Families on the move, border-busting intrigue and supernatural horror provided some of the imaginative themes in the European productions selected for Sundance this year, shot on locations circling the globe. In this special issue developed in association with the European Film Promotion (EFP), The Film Verdict’s world-wide network of critics review some of the most talked-about titles.
From Austria comes Veni Vidi Vici directed by Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann, who examine the power of money in their story about a billionaire family, in a film falling graciously into the ever-popular “eat the rich” subgenre. Quite another type of family appears in the Norwegian documentary A New Kind of Wilderness. Director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen finds the Payne family reclaiming their inborn freedom in the remote forest where they live peacefully, until a tragedy forces them to return to “civilization”.
A 6-year-old girl loses her mother in àma Gloria but finds love and comfort with a nanny-caregiver from Cape Verde, until she, too, has to exit from the little girl’s life. French filmmaker Marie Amachoukeli, who is making her directing debut, brings an uncanny sensibility to this moving story. Yet another family, this time in lively but socially and economically unstable Peru of 1992, prepares for a major relocation in Reinas, directed by Swiss-Peruvian filmmaker Klaudia Reynicke. This coming-of-ager follows Elena and her two budding daughters as they prepare to move to the U.S., leaving their estranged father behind.
In Ibelin, the parents of a severely disabled young man mourn his passing, yet are amazed to discover how many friends he had made in the world of online gaming, where unbeknownst to them he led an emotionally rich alternative life. Director Benjamin Ree’s touching and visually impressive documentary, parts of which are animated, is another offering from Norway.
Peering into the future, which is actually already here, in Eternal You, German filmmakers Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck dive into the nitty-gritty of AI, which is able to sell “immortality” via digital avatars of deceased loved ones. It’s a cautionary overview of an ethically dubious new reality. Thea Hvistendahl’s half-Stephen King, half-Kafka first feature, Handling the Undead, is a narrative on the irreversibility of death in which deceased loved ones inexplicably come back to life. Powerful, at times cruel and at other times delicate, it explores the devastating power of grief and love in what could be seen as a horror film format.
The international conspiracy surrounding the assassination of the Congo’s first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, is described as a huge political intrigue in Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat by Belgian documentarian Johan Grimonprez. In Finnish-British director Mikko Makela’s second feature Sebastian, a young Scottish writer in London decides to research his new novel by experiencing what it is to be a sex worker. And in Krazy House directed by Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil from the Netherlands, a family finds their home being torn apart by Russian criminals.
We hope you enjoy reading these reviews, which show how strongly Europe’s outspokenly creative filmmakers stood out this year at Sundance. EFP once again offered a meeting space for the Europeans attendees. Its EUROPE! HUB received the support of the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union, along with Austrian Films, Flanders Image (Belgium), German Films, Norwegian Film Institute, SEE NL (The Netherlands), SWISS FILMS and Unifrance.
