- 7 May: Japanese melodrama “Radiance”
“Nothing is more beautiful than a moment that will soon be gone”
Misako provides audio description for films for blind people. Masaya is a world-famous photographer who is losing his sight. Their first meeting does not go very well. He questions her abilities and accuses her of interpreting too freely, while she accuses him of having a limited imagination. The quarrel between the two is crucial to the entire film. Soon, a feeling develops between them. Full of sunlit shots, close-ups and impressive visual passages, the cinematography gives the film the aura of a contemporary fairy tale.
- 14 May: Spanish drama “Summer 1993”
After her mother’s death, six-year-old Frida must learn to live with her new guardians. Everything takes place amid the blissful summer scenery of the Catalan countryside. This is not an idyllic story about a wonderful childhood. The director consistently maintains a child’s perspective, relegating “adult” matters to the margins of the screen. The guardians’ arguments and family discussions about Frida’s future are captured by the camera almost incidentally. The adults converse as if unaware that the little girl is nearby, listening and drawing her own conclusions from what reaches her ears. As a result, the girl must piece together reality from fragments of overheard conversations. “Summer 1993” is mature cinema about growing up.
- 21 May: German animated comedy “Isle of Dogs”
The film is set in Japan in the future. In the fictional city of Megasaki, Mayor Kobayashi, whose family has hated dogs and loved cats for generations, announces that all dogs must be separated from humans. The alleged reason for the decision is canine flu and snout fever, supposedly spreading among the dog population. Under a special decree, the faithful four-legged companions are sent to a nearby island that is also a gigantic garbage dump. Left to fend for themselves, the animals fight for survival. One day, a small pilot arrives on the island: 12-year-old Atari, the adopted son of Mayor Kobayashi, who is looking for his beloved dog Spots. And, as happens in fairy tales, friendship and love blossom along the way.
- 28 May: Polish documentary “21 x New York”
Piotr Stasik documents the American metropolis by observing passengers on the New York subway. Lost in the urban jungle, the protagonists of “21 x New York” bear no resemblance to the charming hipsters from “Frances Ha”. Instead, they seem like actors reenacting the spectacle of their own lives with ever-decreasing conviction. Although the New Yorkers picked from the crowd wear cool clothes and have minds full of original ideas, they know that all this offers scant consolation in the face of the loneliness weighing on them.