Central Europe, 2041. With violent crime on the rise, a new technology called Restore Point enables all citizens to be revived from unnatural deaths, so long as they back up their mind’s data at least once every 48 hours. Indefatigable loner detective Em Trochinowska (Andrea Mohylová) investigates the murders of one of the Restore Point Institute’s head scientists, David Kurlstat (Matej Hádek) and his wife Kristina. When Kurlstat turns up alive with a six-month memory gap– tenuously revived through an unstable and illegally outdated back-up– he joins Trochinowska in pursuing her prime suspect for the murders: Viktor Toffer (Milan Ondrík), a hacker with ties to a Luddite terrorist cell with whom Trochinowska herself has a personal score to settle. Upon discovering that Toffer has unleashed a virus capable of wiping out thousands of Restore Point backup data sets, Trochinowska closes in on a deeper conspiracy.
Director Robert Hloz’s impressive sci-fi thriller feature debut explores questions of consciousness in an imaginative and stunningly rendered dystopian cityscape where death has taken on an entirely new meaning.
Hloz’s world-building—in a film that’s a cross between Minority Report and Blade Runner—is gripping.
RogerEbert.com
Series Media Partner
Andrea Mohylová, Matěj Hádek, Václav Neužil, Milan Ondrík, Karel Dobrý
Czech Republic/Slovakia/Poland/Serbia
2023
Altered States
In Czech with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Jan Kallista, Pavel Berčík, Silvie Michajlova, Karla Stojáková, Ondřej Zima
Screenwriter
Tomislav Čečka, Zdeněk Jecelín, Robert Hloz
Cinematography
Filip Marek
Editor
Jarosław Kamiński
Production Design
Ondřej Lipenský
Original Music
Jan Šléška
Director
Robert Hloz
Robert Hloz (1989) is a filmmaker based in Prague, Czech Republic. He studied film directing at the film school in South Korea and FMK UTB in Zlín, Czech Republic. His early short film The Mill won Kodak Student Gold Award 2011 as the best short film of a year. Numbers was nominated for Czech Academy Award. In 2015, he directed Liars, a short film about a group of boys that hide the discovery of a dead body. In 2020 he won the Straight 8 section in Cannes with his last short film Crumbs.
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
American Doctor
One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
La Bola Negra
A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.
A. Rimbaud
Patrick Wang (The Bread Factory) presents the life of French poet Arthur Rimbaud in this staggeringly adventurous and deeply considered movie, a three-hour, one-man show quite unlike anything we have seen before. "Poetic, audacious and singular."
The 39 Steps
In our new film studies series, FRAMEWORK, film scholar Michael van den Bos explores the work of Alfred Hitchcock, across four monochrome masterworks. This week: The 39 Steps (1935), a witty and fast-moving spy thriller from Hitchcock's English period.