OVID’s August Lineup: Matthew Rankin’s UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, Vladimir Perišić’s LOST COUNTRY, visionary Ukrainian architect FLORIAN YURIEV, avant-garde composer JAN KAPR, Italian Pastoral, Haitian Rebellion & more!

OVID’s August lineup includes The NY Times Critic’s Pick Universal Language: “A gently funny, gently moving, slightly surrealist little comedy“ (Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times) and the second film by Matthew Rankin (The Twentieth Century) to join our platform. 

We take you to the mountainous regions of pastoral Italy where a herder dwells in Vanina Lappa’s Nowhere in the World, and then to the more cosmopolitan side in Giovanni Tortorici‘s feature directorial debut Diciannove, a coming-of-age drama produced by Oscar nominee Luca Guadagnino. Also on the coming-of-age front, Vladimir Perišić’s Serbian drama Lost Country, set in the tumultuous mid-’90s under Milošević’s rule (Rising Star Award, Cannes Critics’ Week, 2024).

Full details on August’s complete lineup are below.

Image above from Matthew Rankin's UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, premiering on OVID on August 7th.

Wednesday, August 5

Invisible Frontliners
Directed by Hedi Bäbler
First Hand Films / DS2 | Documentary | Switzerland | 2022 | 50 min

There are jobs without which society would not function. Who are those caretakers, the people who keep everyday life going, who keep the homes clean, provide food, and make it possible for the rest of us to live and work comfortably even during a pandemic? A tender yet radical tale of those who make sure society’s basics keep working even in times of crises; proudly and pragmatically told by themselves.

Thursday, August 6

Pol Pot Dancing
Directed by Enrique Sánchez Lansch
EPF Media / DS2 | Documentary | Germany, Norway | 2024 | 101 min

Chea Samy, a famed Cambodian dancer, years later learned that the brother-in-law she had raised had become Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader. After surviving forced labor under his regime, she returned to Phnom Penh to teach, preserving traditional dance. Her student, Sophiline Cheam, now a successful choreographer, explores Cambodia’s history, including Pol Pot’s hidden link to classical dance.

“One of the most compelling films to hold its world premiere at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival.” —Matthew Carey, Deadline

The Soul of the Bossales
Directed by François Perlier
EPF Media / DS2 | Documentary | Haiti, France | 2024 | 81 min

The “Bossales” were the African slaves who won the Haitian war of independence. This term now qualifies as a rebellious person, like the protagonists of the film: Charlotte, a human rights defender, Foukifoura, a satirical columnist, Edris, a filmmaker of the insurrection, Michou, a worker struggling to survive, Ramoncite, an enigmatic voodoo priest. In the nowadays explosive social situation, they all embody the soul of their rebellious country; an incandescent home of political and spiritual resistance.

“A tour de force of modern ethnography. The Soul of the Bossales gives a multifaceted glimpse into Haitian life which is often flattened, oversimplified, or littered with cliché when portrayed in American media.” —J. Zimmerman, Video Librarian

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Friday, August 7

Universal Language
Directed by Matthew Rankin
With Matthew Rankin, Pirouz Nemati, Amir Amiri, Faraz Anoushah Pour
Oscilloscope | Comedy | Canada | 2024 | 89 min

An acclaimed surreal comedy set in an absurd, parallel-universe Winnipeg where the official language is Farsi. It weaves together multiple stories involving lost money, a struggling tour guide, and a bureaucrat’s journey to visit his mother.

“Guy Maddin meets Abbas Kiarostami… Tehran comes to Winnipeg in Matthew Rankin’s singular gem about cross-cultural exchange.” —David Ehrlich IndieWire

“A magnificent film, one that feels warm and familiar even as we realize just how startlingly original it is.” —Bilge Ebiri, New York Mag

NY Times Critic’s Pick!“A gently funny, gently moving, slightly surrealist little comedy.“—Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times

** Cannes Film Festival 2024, Winner: Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award
** Toronto International Film Festival 2024, Winner: Best Canadian Discovery Award

Tuesday, August 11

The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine
Directed by Alfredo Pourailly De La Plaza
EPF Media / DS2 | Documentary | Chile, Netherlands | 2024 | 77 min

In Chile’s Tierra del Fuego, “Toto” has spent 40 years hand-mining for gold in brutal conditions; after a stroke and with no social security, he can’t stop. His son Jorge sets out to design and build a homemade gold-harvesting machine to spare his father’s labor, turning their struggle into an intimate father-son portrait about work, dignity, and hope.

“Rich with meticulous detail, De La Plaza’s documentary also doubles as an act of visual scavenging; among these lush fields of grass and snowcapped mountain peaks, the film-maker has also struck gold.” —Phuong Le, The Guardian

Thursday, August 13

Infinity According to Florian
Directed by Oleksiy Radynski
EPF Media / DS2 | Documentary | Ukraine | 2022 | 74 min

A documentary on the life and work of Florian Yuriev, a visionary Ukrainian architect, luthier, composer, filmmaker, painter, poet, conlanger, and color theorist—a total artist.

