A TOUGH AGE

For a long time MIFF hosted the program “The Third Age”, dedicated to the elderly people of the planet. Surely they continue to be the focus of attention of filmmakers from different countries (the Moscow Film Festival including) with their own worries and problems. However, we all know that often grandparents understand grandchildren better than their moms and dads. And this year, films about teenagers and their problems rained down on the selectors. That’s why we have decided to unite films about the “tender age” and the venerable age in one and the same program under the title “A Tough Age”. After all, both ages, let’s say, are not easy. And it turns out they have a lot in common.

Our “age-related” program includes films from Mexico and Kazakhstan, the USA and Italy, Colombia, Turkey, Mongolia and other countries.

All ages are submissive to love and dreams, as the screen confirms.

In the Turkish-Bulgarian-Spanish “Suna”, directed by ?i?dem Sezgin, an elderly couple is getting married. But this marriage soon turns into a conflict of sexes: a man needs a cook and a nanny, and a woman needs an opportunity to escape from a poor and miserable life in order to gain freedom. And… fall in love. And... go nowhere in hope of someday meeting a person who will understand her.

“The Kings of the World” (Colombia, Norway, Luxembourg, Mexico, France), directed by Laura Mora, is also about a dream, but roughly cut off by life. Only this film tells about a teenagers dream. The poor guy suddenly inherits a piece of land from his grandmother. So he starts on a journey to the world’s end together with his friends, dreaming about a beautiful and fair life...

Teenagers from the Mongolian film “The Coach”, directed by Gan-Ochir Enebish, live for today and fight to make their dreams of big sport come true.

The Italian movie “999 – The Other Soul of Football” by Federico Rizzo again speaks about a dream that has not come to life. The dream of teenagers who wish of becoming great football players, and elderly people whose sports career was cut short for various reasons. But their dreams still live in memories...

In general, “from dusk to dawn”. Or vice versa.

Evgenia Tirdatova