The 37th AFI European Union Film Showcase is just one week away, and it is bringing 54 films from all 27 EU member states — including 12 Best International Feature Film Oscar® submissions and six U.S. premieres — to the Washington, DC region. With such a wide selection of films, it can be hard to know where to begin. That is why our programming team has handpicked some options to guide you through the diverse lineup of movies, which includes award winners from this year’s festival circuit, regional box-office hits, debut works by up-and-coming talents and new works by leading auteurs.
The AFI European Union Film Showcase takes place December 4–22 in Silver Spring, MD. For tickets, visit AFI.com/Silver/EUShowcase.
Todd Hitchcock, Director, AFI Silver
HOLY COW [VINGT DIEUX]
Set in ’s eastern farming region of Jura (where first-time feature writer/director Louise Courvoisier grew up), this gem of a film combines an informed look at country life and the hard work of farming with a contemporary version of an ‘80s teen sex comedy. The travails and hijinks of the young people here more closely resemble those of characters in the Dardenne brothers’ films than those of a John Hughes protagonist, but this winning cast of mostly first-time actors, plus Courvoisier’s down-to-earth focus on life and work — and earthy sense of humor — will have you rooting for these kids to make good in the end. Alliance Française of Washington, DC will sponsor a reception following the 3:40 p.m. screening on Sunday, December 8, featuring wine and Comté cheese (the kind being made in the movie), making for a perfect AFI European Union Film Showcase event.
VERMIGLIO
Perhaps it would be enough to recommend VERMIGLIO that it is Italy’s submission for Best International Feature at the 2025 Oscars®. But writer/director Maura Delpero, whose film won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice and continues to earn accolades, is truly a talent to watch. Set in a tiny village nestled high up in Italy’s Dolemite Mountains, VERMIGLIO is the story of a large family headed by an aging village schoolteacher (screen veteran Tommaso Ragno) and his hard-working farmer wife, Adele (Roberta Rovelli), the mother to his many children, including eldest daughters Lucia, Flavia and Ada. The year is 1944, but the way of life seen here may have looked the same long before. World War II is still going, but the action is far from this village, like most other events in the world. And yet, each of these characters will experience momentous events in their own lives, surprising themselves and others with their choices and their power to make those choices. Delpero’s story has the heft of a great novel distilled into cinematic language, aided by cinematographer Mikhail Krichman — renowned for his work with Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev on films like THE RETURN, THE BANISHMENT and LEVIATHAN — whose lens captures the unique sense of place and changeable seasonal rhythms of these mountain landscapes. A must-see on the big screen!
Screening December 14 & 18.
Josh Gardner, Associate Film Programmer & PR Manager
HARVEST
Greek Weird Wave pioneer Athina Rachel Tsangari (ATTENBERG, CHEVALIER) returns with HARVEST, a rollicking showcase for the singular weirdo talents of Caleb Landry Jones (GET OUT; THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI), a match made in heaven by the cinema gods. Here Landry Jones stars as the Scottish-accented Walter Thirsk, a nature-loving loner who struggles watching his peasant-run farming community destroyed by the cruel hands of progress. Tsangari and Landry Jones’ sensibilities are in perfect harmony as director and actor find fertile ground to explore the dark sides of human nature, often served up with a side of Tsangari’s signature pitch-black humor. If you need more convincing about their chemistry, check out the spirited Q&A I hosted with both Tsangari and Landry Jones back at AFI FEST in October.
Screening December 20 & 22.
THE OTHER WAY AROUND [VOLVERÉIS]
The heart wants what the heart wants and sometimes it is a cozy, mindless romantic comedy — but sometimes you want a rom-com with some smarts. THE OTHER WAY AROUND has smarts in spades. Co-written by its stars, Itaso Arana and Vito Sanz, the film finds its central couple not falling in love, as is the standard rom-com cliche, but dealing with the fallout of breaking up. Delightfully postmodern and scathingly funny, this screwball comedy-coded film has filmmaker Jonás Trueba firing on all cylinders. Special props are due for convincing his father, the celebrated Spanish director Fernando Trueba, to co-star in the film in a rare acting turn.
Javier Chavez, Associate Film Programmer
I’M NOT EVERYTHING I WANT TO BE [JEŠTĚ NEJSEM, KÝM CHCI BÝT]
As a film programmer, there is no feeling like going in blind to a film and being wowed by the unexpected — which is exactly what happened when I saw Klára Tasovská’s deeply cinematic and dynamic portrait of radical photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková, hailed as the “Nan Goldin of Soviet Prague.” Tasovská eschews traditional documentary methods (thank you!) and instead uses Jarcovjáková’s own photographs and spoken word to tell the story of a woman seeking her place in the world. The photographs alone are a sight to behold, as Jarcovjáková is a phenomenal photographer, but Tasovská gives them a cinematic flair that reminded me of Chris Marker’s LA JETÉE, though more dynamic and buoyed by a pulsing score. This film is a singular work of art that successfully plays with form; all the while, you are put in the shoes of an extraordinary person whose life is full of fascinating moments and empathy.
Screening December 21 & 22.
WINDLESS [BEZVETRIE] [БЕЗВЕТРИЕ]
I it that I have a soft spot for films with odd aspect ratios, late title cards or other flashy instances of filmmaking that frequently shine with style but lack in substance. So I’m extremely happy that WINDLESS is a film that oozes style and substance. After all, what better way to depict the story of a man isolated from those around him, even his family, than by shooting in a claustrophobic, 1:1 aspect ratio that only allows for one person to occupy the frame? It certainly helps that that person, the protagonist of this deeply moving film, is played by Bulgarian rapper Ognyan Pavlov, a.k.a. FYRE — who, yes, is absolutely on fire in this film. It is a raw, emotional turn, with Pavlov pulling from his own childhood experiences. At the same time, filmmaker Pavel G. Vesnakov uses this personal story as a metaphor for the reluctance of older Bulgarians to speak candidly with their children in the post-communist era. Some wounds run deep.
Screening December 14 & 16.
Eli Prysant, Assistant Film Programmer
PELIKAN BLUE [KÉK PELIKAN]
I love film’s ability to offer us snapshots of the past. Having been born after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, I have always been fascinated by the Cold War, this all-encoming period that dominated the latter half of the 20th century but which I could only ever view through the lens of the past. While its central cast did not keep filmic record of their exploits at the time (probably for the best as far as incriminating evidence goes), this documentary adopts colorful animation to portray how the fall of the Iron Curtain led to a minor criminal enterprise of forging train tickets for international travel.
