The 18th Mastercard OFF CAMERA International Festival of Independent Cinema reveals more surprises! From 25.04 – 04.05.2025 in Krakow, we can expect the best independent productions, well-known names, and an unforgettable atmosphere, which will certainly be provided by two special sections: “Stay Sane” and “Boys Will Be Boys” , in which neither good cinema nor great filmmakers will be in short supply.

STAY SANE

The protagonists of the “Stay Sane” section could use a moment to catch their breath, as well as a space where they can stop running and feel safe. The accompanying fear can be dealt with in several ways – sometimes it will be tears, other times laughter, but laughter through tears will also happen, as will be shown by the protagonists of Josef Hader, Eric Lamhene and Quentin Dupieux. Just see what the Mastercard OFF CAMERA programmers have prepared!

Andrea Gets a Divorce

The main character in Josef Hader’s second film has two serious problems. She is fed up with both her police job in a small village and her husband. She hopes that both will soon change. First, she will end her unhappy marriage once and for all, and second, she will start a new job – as a detective in a big city. The situation changes dramatically when an unexpected collision occurs. After a lavish birthday party, a woman accidentally hits her drunk husband. After which she does what, especially as a law enforcement officer, she should not do. She flees the scene. The shocked heroine fears that she will quickly be identified, and thus her plan will come to nothing. However, she is “helped” by a local teacher with an apparent alcohol problem, who identifies himself as the perpetrator of the accident. Meanwhile, Andrea tries to cover her tracks until guilt sets in. The Austrian director creates a far from stereotypical in-depth portrait of a rural community. Although it touches on serious issues, there is also room for a good dose of humor, which makes his film closest to a tragicomedy in terms of genre.

Director: Josef Hader
Screenplay: Josef Hader, Florian Kloibhofer
Cinematography: Carsten Thiele
Cast: Birgit Minichmayr, Josef Hader, Thomas Schubert, Robert Stadlober, Thomas Stipsits
Country: Austria
Release date: 2024
Running time: 93 min./color

Breathing Underwater

The main character in the feature debut of Luxembourg-based Eric Lamhene is a woman named Gloria. At first glance, she leads an envious life. A loving husband, a great job in an architectural office, a beautiful home. We meet her in the moment when she supposedly ends up in the hospital after falling down the stairs. The moment when she tells doctors that she doesn’t want her husband to visit her is the first sign that the official version of the accident may not be the true one. At the discreet suggestion of a doctor, the heroine is sent to a shelter for women who have experienced domestic violence. At first Emma does not really find herself there, convincing herself that she has already told everything. However, denial may be a defense mechanism associated with the experience of violence, whether physical or psychological. Emma slowly begins to open up, feeling solidarity with the other women of the center, bearing the burden of a difficult past. Lamhene’s film is a moving story about women who want to fight for themselves and start all over again. Attention is drawn to the acting performances, with Carla Juri at the forefront, skillfully portraying the entire spectrum of emotions that hound her character.

Director: Eric Lamhene
Screenplay: Eric Lamhene, Rae Lyn Lee
Cinematography: Rae Lyn Lee
Cast: Carla Juri, Esperanza Martin Gonzalez-Quevedo, Lui Schiltz, Sascha Ley, Nicolas Lech
Country: Luxembourg
Release date: 2024
Running time: 101 min./color

The Second Act

Frenchman Quentin Dupieux is one of Europe’s most original filmmakers. In his directorial career he has already told the story of a murderous tire, a deerskin jacket, time travel or Salvador Dalí in a rather peculiar biography of the Spanish painter. This time he takes the film industry for a spin, and as is usual with him, there is no leniency for anything or anyone. Under the guise of a simple story that begins on the set of a subpar production, love dramas and apparent communication problems, he mocks everything around him. From the environment of spoiled actors, political correctness, or the increasing interference of artificial intelligence in the filmmaking process. The sometimes-absurd dialogues are combined here with a perverse sense of humor, surrealism, and directorial bravado. Perhaps it’s easier to have it when you have real stars of French cinema – Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, and Louis Garrel – on the set, or rather on the sets. That Quentin Dupieux’s crazy visions have a lot of staying power can be seen in the fact that The Second Act was the opening film of last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Director: Quentin Dupieux
Screenplay: Quentin Dupieux
Cinematography: Quentin Dupieux
Cast: Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel, Raphaël Quenard, Manuel Guillot
Country: France
Release date: 2024
Running time: 76 min./color

BOYS WILL BE BOYS

“Boys Will Be Boys” section shows boys in a completely different light, far removed from the social construct of the man that filmmakers are increasingly cracking down on. The protagonists of the films by Marcelo Caetano, Antoine Chevrollier, Giovanni Tortorici are just learning to talk about their feelings, and while this may cause them some embarrassment at first, over time it allows them to feel completely comfortable. Meet Wellington, Willy, Jojo and Leonardo!

