The Box Office is open from 10:00 till 21:20 (will open in 53m).

Closeness Tesnota

Kantemir Balagov / Russia / 2017 / 118 min / Russian

Made under the guidance of Alexander Sokurov, the young Russian director Kantemir Balagov’s debut feature examines the ethical dilemma of a Jewish community in the Caucasus.

Made under the guidance of Alexander Sokurov, the young Russian director Kantemir Balagov’s debut feature examines the ethical dilemma of a Jewish community in the Caucasus.

1998, Nalchik, North Caucasus, Russia. 24-year-old Ilana works in her father’s garage to help him make ends meet. One evening, her extended family and friends gather to celebrate the engagement of her younger brother David. Later that night, the young couple is kidnapped, and a ransom demand delivered. In this close-knit Jewish enclave, involving the police is out of the question. How will the family raise the money to save David? Ilana and her parents, each in their own way, will go as far as necessary, whatever the risks to themselves…

"What interested me was questioning the axiom according to which you have to sacrifice yourself to save a loved one. This is even more so in the Caucasus: it is even the primary axiom. Yet for me, this is a profound question: is it really human to oblige someone to sacrifice himself or herself to save a loved one? This is the starting point from which I explored the characters and the situations." (Kantemir Balagov)

Kantemir Balagov
Born in 1991, in Nalchik, North Caucasus, Russia. First studying economics at Stavropol University, Balagov soon realised that wasn’t his aim in life. He started filming and making web serials in Nalchik. On his friend's advice, he contacted Alexander Sokurov albeit not knowing who he was at the time. Sokurov, who had opened a film school in Nalchik three years earlier, became his mentor and assisted him in filming Closeness.

Kinodvor. Newsletter.

Join our mailing list and receive details of upcoming films and events!

What's On

Reas Reas

Lola Arias

Sunday, 06. 10. 2024 / 11:00 / Main Hall

Yoseli has an Eiffel Tower tattoo on her back. She always wanted to travel, but was arrested at the airport for drug smuggling. Nacho is a trans man who was imprisoned for fraud and started a rock band there. Reas is a collective artistic work and hybrid musical where everyone can act out their life and experience from a women’s prison in Buenos Aires.

Buffalo Kids Buffalo Kids

Pedro Solis, Juan Jesús García

Sunday, 06. 10. 2024 / 11:30 / Small Hall

Mary (Weir) and Tom (Macneill) are parentless Irish siblings who arrive in New York City via ocean liner in 1886 and quickly find themselves on a wild, cross-country journey aboard a transcontinental “Orphan Train” where they meet an extraordinary new friend who will change their lives forever. 

Fearless Queen of the Night Bojevita kraljica noči

Matej Vranič

Sunday, 06. 10. 2024 / 14:40 / Main Hall

Stunning scientific and natural sciences stories of the unusual life of the Ural owl, a mysterious nocturnal predator that can fearlessly attack even humans.