Slow (2024)
Director: Marija Kavtaradzė Run Time: 108 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2023
Starring: Greta Grinevičiūtė, Kęstutis Cicėnas, Laima Akstinaitė, Pijus Ganusauskas, Vaiva Zymantaite
Country: Lithuania, Spain, Sweden
Language: Lithuanian
About the film:
Winner of the Directing Award in the World Cinematic dramatic competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and Lithuania’s official entry at the 96th Academy Awards.
Contemporary dancer Elena meets Dovydas when he is assigned to interpret via sign language in a class she is teaching to deaf youth. Their connection is immediate, kinetic, and frictionless. As they gravitate toward each other, resisting the forces and interventions of their separate daily lives, their bond deepens from platonic to romantic. When Dovydas discloses his asexuality, the couple commit themselves to honoring their individual needs in tandem. As they continue to weave more tightly together, they struggle to negotiate sacrifice and compromise and are forced to discover the edges of their generosity toward the other.
“heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure, but it ultimately leaves this warm feeling of two people having navigated something new and coming out of it with a better understanding of themselves.”
—Christopher Cross, Asynchronous Media
About the filmmakers:
Born in 1991, film director and scriptwriter Marija Kavtaradze graduated from Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Film Directing studies in 2014. Kavtaradze’s debut feature film Summer Survivors (2018) had an extremely successful festival run, premiering at Toronto International Film Festival in 2018 and going on to receive three Lithuanian Film Academy Awards. Summer Survivors (2018) also earned an impressive total at the domestic box office, making it the most appreciated independent Lithuanian film of 2019. Due to the success of her debut, Kavaradze is considered to be one of the most talented upcoming filmmakers in Lithuania. Her second feature film, Slow (2024), earned the Producer’s Network prize at When East Meets West and was a part of Berlinale Co-Production Market. The film went on to win a Directing Award at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was selected as Lithuania’s official entry for Best International Feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
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