“Shot towards the end of Yuriev’s life, Oleksiy Radynski’s passionate documentary follows the architect’s tireless efforts to save one of his modernist masterpieces from destruction.” —Phuong Le, The Guardian

“Yuriev’s battle could have made a compelling David and Goliath story by itself, but Radynski takes a more expansive approach, placing the saucer onto the uneven terrain of socialist and post-socialist modernity and memory politics.” —Emerson Goo, Screen Slate

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Kapr Code
Directed by Lucie Králová
Lightdox / DS2 | Documentary | Czech Republic | 2022 | 91 min

A documentary opera featuring the contradictory life of progressive composer and prominent communist Jan Kapr (1914-88), Stalin award laureate, later banned in socialist Czechoslovakia. While Kapr’s life escalates towards pivotal moments, we follow opera songs reflecting these crucial life junctures, those establishing an artist’s fate. The film explores the nature of memory, and narration, using Kapr’s personal, never-before-seen amateur films conveying his humor, inner struggles, and desire to leave traces for eternity. 

“Captivating in its form and content. Lucie Králová’s work always reflects her joyous creativity, but this time she surprises us by introducing a new playful way of storytelling. Humor runs throughout her film, which lightens up the mood of what actually is a tragic story of a silenced artist.” —Margareta Hruza, Modern Times Review

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Friday, August 14

Lost Country
Directed by Vladimir Perišić
With Jovan Ginić, Jasna Đuričić
Altered Innocence | Drama | Serbia | 2023 | 105 min

In Serbian filmmaker Vladimir Perišić’s compelling coming-of-age story, 15-year-old Stefan, a teenager in mid-’90s Serbia, has begun to notice a harrowing chasm opening between the way he idealizes his mother and how many of his fellow classmates and citizens have begun to see her in her role as the public spokesperson for president Slobodan Milošević.

“This impressive, nuanced picture works as a coming-of-age story, an examination of Balkan generational guilt, and a mercurial portrait of a career politician.”  —Wendy Ide, Screen Daily

** World Premiere, Cannes Critics’ Week, Rising Star Award
** New Directors/New Films 2024

Tuesday, August 18

20 Farmers Hit Fame – No Business Like Show Business
Directed by Bernard Weber & Martin Schilt
First Hand Films / DS2 | Documentary | Switzerland | 2012 | 90 min

For over 20 years, the citizens of Wiesenberg have cultivated the same rituals. The singing mountaineers meet once a week in the local church to rehearse together and they yodel for weddings and birthdays. Suddenly, their world is turned upside down: their CDs storm the charts and the farmers are bombarded with concert offers. Now the choir is scheduled to perform in Shanghai. This tempting offer turns into a crucial test.

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Thursday, August 20

Nowhere in the World
Directed by Vanina Lappa
Impronta / DS2 | Documentary | Italy | 2024 | 86 min

Transhumance, a type of pastoralism where herders cyclically move their livestock to different grazing grounds based on the seasons, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019. It has been practiced on the Cilento mountain Cervati for millennia, and yet institutions seem to obstruct the work of shepherds who have been taking their livestock for the pastures since time immemorial. According to a new local bylaw, herders now have to pay a tax to take their livestock to the mountain. The film invites us to reflect on human-animal bonds and the exploitative profit systems that sever this connection.

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Women Conquer the Art Business
Directed by Sarah Rathgeb
First Hand Films / DS2 | Documentary | Switzerland | 2024 | 52 min

This film is about women who established themselves as successful gallerists, who built intricate networks, and who shape exhibitions that challenge and inspire audiences. Gender dynamics have changed significantly in the art industry in recent years. For banks, art is an investment option, for the traders something between passion and status symbols, and for society a way of conveying cultural values. Switzerland, the center of international money and art trade, is the backdrop with a unique insight.

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Friday, August 21

Diciannove
Directed by Giovanni Tortorici
With Manfredi Marini, Vittoria Planeta, Zackari Delmas, Dana Giuliano and Luca Lazzareschi
Oscilloscope | Drama | Italy | 2024 | 108 min

Giovanni Tortorici‘s feature directorial debut Diciannove, a coming-of-age drama produced by Oscar nominee Luca Guadagnino, follows the highs and lows of a restless youth as he collides headlong into the concrete realities of adulthood when Leonardo, a teenager from Palermo leaves home for the first time. His studies land him in Siena, by way of London, where he clashes with his instructor, the curriculum and, most chaotically, with himself.

“Slippery, sly, exciting! Perverse and pleasurable… that [Tortorici] keeps it all feeling funny is even better.” —Kate Erbland, IndieWire 

** World Premiere, 2024 Venice Film Festival

Complete list of films premiering on OVID this month (in alphabetical order):

20 Farmers Hit Fame, Bernard Weber & Martin Schilt (2012) 
Diciannove, Giovanni Tortorici (2024)
Infinity According to Florian, Oleksiy Radynski (2022) 
Invisible Frontliners, Hedi Bäbler (2022) 
Kapr Code, Lucie Králová (2022) 
Lost Country, Vladimir Perišić (2023)
Nowhere in the World, Vanina Lappa (2024)
Pol Pot Dancing, Enrique Sánchez Lansch (2024)
The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine, Alfredo Pourailly De La Plaza (2024)
The Soul of the Bossales, François Perlier (2024) 
Universal Language, Matthew Rankin (2024) 
Women Conquer the Art Business, Sarah Rathgeb (2024)