Ludmila Cvikova: We try to make a combination of films that would reflect on what’s going on in the contemporary world, what worries or interests people, what connects us as human beings

The cinema remanis an artistic space where the sensitive subjects of our times are brought to the public's attention. Ludmila Cvikova believes that artists are the first to show the changes and threats of the world in which we live. She turned sixteen years as a programmer for the ANONIMUL International Film Festival and she every year rto the Danube Delta for the public, for the community of artists and for the entire atmosphere from Sfântu Gheorghe.

The 21st edition of the ANONIMUL Festival will take place between 12-18 August, with films from Cannes, Venice, Locarno and Toronto. This year, four of the five films selected in the festival's feature film competition are directed by women from the generations of filmmakers that have to be followed more.

"Even though I am a devoted supporter of women working in the film industry that is still so predominantly masculine, I do not go and look consciously for women directors. I guess that men and women directors might have different sensitivities but, in the end, it comes to the fact that they are all artists first of all".

Next, we discuss with Ludmila Cvikova about the feature films selected in the festival and the criteria by which they were chosen.

The selection for Festivalul Anonimul 2024

The work of a film programmer cannot be limited to some time frame since it is continuous, it is that kind of a profession for which you need to educate yourself continuously, watching the films that are selected for major film festivals and also the smaller ones. You need to see if there are new trends, new themes, search for a new cinema language, or spot upcoming talents from Europe and the rest of the world. And then the real selection process starts – a process that might remind you of putting a puzzle together. It takes some time and you need to find the right pieces to have a satisfying and colorfoul picture.

What is always difficult in the selection process

The difficulties are similar and they repeat every year. One of them is the real availability of the film. When I have the first possible „puzzle”, we decide with my colleagues at the Anonimul office in Bucharest that we’re going to start the discussions regarding those film titles. They start to check the availability, negotiate the screening fee, possible delegation with it etc. This can take some time and during this process, some film titles might fall off. Then I have to look at the overall picture again and create a new puzzle – a combination of films that I think might work together, are important in one or another way and they should also be interesting for the audience of Anonimul, of course.

Photo credit: Sabina Costinel

How do you generally come across films for the festival?

This is a combination of seeing films in film festivals, watching on professional VOD platforms, researching the titles that are in postproduction process, and networking with your professional contacts. Since the film festivals visit is the most costly one, it is usually less and less available for me – but at times I still am invited as a jury member or a guest and this is the best possibility for one’s research and self-education, as I have already metioned.

Photo credit: Dragos Asaftei

The selection criteria

As in real life: you have to go with what the contemporary cinema production offers you and make your choices. Even though the international competition of Anonimul FF is relatively small, we always start with around 15 possible film titles from the previous year and the beginning the new year. And then we of course wait for the newest ones that appear. We try to make a combination of films that would reflect on what’s going on in the contemporary world, what worries or interests people, what connects us as human beings. I think that these are criteria that can generally be used for art selection.

The movies chosen for this year's edition

The very first selected film for this year’s competition was the Mongolian City of Wind by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir. In my opinion, films like this one are quite rare nowadays. Even though it is strongly culturally grounded in Mongolia, it can address people globally. This is because of its authentic portrait of the country and people that remind us of disappearance of human tradition in the light of upcoming modernity. This poetical film leaves its audience with many questions and fascination for the authentic Mongolian culture.

Ena Sendijarević is a Dutch filmmaker originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina whose debut I knew from Rotterdam IFF and follow her work since. Her second film Sweet Dreams looks critically and with absurdism and some humor at the Dutch colonial past in the Dutch Indies. I found it very special that she has touched upon such a quite sensitive subject The film was a Dutch Oscar contender last year and received many international accolades.

Excursion by Una Gunjak is a debut from Sarajevo that unveils how modern technologies and fast changing world influence lives of young generations, their confused and premature sexuality. It fascinated me by its thorough observation and a deep portrait of a teenage girl who gets trapped by an innocent lie. Troubles of an adolescent might be recognizable for our young audience who can easily identify with it. The film premiered at Locarno 2023 where it won a Special Mention at the section Filmmakers of the Present, and is very successful since then.

