Árva
2025, 132 min.

prepremiere screening

Awards and Selections: Venice Film Festival – Main Competition, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), BFI London Film Festival
Director: László Nemes
Country: Hungary, United Kingdom, France, Germany

[IN-PERSON SCREENING]

The shadow of history and the painful process of growing up. The Academy Award-winning director of Son of Saul returns with a dense, analogue story about the search for identity amid the ruins of post-war Europe.

Budapest, 1957. In the aftermath of the brutally suppressed Hungarian uprising, 12-year-old Andor struggles to define himself. The boy lives with his mother, raised on stories about his father, who disappeared during the war. Their fragile stability begins to crumble when a brutal man claiming rights over the family enters their lives. Nemes creates a dense atmosphere, with the 35mm camera capturing the world through a child’s eyes, turning a family drama into a metaphor for the fate of a nation.

In the Media

«Nemes makes a fresh start, freeing the camera from the claustrophobia of his characters’ backs.»
– Jakub Popielecki, Filmweb capsule review 

«A film like an old, faded postcard from difficult times, made with uncompromising precision.»
– Tymoteusz Piątek, Filmweb capsule review 

«A unique attempt to confront post-war trauma and come to terms with the past.»
– Jonathan Romney, ScreenDaily, read the full review here 

László Nemes

Hungarian director and screenwriter, one of the most distinctive filmmakers in European cinema. His debut Son of Saul, which received, among other honours, an Academy Award and the Grand Prix at Cannes, brought him international recognition.

Tags: drama, history, Hungary, communism, identity, family, László Nemes

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