Baby

Quite innocently looking teenage Wellington (electrifying performance from João Pedro Mariano) gets released after two years from a juvenile center and tries to find his place in the world. As it turns out, his parents disappeared without any trace so the boy could only count on himself. Wandering through the streets of Sao Paulo at nights, he meets a significantly older man – Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro) who introduces him into the realm of sex working. Their fascinating, passionate relationship, complicated by the fact that Ronaldo has a family of his own, becomes a difficult and rather painful course of maturing up for the protagonist. The latest production by the Brazilian filmmaker Marceo Caetano had its world premiere during The Critics Week at last year’s Cannes film festival. The director observes his central characters with great compassion and understanding while presenting the audiences with a nuanced portrait of teen boyhood complicated by the class and sexual position of its protagonist.

Director: Marcelo Caetano
Screenplay: Marcelo Caetano, Gabriel Domigues
Cinematography: Joana Luz, Pedro Sotero
Music: Bruno Prado, Caê Rolfsen
Cast: João Pedro Mariano, Ricardo Teodoro, Ana Flavia Cavalcanti, Bruna Linzmeyer
Country: Brazil, France, Netherlands
Release date: 2024
Running time: 107 min./color
Awards: Cannes IFF – Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award; San Sebastián IFF – Best Latin American Film; Rio de Janeiro IFF – Best Film, Special Jury Prize, Best Actor (João Pedro Mariano), Best Art Direction

Block Pass

Teenage best friends Willy (Sayyid El Alami) and Jojo (Amaury Foucher) live in the countryside somewhere in western France and since they were children, they’ve been fascinated with motocross. The boys can’t imagine their lives without each other and together they dream of escaping their little hometown. Willy has recently lost his father and he doesn’t want to let his mother down who’s got high academic hopes for him. Jojo is even under more pressure since his dad and coach look at him as a chance to re-live their past sport glory days. Everything changes one day when Willy discovers that there’s something more between his best friend and their couch. In his feature debut, Antoine Chevrollier skillfully uses the conventions of coming-of-age films to tell the story of young masculinity trapped in a dense web of patriarchal norms and rules. Perfect cast masterfully plays around the well-known trope of wanting to escape one’s hometown in a fresh and original way.

Director: Antoine Chevrollier
Screenplay: Antoine Chevrollier, Bérénice Bocquillon, Faïza Guène
Cinematography: Benjamin Roux
Music: Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine
Cast: Sayyid El Alami, Amaury Foucher, Damien Bonnard, Florence Janas, Artus Solarno
Country: France
Release date: 2024
Running time: 104 min./color
Awards: Jerusalem FF – Special Mention

Nineteen

19-year-old Leonardo (a superb performance from Manfredi Marine) is over the moon to leave his hometown – Palermo and his over-bearing mother and start his studies in London. He moves in with his older sister (Vittoria Planeta) and her friend, Grazia (Dana Giuliano). The girls are not really pleased about it but they introduce him to their rich social life anyways. After a while, the protagonist decides that England is not for him, and he starts classic Italian literature program at Sienna University. But he cannot find himself there either, or can he communicate with his professor. Disappointed he goes to Turin where his life will forever be changed. Giovanni Tortorici’s debut had its world premiere at last year’s Venice film festival. The director creates a compassionate and tender portrait of his lost teen protagonist whose neurotic behavior and indecisiveness appear to be closely linked to the young masculinity in the making.

Director: Giovanni Tortorici
Screenplay: Giovanni Tortorici
Cinematography: Massimiliano Kuveiller
Cast: Manfredi Marini, Vittoria Planeta, Dana Giuliano, Zaccaria Delmas, Luca Lazzareschi
Country: Italy/UK
Release date: 2024
Running time: 109 min./color
Awards: Hamburg FF – Best Feature Film

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