Synopsis
A young filmmaker tasks himself with reclaiming the Dracula story for Romanian cinema, only to experience a crisis of creativity. Determined to make his film, he channels his ideas into an artificial intelligence program, DR. A.I. JUDEX 0.0, generating a collage of stories that include a seedy, fellatio-filled stage performance of the Dracula myth and a real-life vampire hunt through the streets of modern-day Bucharest—not to mention a series of hideous, uncanny renderings of Vlad the Impaler and plenty of zombies.
Bold, unpredictable, and unapologetically over-the-top, Dracula is the absurdist brainchild of iconoclastic master Radu Jude (2023’s Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World), brilliantly commenting on the pervasive ugliness of AI and offering up a deft and pointed survey of our modern visual landscape. In Jude’s hands, Bram Stoker’s landmark novel couples with grand folkloric traditions to produce an unforgettable, maximalist examination of mythmaking and the cinema itself.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Alexandru Teodorescu, Rodrigo Texeira
- Radu Jude
- Cătălin Cristuțiu
- Marius Panduru
- Adonis Tanța, Oana Maria Zaharia, Gabriel Spahiu, Ilinca Manolache, Alexandru Dabija, Andrada Balea, Doru Talos, Serban Pavlu, Lukas Miko, Alexandra Harapu
- Wolfgang Frisch, Hervé Birolini, Matei Teodorescu
- Vlad Semenescu, Ana Gheorghe, Ramona Grama, Adina Teodorescu, Dan Wechsler, Jamal Zeinal-Zade, Andreas Roald, Berta Marchiori, Fernanda Frotté
- Saga Film
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Kontinental ’25
Synopsis
A spare, stripped-down parable shot on an iPhone, Kontinental ‘25 takes to the streets of Cluj, Romania, to survey the precarious state of contemporary morality. After receiving eviction orders from his shelter in an abandoned cellar, a man commits suicide. Orsolya, the city official responsible for carrying out the eviction, is plagued with guilt over his death. Seeking reassurance, she spends the next several days traversing the Transylvanian city, discussing the incident with an array of characters—-from bike messengers to friends and priests—in hopes of finding absolution.
Inspired by Roberto Rossellini’s Europa ‘51, the darkly comic social drama is both incisively observed and impeccably performed, offering a portrait of a city and society at a crossroads. Director Radu Jude (2023’s Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World), whose taboo-breaking Dracula is also screening at the Festival, infuses his script with ironic detail and wholly human characters to craft an astonishing exploration of personal responsibility in the face of societal crisis.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Alex Teodorescu, Rodrigo Teixeira
- Radu Jude
- Cătălin Cristuțiu
- Marius Panduru
- Eszter Tompa, Gabriel Spahiu, Adonis Tanța, Oana Mardare, Șerban Pavlu, Annamária Biluska, Ilinca Manolache
- Ramona Grama
- Saga Films
Sponsors
Program Patron
John and Jacolyn Bucksbaum Family Foundation
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Leonora in the Morning Light
Synopsis
After iconoclastic artist Leonora Carrington trades English life for 1930s Paris, she falls in with giants of the Surrealist movement, including Salvador Dalí and André Breton. But it’s her passionate love affair with German painter Max Ernst that affects her life and work in the most profound manner. Their turbulent relationship sends her on a journey of self-discovery that will eventually take her to Mexico, where she finds a true sense of freedom—and her own unique artistic voice.
Working from the novel by Mexican author and artist Elena Poniatowska, directors Lena Vurma and Thor Klein chronicle key chapters in Carrington’s singular life, depicting the evolution of an artist with nuance and subtlety. Actress Olivia Vinall delivers a perfectly pitched performance as the story’s central figure, portraying Carrington both in her youth and as a more mature woman working in Mexico, where she emerged alongside Frida Kahlo as one of the country’s preeminent creative figures. With its insightful observations of a multifaceted talent whose distaste for the conventional enabled her to live as a true original, Leonora in the Morning Light gives Carrington her due.
Screenings & Events
Screening
Sun, Oct 19 @ 4:45pm
at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 13
Venue information...
Directors Lena Vurma & Thor Klein and Amy Ernst, granddaughter of artist Max Ernst
Community Cinema Screening
Mon, Oct 20 @ 6:30pm
at National Museum of Mexican Art
Venue information...
Directors Lena Vurma & Thor Klein
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Media
Film Credits
- Lena Vurma
- Thor Klein, Lena Vurma
- Matthieu Taponier
- Tudor Vladimir Panduru
- Olivia Vinall, Alexander Scheer, Cassandra Ciangherotti, Ryan Gage, Istvan Teglas, Luis Gerardo Mendez
- Maria Portugal
- Chris D’Cruz, Gatherer Entertainment, Originarium, Ecolyte
- Dragonfly Films, Meli Melo, Randan, Framebreed, Ostlicht
Sponsors
Presented by
In partnership with
With support from
Film Patron
Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation
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Two Prosecutors
Synopsis
In the midst of Stalanist Russia’s Great Terror, hundreds of party critics are unjustly imprisoned in deplorable conditions. The detainees write letters, thousands of them, in hopes that their pleas for freedom will fall into the hands of someone who can help. The secret police burn them before they are sent. Against all odds, though, one such letter reaches the desk of Alexander Kornev, an idealistic prosecutor. When attempting to offer counsel to the prisoner who authored the missive, though, he’s met with suspicion and resistance from local officials. Suspecting foul play, he embarks on a quest to Moscow, intent on justice.
An exacting, austere visual style—a mostly immobile camera captures the action in long, unbroken takes—creates a mounting sense of chilling, Kafkaesque paranoia. Festival award-winner Sergei Loznitsa (Natural History of Destruction, 2022) returns with this unflinching, absurdist confrontation with the Soviet state’s grim, totalitarian reality.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Kevin Chneiweiss
- Sergei Loznitsa
- Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Alexander Filippenko, Anatoli Beliy
- SBS Productions
Sponsors
With support from
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212 W Van Buren St., Suite 400
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See your most-anticipated screenings at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
