Festival continues online at KVIFF.TV. Which films not to miss?
Starting 2 March, over 50 films from this year's Pragueshorts programme can be viewed on the KVIFF.TV streaming platform. The online part of the festival will run until 23 March. All films are available as part of the subscription, which costs CZK 179 per month.
Films Awarded in International Competition
All films awarded in the International Competition are available for viewing in the online part of the festival. Winner of the Best Film Award, the Spanish thriller The Masterpiece tells the story of a wealthy Spanish couple, Leo and Diana, who meet a scrap metal dealing couple on their way to a salvage yard. When Diana invites them to her family's mansion and offers them more junk, she discovers that the poor immigrants have something she desires. The film has screened at dozens of festivals around the world, including Sundance, where it won the award for Best Short Film. The Hungarian film Diamond Beauty, which won a Special Mention, tells the story of a woman addicted to plastic surgery who connects with the man who broke her heart decades ago on a dating app. Due to her physical transformation, the man doesn’t recognise her and initiates a date with her. The second Special Mention winner, the Swiss documentary Teenage Cowboy, follows 16-year-old Michel who works as a cowboy on the open plains of Italy's Abruzzo region. The film follows his daily life, marked by a recent tragedy, which changed everything. KVIFF.TV also presents 17 other films from the International Competition programme, including the Oscar-nominated The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, which tells a gripping story against the backdrop of the Yugoslav War.
Selection of films from the National Competition
Anastasiaa Falileieva's animated documentary I Died in Irpin chronicles her memories of the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine with unflinching honesty. The film won the Best Film Award at the National Competition. Two films awarded with the Special Mention are also available for viewing on KVIFF.TV. Emma Hůlková's documentary Butterfly Girl, currently nominated for the Czech Lion Award for Best Short Film and the Magnesia Award for Best Student Film, follows a day in the life of six-year-old Viktorka, who tries to understand the complex relationships in her family. The animated Keep Out by director Tan-Lui Chan tells the story of the lonely lives of digital content creators. Other animated films from the National Competition are also available in the Pragueshorts online catalogue: Weeds by Pola Kazak, presented at Cannes, a surprising look at motherhood directed by Hana Stehlíková You Are My Light, and an animated documentary by Jamaica Kindlová Touching Darkness about ten-year-old Vítek, who perceives the world primarily through hearing and touch. The selection is rounded off by Sarah Slavíčková's My Homeland, which reflects on various stereotypes associated with ideas about village life, Adam Barbora's film Old Masters about an old group of ping-pong players who organise a tournament in a rundown gymnasium, and Eliska Přádová's The Lodge about a twenty-year-old girl who hopes to find a safe space among her friends to escape her psychological difficulties, They Can Hear Your Smile, in which director Michal Jiřinec exhibits an original dystopian and considerably distorted microworld, Magdalena Hejzlarová's mixed-media Hun Tun, which invites the audience to dance imaginatively into the heart of chaos, and Tomáš Rampula's Time Metallurgist, which uses artificial intelligence to creatively process archival footage.
Brutal Relax and Reality+
KVIFF.TV subscribers can also see films from the popular Brutal Relax Show - the black comedy Humanity by director Tereza Kovandová, the Swedish mystery horror film Don't Be Afraid or Meat Puppet, about a young man who accidentally turns into a puppet. The two films awarded in the LABO section - the French film Exploding Girl and the Thai movie Crazy Lotus - are also available for viewing. For fans of the Oscar-winning The Substance, there's Coralie Fargeat's early short film Reality+, while the gritty deepfake Duck also plays with reality, following Sean Connery and his reaction to discovering that Marilyn Monroe is back among the living.
The online part of Pragueshorts runs through March 23 on KVIFF.TV.