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Father film image; man lying on a mattress

Father

Otec

Showcase

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Canadian Premiere

Inspired by real-life events, Father tells the story of a man whose momentary lapse cost him everything. On a hot summer day, Michal wakes up next to his wife and two-year-old daughter. He goes for a run, gets ready for work, and packs the child in the car to drop her off at kindergarten on his way to the office. It’s a big day at work with the restructuring consultant coming in, but everything is going to plan, until Michal’s wife checks in about an odd call she received from the kindergarten.

Father is a profoundly unsettling, devastating watch that doubles as a solemn, immaculately realized account of a tragedy of insurmountable proportions. In a distinct departure from her earlier work, Tereza Nvotová (Nightsiren, VIFF 2022) employs an unflinchingly immersive technique that situates the viewer in the eye of the storm, resulting in a visceral experience that ultimately calls for deep empathy.

 

Oscar Submission: Slovakia

 

Supported by

Director
Cast

Milan Ondrík, Dominika Morávková, Aňa Geislerová, Martina Sľúková, Dominika Zajcz, Peter Ondrejička

Credits
Country of Origin

Czech Republic/Poland/
Slovakia

Year

2025

Language

In Slovak with English subtitles

Film Contact
Content Warning

Depiction of extreme case of child neglect

18+

At International Village & VIFF Centre

19+

At Fifth Avenue

103 min
Drama Family Relations Women Directors
DANAE Production, Moloko Film, Lava Films

Book Tickets

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Credits & Director

Producer

Veronika Paštéková, Anton Skreko, Karel Chvojka, Miloš Lochman, Marta Gmosińska, Mariusz Włodarski

Screenwriter

Dušan Budzak, Tereza Nvotová

Cinematography

Adam Suzin

Editor

Nikodem Chabior

Original Music

Pjoni

Art Director

Nina Feriancová

Tereza Nvotová headshot

Tereza Nvotová

Filmography: Filthy (2017); Meciar (2017); Nightsiren (2022)

 

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