Even after twelve years of Be2Can, we still have to ask ourselves and you, our audience, what character, what number of films, and what form our festival should take. The number of films has stabilised to around ten. We have resisted the temptation to organise individual years according to themes. Allow me to reiterate the opinion that if a festival sets a trendy theme and then selects its programme according to it, it may look nice in the catalogue, but it often results in rigid communication and viewing. Be2Can was, is, and will probably continue to be a selective showcase of high-quality, interesting, and distinctive films from the three major world festivals in Berlin, Venice, and Cannes. Our selection criteria is diversity - genre, territory, budget, and theme. When asked by journalists what criteria we use to select films for Be2Can, we answer that it is solely based on their audience, distribution, and festival quality. Audience quality is about our audience's ability to be interested in a film even before they see it and then talk about it. It is precisely this interest and subsequent conversation and hype that is our greatest distribution value. If Be2Can viewers look at the posters, trailers, descriptions, and titles and say, "I would like to see this film," we’re halfway there. Only then, when they see it in a beautiful boutique cinema with a drink in the cafe before or after, and leave home with a lasting impression, does it mean that we’ve won. The impression on the soul is what interests us in films when selecting, distributing, accepting, and thinking about them. The impression on the soul is the poetic counterpart to context.

     We have also discussed in the past whether art should be openly activist. We don't want shallow topics that pander to the fast-paced media, we want to send viewers home thinking, feeling, and ideally acting. Yes, we are activists here because we want to activate ourselves and our audience. Let me repeat: art is either activist or it is not.  

     What we will be promoting this year, and what you should get in on "before you see the film." is Mother, by North Macedonian director Teona Strugar Mitevska. You guessed right, it's about "our" Mother Teresa, but it's not a complete and celebratory biopic. The film is about the necessity and ability to make decisions even in cases where there is no clear-cut answer. What Marielle Knows (dir. Frédéric Hambalek) is a humorous story about a little slap, after which Marielle hears and knows what is going on in the minds of her parents and those around her. Exit 8 takes you to the Tokyo subway. The film has scenes and designs like hyperrealistic paintings from MoMA, a story based on a video game, and a feeling as if it were scripted by Carl Jung. A collective archetypal labyrinth full of tasks to solve, and how to get through them. Director Tarik Saleh, a Swede with Egyptian roots, is known for the animated film Metropia, but mainly for the film Boy from Heaven (watch it on Edisonline). At Be2Can, we are showing Eagles of the Republic, the final part of his Cairo Trilogy (The Nile Hilton Incident, Boy from Heaven). The film is a political thriller. Dogma (dir. Kevin Smith) and Angel's Egg (dir. Mamoru Oshii) represent the increasingly popular and iconic return of classic films. All major festivals have sections of films from restored 4K archives. In the 30 years that I have been going to Berlin, Venice, and Cannes, I have watched as archive sections have moved from the margins to the centre of the programme and audience interest. This is not just nostalgia; generations change every ten years, and we have a growing audience that hasn’t seen hundreds of films from popular compilations such as 1000 + 1 films you must see before you die on the big screen. I certainly don't need to introduce the two notable documentaries Orwell: 2+2=5 (dir. Raoul Peck) and Riefenstahl (dir. Andres Veiel). They bring a nice touch of color to our Be2Can line-up and open up the possibility of distribution cooperation with documentary festivals, namely Jihlava. We are working on it. The Little Sister (dir. Hafsia Herzi) is a gentle twin to Blue is the Warmest Color. The lead actress, Nadia Melliti, won the Palme d'Or for Best Actress for the film. The Blue Trail (dir. Gabriel Mascaro) is a Brazilian sci-fi film about the near future and the government's idea to intern retirees in "rest camps" for economic and social reasons. Our heroine escapes and sails down the Amazon, something she has always wanted to do. The Blue Trail, like Lesbian Space Princess, an animated manga comedy (dir. Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese), are both films we collaborated with Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on. The Disappearance of Josef Mengele is, for me, Kirill Serebrenikov's best film to date. You will appreciate the realism, the intense style, and the fact that you suddenly find yourself inside Mengele's mind, which overwhelms you with a multitude of seemingly logical arguments for why he did what he did. If you start thinking in an effort to understand, he has you. In this way, Mengele is similar to Riefenstahl. Because of their actions, many people suffered and died. It’s important to learn from this.

Welcome to the 12th edition of Be2Can

Ivan Hronec