MVFF47 - RSVP Guide

A political thriller, character drama, and clarion call to action, this riveting documentary portraying resistance to Hungary’s authoritarian ruler Viktor Orbán is perfectly relevant for this political moment.

Tracking the parallel struggles of a politician, a journalist, and a medical professional, all female, in their resistance to the authoritarian regime of Hungary's autocratic leader, Viktor Orbán, director Connie Field's (The Whistleblower of My Lai, MVFF41) riveting documentary is part political thriller, part character drama, and part clarion call to action. While there are a lot of big ideas at play, Fields expertly knows when to narrow her focus and when to broaden it, allowing for an absorbing experience that feels painfully real and exceedingly personal while never losing sight of the larger stakes for the country should these women fail. What makes Democracy Noir especially effective is its universality. The situation in Hungary isn't an abstract thing that occurred in the distant past. It's happening right now, and as the film makes clear, it could happen anywhere. Democracy Noir feels especially relevant for this particularly fraught political moment, all while pointing out larger social truths that remain timeless. —Zaki Hasan

Connie Field

Expected In Person Guest

Brimming with insight, French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop’s imaginative and pointed hybrid documentary depicts the story of 26 antiquities returned to Benin by France, the country’s former colonizer.

French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop follows up her sensational narrative debut Atlantics with this imaginative and pointed hybrid documentary about artistic repatriation and colonialism that took the top prize at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival. In presenting the story of 26 antiquities returned to Benin (which contained the Kingdom of Dahomey) by its former colonizer, France, the film sensuously details the packing up and shipping of these cultural artifacts in coruscating fashion. There’s the work of the curators in both countries sending, receiving, and detailing the work; there’s Beninese students’ impassioned reaction to this “too-little-too-late” French apologia; and then there’s the imagined dialogue from one of the pieces, a magisterial wood-carved statue of King Gezo, as he travels back to his homeland. Brimming with insight and inferred hope for future reparations, Diop memorably depicts this perhaps small but nevertheless singular moment of cultural exchange and apology.

Crafted with visual poetry and empathy, MVFF Mind the Gap Award honoree Payal Kapadia’s drama shines a light on three nurses as they negotiate love and life in teeming Mumbai.

Crafted with visual poetry and emotional empathy, this 2024 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner from MVFF Mind the Gap Award honoree Payal Kapadia shines a light on three nurses as they negotiate love and life in the teeming Mumbai metropolis. Prabha has a husband living overseas, her younger roommate Anu is carrying on a secret relationship with a Muslim boy, and Parvati plans to leave the big city after her husband dies. Without the support of men, these women forge bonds of mutual support while dispensing much-needed information and advice to their female patients. Cinematographer Ranabir Das tracks their days from work to home with a shimmering beauty, especially in the nighttime scenes. As the film moves from city to country in its second half, the women’s relationships shift and deepen as Kapadia finds the small but wondrous epiphanies in everyday lives.

Expected in person guest.