The broadened notion of family, in all its contemporary and alternative forms and expressions, as a part of an ever-changing world, is at the core of the “Un-Family-ar” tribute hosted within the framework of the Survey Expanded section of the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The tribute’s movies cast an out-of-the-box and inclusive glance, reminding us that family is in need of one and only magical ingredient to emerge even in the most unpredictable and unlikely places: unconditional love.
Cinema, serving as a magnifying glass of the sweeping and the unseen changes in society has time and time again foregrounded family’s liberation process from the rigid definitions, restrictions and conventions of the past. Single-parent and same-sex, foster and blended families, as well as families that break free from the biological, legal and cultural boundaries are featured in the tribute’s movies from all over the world.
The “Un-Family-ar” tribute does not question the classical family model, but enriches its boundaries, highlighting new types and ways of family co-existence based on human choices and desires, free will, solidarity, love and understanding. Moreover, it sheds light on the domineering nature of patriarchal authority, gender stereotypes, the repression of the unwritten traditions, the indiscernible burden of any form of “heritage”, the necessity of weaning.
The renewed and enhanced Survey Expanded, a side pillar of the Meet the Neighbors+ competition sections, is grounded upon a different thematic ax each year, attempting to map out, foreground and showcase cinematic and artistic trends, social and geopolitical issues, as well as to discover the most pioneering, innovative and creative voices of the regions. The section includes all 36 countries of Southeastern Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East addressed by Agora, the Festival’s developmental branch.
The “Un-Family-ar” tribute consists of 11 films representing 16 different countries:
The tribute’s films:
Luna Park (2024) by Albanian director Florenc Papas, celebrating its world premiere at the 65th TIFF, takes us to the heart of the 1997 crisis that marked the country’s history, when the so-called “Pyramide scandal” led a shocking part of the population to bankruptcy, triggering a bloody civil conflict and a profound socio-political turmoil. Mira and her own two sons struggle to make ends meet with the meager amounts of money sent by the family’s father, an illegal worker in Greece. Struggling to break free from the panic all around them, Mira and her children will desert their homeland, striving to reconstitute a family of long-gone connective bonds. A low-key journey to the rupture of the family tissue and the definitive loss of innocence for an entire generation of people.
The Ties That Bind Us (2024) by French director Carine Tardieu unravels the most unpredictable ties forged through the randomness and the unforeseen events of life, the unexpected tragedies, the agonies and the love sparks that emerge amidst the most awkward moments. Divided into twelve chapters, weaving a mosaic of intricate characters and a wide gamut of tragicomic swings, this slow-burning family drama revolves around a makeshift family, centered upon a dynamic and committed feminist and a young man who struggles to unearth the secrets of fatherhood love.
Three Kilometres to the End of the World (2024) by Emanuel Parvu invites us to an omenours journey of deconstruction and demystification of the family intractable core. Teenager Adi spends his summer holidays in his family’s village, near the Danube Delta, in one of the most remote corners of Romania. One night, he falls victim to an unprovoked attack with motifs that seem to be related to his sexual orientation. The following day, the parental look he is faced up against does not emit the comfort and the support physically and emotionally Adi sought and took for granted.
In Who Do I Belong To (2024) by Meryam Joobeur, a tortured family in the secluded Northern region of Tunisia, lives under a permanent state of agony and fear. When the first-born son, a militant fundamentalist who took up arms, returns home along with a mysterious pregnant woman, a dark veil looms over the family house and the entire village. The family’s mother, a tragic figure trapped between opposite forces, is confronted with insurmountable ethical dilemmas that give birth to unavoidable conflicts. Digging up in search of a bitter is juxtaposed against the pristine motherly love, whereas the eternal biological bonds are faced up against a newly formed family with striking influence and dark branches
Το Windless (2024) by Pavel Vesnakov unfolds a story of forgiveness and reconciliation with the painful traymas and the open wounds of a family drama. The death of his rigid father and the settling of inheritance issues lead the estranged son to a bruising return to his birthplace, a small Bulgarian town. Gradually, and as he initially takes a stance of total indifference against any remnant (both literally and metaphorically) of the family past, the movie’s hero discovers the thread that binds together the future and the past, before indulging in the redemptive power of memory and understanding.
Dormitory (2023) by Nehir Tuna draws inspiration from the director’s personal experiences in the mid-80s Turkey, immersing us in the suffocating universe of fundamentalist preaching through a story of where authoritative and oppressive official structures substitute the traditional family. Fourteen-year-old Ahmed is found entangled between the clashing rocks of family and religion, which draw their force from the same source: the need for acceptance and the fear of punishment. The world-shaking power of friendship will eventually rise as the only refuge (and a real family) amidst this bleak scenery.
Housekeeping for Beginners (2023) by Goran Stolevski transforms family into a vehicle of resistance against marginalization, prejudice and social exclusion. A home in the outskirts of Skopje, in North Macedonia, is reshaped into a haven for every outcast that has been ostracized for refusing to denounce their identity and desires. In this modern Housekeeping, that instantly brings to mind the generous hug of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s films, there’s one and only unshakable rule: there’s always room for those who have experienced rejection and persecution.
The Jolly Forgers (2023) by Yolande Moreau, set in France, introduces us to Mireille who returns to her family house, completely alienated from her family and emotionally wearied by a life of frustrations and shattered expectations. Forced to live together with three total strangers due to her financial dire straits, and despite the disapproval of the conservative family entourage, she will find an unexpected cure and way-out to the love she had been deprived of for so many years. In this “forged” family, which proves to be much more genuine and giving than the “prototype” model, each member takes strength and courage from the mistakes and the imperfections of the ones around them.
Aga’s House (2019) by Lendita Zeqiraj unravels the touching story of a makeshift family that sprang out of the agony and the horror of war. Five women and a little child live in isolation and exile from their homeland, in a secluded mountainous region of Kosovo. A multifarious narrative that refuses to ascribe the label of defenseless victims to the film’s heroines, gradually unearths their traumas and passions, their contradictions and bitterness, in a declaration of family love intertwined with the struggle for survival and dignity.
Dogtooth (2009) by Yorgos Lanthimos identifies family structure with an enclosed autarchic circuit, which exercises biopolitical, mental and cultural authority to children, serving as a cycling mechanism of multisided oppression. Placing its action within an intentionally timeless frame and centering its clinical glance at the labyrinthine connotations engulfed in the language system, Lanthinos weaves a multileveled parable-study on the normalization of the absurd, social repression deterministically inherited from generation to generations, the imposition of discipline and obedience through the distortion of reality.
Strella (2009) by Panos H. Koutras, a “tampered” version of the Oedipus myth, resoundingly dismissed any biological and moralistic doctrine carved in stone that has been linked to the institution of family, such as blood ties, gender identity and the eternal taboo of incest. Transforming the stifling urban landscape through the distortive and hallucinatory prism of a camp aesthetic, Strella embraces the fluidity of identity and the primordial power of desire, refounding family upon the bedrock of free will, acceptance of otherness and of the forbidden fruit, the need to reconcile and forgive.
