- Suzannah Mirghani
- Amparo Mejías, Simon Blasi, Frank Müller
- Frida Marzouk
- Mihad Murtada, Rabha Mohamed Mahmoud, Talaat Fareed, Haram Bisheer, Mohamed Musa, Hassan Kassala
- Amine Bouhafa
- Strange Bird, Maneki Films, Philistine Films, Film Clinic, Mad Solutions
Sponsors
Program Patron
Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation
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