Thursday, April 11, at 7:00 pm at the Mimi Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square

The Cinematheque at the 48th CIFF!

GREEN BORDER
Zielona Granica
Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Poland | 2023 | Agnieszka Holland

The Cinematheque will once again be a community partner for an acclaimed new film showing in this year’s Cleveland International Film Festival (the 48th). Legendary filmmaker Agnieszka Holland (“Europa Europa,” “The Secret Garden”) won the Golden Lion at the 2023 Venice Film Festival with this ground-level examination of the refugee crisis at the titular exclusion zone between Belarus and Poland, as seen through the eyes of a Syrian family fleeing their war-torn home.

From master filmmaker and Academy Award® nominee Agnieszka Holland, and winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, GREEN BORDER dramatizes the recent history of the refugee crisis to galvanizing effect. Set in 2021 as groups of refugees attempt to enter Europe for safety, the densely forested border between Belarus and Poland becomes a trap as Poland builds a barbed wire wall and prevents humanitarian escort. Alternating perspectives between the fleeing refugees, the violent border guards, and citizens’ groups attempting to provide assistance, the film finds the cruel indifference and hypocrisy at the root of a continent’s response to a humanitarian crisis. Condemned by right wing Polish political figures and the subject of major national controversy, including death threats toward Holland, the film remains a damning portrayal of both the Belarusian and Polish governments’ actions and motives. Subtitles. DCP. 152 min.(Description courtesy of Cleveland International Film Festival)

Tickets to this Cinematheque partnership presentation at CIFF48 are $18 ($16 CIFF members) for the in-person show on 4/11. Use code CINE and receive $1 off the ticket price to this or to any regular CIFF screening.