Cult sci-fi horror and new Slovak documentaries. Cinematik will bring unique film experiences for everyone

In less than two months, the 19th edition of the Cinematik International Film Festival will open its doors in Piešt’any. Fans of a good cinema can look forward to dozens of quality films by domestic and foreign filmmakers, which will be divided into several competitive and non-competitive sections. The popular Cult and Beyond section, also known as the “Midnight” section, will not be missing. Once again, this will be a showcase of films with frightening or provocative themes, but not lacking in humour and detachment. Documentary film lovers should not miss the Cinematik.doc competition. It will bring a selection of the best that Slovak documentary filmmakers have produced over the past year. Piešt’any will be the venue of the Cinematik IFF for the 19th time from 10 to 15 September 2024. For those who regularly visit this popular festival, there is certainly no need to introduce the Cult and Beyond section – a unique showcase of both cult and new films that are united by a common theme or plot. The section, which this year will be subtitled On the Body and Transformations, will open with David Cronenberg’s iconic Videodrome (1983). The sci-fi horror film’s protagonist is Max Renn (James Woods), a playwright for a shady TV station who, in his search for new material, stumbles upon Videodrome: a pirated broadcast of a hyper-violent programme designed to permanently alter viewers’ perceptions through brain damage.

Audiences will be able to follow David Cronenberg’s cult film with a screening of his son Brandon Cronenberg’s successful first feature. Antiviral (2012) is set in a dystopian world obsessed with celebrities, where 24-hour TV broadcasts feed viewers intimate information about current starlets.Fans can get closer to their idols by, for example, getting exclusively infected with the same virus that their stars are currently suffering from. But what if an unknown and deadly virus is inadvertently contracted by an employee of such a clinic?

Ruth (Alice Lowe), the heroine of the British horror comedy Prevenge (2016), is also having a hard time. After the tragic death of her partner, her only solace is the unborn child they share. Gradually, however, it is from her womb that she begins to hear chilling commands: She must find those responsible for the death of the father of her child and avenge him ruthlessly. Blackout (2023) is the latest directorial effort so far from Larry Fessenden, whose work was the subject of Cinematik’s Beyond the Cult section in 2021. It takes place in a sleepy upstate New York town, where a talented but alcohol-ravaged painter named Charley (Alex Hurt) is battling a terrifying curse: At night, he transforms into a werewolf, and in the morning, he only remembers in fragments what all he’s been up to.

Among the latest films in the Beyond the Cult section is Mary Dauterman’s Booger (2023). Its heroine, Anna (Grace Glowicki), is bitten by a deceased cat named Scabbard after losing her best friend, setting off her bizarre and terrifying transformation. In Tiger Stripes (2023), directed by Amanda Nell Eu, 12-year-old Zaffan, considered a rebel in the tradition-ridden village where she lives, undergoes another dramatic transformation.

The Cinematik Film Festival is also the venue for the annual competition of new films from the work of local documentary filmmakers, which have been made in the past few months. In the Cinematik.doc competition section, the film Emília (2023), a biographical portrait of the actress Emília Vášáryová, which won the Sun in the Net award for Best Documentary, will compete for the favour of the international jury and the audience at the 19th edition of the festival. The work of director Jara Vojtek will be represented in the competition by The Third End of the Stick (2023) – it follows the fate of Roma people who, for various reasons, have been marginalised in the already marginalised community in which they live.

Another of the competition titles is Birdhill (Vtáčnik, 2024) by Eva Križková – a film dedicated to the eponymous Bratislava locality, its inhabitants, disappearing biodiversity and a fragile future set by massive construction. Lapilli (2024) is a new film by Paula Ďurinová, a Slovak filmmaker based in Berlin. Wandering with her camera through diverse rocky landscapes, the filmmaker comes to terms with the sudden death of her grandparents.

Documentary filmmaker Roman Ďuriš will present his feature debut Fakir (Pokiaľ ja žijem, 2024) in the Cinematik.doc section. It tells the story of a young Dalibor, who, after returning from prison, becomes a fakir in a travelling circus. Snorting and gulping fire in front of the audience becomes a metaphor for his struggle with fate and his attempt to rewrite his life story.

Another new film screened at Cinematik in the documentary competition will be The Grey Zone (2024) by Daniela Meressa Rusnok. The film is an intimate confession of a mother coming to terms with the trauma of premature birth and the unpreparedness of herself and society for the demands of the motherhood. The film will have its Slovak premiere at Cinematik. However, in the Cinematik.doc competition section, the programme team is also preparing other surprises. Dozens of other exceptional film experiences will await Cinematik visitors in the sections Paths of Glory, In the House, Art Director’s Selection, DokMa, Meeting Point Europe, European Feature Film Competition and others.