World premiere
Deaf Lovers
The best film about war and love in recent years.
A young woman and a young man meet in Istanbul. They both lack the money to live in the foreign city and they are both deaf. They connect, spend time together and do what young people always do – party carelessly and seek intimacy. They feel they are in love. But all is not quite as it seems. She’s from Ukraine, he’s from Russia, and there’s a war going on somewhere back home.
The very idea of the screenplay as a starting point for the film’s message is excellent, challenging the cliché seen in many films that love conquers all. But maybe it does if you can’t hear or talk about war? The author goes even further and comes to the big generalisation through the main characters that you can’t be silent about war. It will take generations of humanity before societal memory fades and no longer interferes with love. Besides the other values of this film, the soundtrack should be separately highlighted. Thoughtful in detail and actively supporting the plot.
Mihkel Möölman
Boris Guts (1980) is a Russian director and social activist who addresses painful issues in his experimental films. In his early years, he worked as a television journalist, and at the age of 30, he graduated from the Higher Courses for Screenwriters and Directors at the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography. Since then, he has directed five feature films, which have participated in and won awards at numerous domestic and international film festivals. When the war with Ukraine broke out, Boris Guts left Russia. Guts‘s feature film debut was the 2016 psychological drama “Watermelon Rinds”. The director’s social conscience is most vividly revealed in his film “Minsk” (PÖFF 2022), which exposes the terror regime in Belarus. The film won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Film Festival Cottbus.
Arbuznye korki (Watermelon Rinds, 2016), Fagot (2018), Smert nam k litsu (We Look Good in Death, 2019), Minsk (PÖFF 2022), Deaf Lovers (2024)
Grand Prix for The Best Film, grant of 20 000 euros from the city of Tallinn, Award for Best Director, grant of 5000€ from Alexela