The French-Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye SY was born and raised in the Paris region, she studied at the famous school La Fémis and we are showing her debut film Banel & Adama. It is a female emancipation drama set in a remote village of Northern Senegal and the story is presented in a very visual and poetical way. I am sure that our audience will also appreciate this kind of author cinema, the film was in the competition for Palm D’Or in Cannes 2023 and has a successful and impressive festival career since then.

The last film, Photophobia by Ivan Ostrochovský and Pavol Pekarčík we found very important to include as a reminder of the ongoing war in Ukraine, and also to remind us of the hard lives of people living not so far away from us. This film was shot at the very beginning of the Russian invasion. Both directors went to Kyiv, they lived with the inhabitants of the city deep in the metro spaces and tunnels, where they sheltered from the falling bombs. It fascinates me that the film is a hybrid between a documentary and a fiction story, is its human, empathic and yet has an artistic way of looking at the harsh reality of people forced living underground, like rats, in extreme conditions. The film also follows two main protagonists, teenagers who happened to meet there and grow up together, spend the long-lasting time in the darkness together, longing for the sunshine.

The four female directorial voices present in the competition this year

This year we have a very special program of four strong female voices that are all claimed as future generation of filmmakers to be watched by international film critics. An I do agree, we can see their strong voices and creative visions through their films. Even though I am a devoted supporter of women working in the film industry that is still so predominantly masculine, I do not go and look consciously for women directors. Sometimes, of course, I can guess that the director is a woman by name, or simply because I know her previous work, short films. But for example, with the Mongolian director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir it was a great and pleasant discovery to find out she is a woman. It also confirmed me that there is no such thing as “female cinema” as some people try to suggest. I guess that men and women directors might have different sensitivities but, in the end, it comes to the fact that they are all artists first of all.

The role of the cinema during these times, with so many sensitive topics

We do care about including sensitive topics of our contemporary world into the selection of the films we show. As much as many the film makers in the world do. You can find many of them in our selection of this year as well: globalization and preservation, new media and youth, coping with the past, environment, the war in Ukraine and more. I think that cinema has always played and will always play an important role in bringing these topics to people’s attention and raising awareness. Artists are like barometers of changes and threats; they usually are the first ones to point at them and can be very critical. That’s why all the autocrats in the world usually attack culture as the first goal, they criticize them and want to shut them up. Unfortunately, we also have some bad examples in our democratic Eastern part of Europe nowadays.

Photo credit: Sabina Costinel

Your message to emerging filmmakers

I am not sure if I am the right person to give them a message, but maybe an advice: not to give up and follow their dreams, even though the fight for financing a new film is quite a tough one these days and can be quite a frustrating and a long process too. But the result is worth all the efforts.

Your relation with Anonimul and its evolving during these 16 years

It is a sixteen-year-old, changing and growing friendship and somehow every year feels anew and refreshing. It is so rewarding to come first to Bucharest and then to the Danube Delta and see your colleagues whom you talk the whole year round only online or via emails. The greatest moments for us, the organizers, are when we are introducing films and presenting our guests, when we see the Anonimul audience happy and satisfied and when we hear interesting questions from them. I guess what connects me with Anonimul is the heart. A friendly, non-competitive atmosphere of the festival and all the wonderful people who organize it and all the wonderful people who visit it.

Photo credit: Didi Elena

Memorable moments lives at Anonimul

For me the most memorable is the moment when we are arriving with the boats to Sfântu Gheorghe and I get the first glimpse of the Green Village and its camping with the huge film screen – each year it makes my heart shrink with joy and makes me realize how blessed am I that I can come here and be part of this unique event – Anonimul Film Festival. The image of this still life is engraved in my memory and I can happily dream it the whole year round again and again.