"Among the international feature films that played to packed audiences were The Tower of Strength (Montenegro), Holy Rosita (Belgium), Blackbird, Blackbird, Blackberry (Switzerland), Rosinante (Turkey), and Growing Down (Hungary), to name a few. Most screenings were followed by interactive sessions with the audience, wherein we got to hear fascinating backstories behind the creations.
Istanbul-based director Baran Gündüzalp’s film Rosinante (2023), which had a world premiere at the Tokyo Film Festival, received love at ZSIFF too. Speaking to Szegedify, the director said, “What brings me here is this festival’s commitment to the visual language of cinema, and it’s an honor to be part of something named after such a legendary cinematographer.”
The film, which tells the story of a family of three navigating the cost-of-living crisis in urban Istanbul, is a slow-burning, hard-hitting domestic drama that remains tender at its core. Baran adds, “The film tries to speak not just through dialogue but through light, texture, and silence. A cinematography-focused platform, therefore, felt like a natural and meaningful destination.”
Close-knit yet far-reaching
The intimacy of the festival appears to be a big draw for film creators who are otherwise immersed in the fast-paced, high-pressure world of global cinema. Hollywood-based cinematographer Gavin Wynn, whose portfolio includes widely recognized shows like Modern Family, Abbott Elementary, and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, to name a few, applied in the competition section with an 8-minute, deeply personal short film based on his own mental turmoil after a health scare.
Titled Earworms Earmuffs, the film that was a literal one-man production – he wrote it, directed it, shot it at home, and performed in it – also earned him his first award, a Special Mention prize. Incidentally, this marked his first ever attendance at a film festival too, making the recognition all the more meaningful.
“Although I live and work in Los Angeles, my movie taste differs very much from the industry I am part of. I feel this festival is more aligned with my preferred aesthetic. I am eternally humbled and grateful for this award. To be honored by the members of this jury means so much, but more so to be included with all the films in this festival is something else,” he says.
He is furthermore appreciative of how the screenings were conducted. “One hears of instances where the jury watches films on their phones or in more casual environments. So, I really loved seeing the judges at the screenings watching the films with the rest of the audience. You can tell that they take it very seriously, and as a filmmaker, all you want is to be judged fairly,” says the cinematographer, adding that he’d love to return next year with a feature he’s working on currently."
"The atmosphere of rural Georgia, filmed in the Imereti region of the country, is something that breathes through the film and feels almost tactile. The interiors wrapped in light and shadow, in hues of violent and dark green, or a weathered red, call to mind the paintings of Edward Hopper, who, as it turns out, was indeed a reference. Pakozdi says, “Elene and I have worked together for a very long time now, and we do have a set of references – painters and filmmakers – we go back to, whose work we like a lot. Each film, of course, has a different style and mood, but certain inspirations tend to pop up time and again, and Hopper is one of them.” She continues, “The colour palette in this film came from the colours we found in the homes of this region. Georgia is a very small country but hugely diverse in character, and these very unique colour combinations may have somewhat coincided with Hopper’s paintings.”
This is Pakozdi and Naveriani’s sixth film together and perhaps the most lauded one. Having premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2023, the film still continues to lap up praise two years on. “The age group above 50, both women and men, are so touched when they see a story like this, they feel seen,” says Pakozdi, adding, “But recently, I got a chance to show the film to a class of film students during a lecture – the gen Z so to speak, between ages 18 and 20 – and I was surprised to see how positively they responded to it. Aside from finding it slow – which is understandable, I guess – their feedback was really good.”
Hungarian-born Pakozdi, who is now based in Berlin, has worked extensively on international projects throughout her film career, and language, she says, has never been a barrier for her. “I know the script word by word, in English in most cases – but sometimes I feel shooting in a language that I don’t understand enables me to read and capture every form of non-verbal acting, without getting distracted by things like diction, intonation, etc. I love being in this state; it sharpens my attention in a very specific way,” says the cinematographer whose repertoire includes films in Chinese and Greek as well."
Reading between the lines and light by Kusumita Das on szegedify.com.