Hot Docs Changing Face of Europe: The Visitors by Veronika Lišková
The Czech director went to the Arctic settlement of Longyearbyen to film the work of social scientist, Zdenka Sokolícková, who was studying the impact of climate change on the local people. “From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to tell a rather an intimate story seen from the perspective of Zdenka…But I couldn’t know at the time how the story would develop…” the filmmaker tells BDE.
Hot Docs Changing Face of Europe: A Happy Man by Sona G. Lutherová
The deep-rooted relationship between psychiatrist Ivan and Marvin, a graphic designer by day and writer of queer fiction by night, is the beating heart of Sona G. Lutherová’s compassionate and gently watchable doc A Happy Man. Marvin, formerly R, came out as a transgender man in 2018 and officially applied for a gender change the following year. How this couple and their children deal with that journey is a story both compassionate and uplifting.
Hot Docs Changing Face of Europe: Vicky by Sasha King
The Irish documentary Vicky tells a tale of bravery and determination in the face of gross negligence within the Irish health system. Back in 2011, Vicky Phelan was given the all-clear after a smear test, just like hundreds of other women. But many of these results were wrong, despite incontestable evidence of pre-cancerous cells or abnormalities, ultimately leading to many deaths. Director Sasha King discusses her film with BDE.
Hot Docs Changing Face of Europe: The Homes We Carry by Brenda Akele Jorde
A badly neglected episode in recent German history is the injustice meted out to Mozambicans who travelled to the GDR to work and study during the Cold War but who were forced to head back to Africa when the Wall came down. “I was shocked and I didn’t know about it,” director Brenda Akele Jorde tells Business Doc Europe. “Germany just doesn’t talk about it.”
Hot Docs Changing Face of Europe: After Work by Erik Gandini
In After Work, Italian-Swedish director Erik Gandini ponders how everyone’s work lives are changing in contemporary society. Humanity might need more “tolerance in society to let people decide for themselves what they want to do with their time. Some might create an important vaccine, some might go surfing. And this could shift in different times in our lives,” he muses with BDE.
Hot Docs Changing Face of Europe review: Roberta by Elena Kairyte
A gently sympathetic and generous portrait of a young Lithuanian woman meandering through life as she looks for a sense of direction, Elena Kairyte’s modestly staged film Roberta is easy to watch though never becomes revelatory, and at times lacks dynamism, relying instead on the main character’s warm-hearted nature and sense of optimism.
