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FESTIVALS / AWARDS Switzerland

The Black Movie Festival unveils the line-up for its 24th edition

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- With courage and determination, the event’s new edition ponders the current state of affairs in an increasingly complex and anxiety-inducing world

The Black Movie Festival unveils the line-up for its 24th edition
Where Is This Street? or With No Before or After by João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata

The latest edition of the International Black Movie Independent Film Festival, which is unspooling in Geneva from 20 to 29 January, will offer its loyal public a succession of fascinating productions hailing from upwards of 50 countries. It’s a scintillating explosion of 91 independent films, consisting of 51 feature films and 40 shorts, and including 54 Swiss premieres. As emphasised by Maria Watzlawick, the festival’s artistic director: "These men and women directors, these modern-day court jesters, have got it all worked out. Daring to depict the world as they perceive it with their artistic sensibility and without filters or right-thinking, these directors present the various facets of the magnificent yet troubling kaleidoscope that is our planet".

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As in previous years, Black Movie is dividing its enthralling selection into themed sections: To Be Followed… (a best-of of independent filmmakers adored by the festival), Live! (recounting young people’s lives in an increasingly complex and angst-inducing world), Unleashed (an ode against the patriarchy), UFOs (eight works which explore and tear down concepts of genre), Memento Mori (a reflection on our relationship with death), Pagan East (offering up folk films from Central and Eastern Europe), Spasms (inviting viewers along to three nocturnal rendezvous) and Black Movie for Kids.

Festivalgoers will be re-introduced to familiar names, such as – to only name the European ones among them – Portuguese talents João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata (who, in addition to delivering a highly anticipated masterclass on 23 January, will be presenting two films, Where Is This Street? Or With No Before Or After [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, which pays respectful and elegant tribute to Paulo Rocha’s masterpiece Os verdes anos (1963), and Will-O’-The-Wisp [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: João Pedro Rodrigues
film profile
]
), Spanish director Eduardo Casanova (Piety [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
) and Ukraine’s Antonio Lukich (Luxembourg, Luxembourg [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antonio Lukich
film profile
]
).

A special focus will also be placed on Iranian filmmakers, notably via screenings of How Dare You Have Such a Rubbish Wish by Mania Akbari, The House of Forgetfulness by Farhad Ghodsi and Sahand Sarhaddi, and Alone by Jafar Najafi.

In addition to the afore-mentioned movies, the line-up encompasses numerous European productions and co-productions, including Theo Montoya’s touching portrayal of transgender individuals in Anhell69 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Theo Montoya
film profile
]
, modern-day thrillers Blanquita [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Fernando Guzzoni and To the North [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mihai Mincan
film profile
]
by Mihai Mincan, African road trip movie No U-Turn [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Ike Nnaebue, surrealist tale Have You Seen This Woman? [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dušan Zorić and Matija Gluš…
film profile
]
by Matija Gluščević and Dušan Zorić, and the unusual love story unfolding in My Love Affair With Marriage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Signe Baumane
film profile
]
by Signe Baumane, not to mention The River is not a Border [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Alassane Diago, Pornomelancolía [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Manuel Abramovich
film profile
]
by Manuel Abramovich, Aya [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Simon Coulibaly Gillard
film profile
]
by Simon Coulibaly Gillard, Bread and Salt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damian Kocur
film profile
]
by Damian Kocur, How To Save a Dead Friend [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Marusya Syroechkovskaya, I am Chance [+see also:
film review
interview: Marc-Henri Wajnberg
film profile
]
by Marc-Henri Wajnberg, Under the Fig Trees [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Erige Sehiri
film profile
]
by Erige Sehiri, We, Students! [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Rafiki Fariala and The Damned Don’t Cry [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Fyzal Boulifa, to name just a few.

Black Movie is also continuing its offer of online films this year (for Swiss audiences), viewable between 24 and 29 January.

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(Translated from French)

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