The international Kino Susidiv Film Festival, organised by distributor KyivMusicFilm, will take place from 4 to 9 August across two venues: an open-air site at Uzhhorod Castle and the Multiplex cinema at the Pannonia shopping centre. The programme features films from Slovakia, Hungary, Czechia, Austria, Poland and Romania, including the drama ‘Erupcja’, starring Charli XCX; Radu Jude’s satire ‘Kontinental ’25’; and ‘Fantastic Planet’ (1973), one of the Cannes Film Festival’s most acclaimed animated features
About ‘Erupcja’
The 2025 independent film by director Pete Ohs (‘Jethica’, ‘Everything Beautiful Is Far Away’) follows British woman Bethany (Charli XCX) and her boyfriend Rob (Will Madden) on a romantic trip to Poland, where he plans to propose to her.
When a volcanic eruption strands the young couple in Warsaw longer than anticipated, Bethany reconnects with her childhood friend Nel (Lena Góra). Stranded in the city, she begins to re-evaluate her feelings, her relationship, and the trajectory of her life.
The screenplay was co-written by Pete Ohs and Charli XCX, and developed directly on set in collaboration with the cast.
About the other films in the Kino Susidiv programme
‘Kontinental ’25’ by Romanian director Radu Jude is a satirical tragicomedy that explores themes of nationalism, gentrification, hostility toward migrants, and various forms of social chauvinism.
The plot centers on a female bailiff who evicts a homeless man — the building’s sole resident — from an old basement. Out of despair, he commits suicide right in front of her, plunging the woman into a profound moral crisis. In her attempt to cope with the overwhelming guilt, she instead collides with other deep-seated issues of contemporary Romanian society.
Following its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2025, the film received the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay. In Ukraine, ‘Kontinental ’25’ made its debut at the Molodist International Film Festival.
In his 1973 film ‘Fantastic Planet’, René Laloux, one of the pioneers of adult animation, adapted Stefan Wul’s novel ‘Oms en série’. The French-Czech co-production became one of the best-known animated films to screen at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Special Jury Prize.
The story unfolds on the distant planet Ygam, ruled by the Draags — a race of blue giants. They keep humanoid creatures known as Oms as pets, but the hierarchy is disrupted when one of them leads a rebellion to win freedom for his kind.
Illustrator Roland Topor was responsible for the film’s surreal visual style, while the psychedelic soundtrack was composed by jazz musician Alain Goraguer. Production, which began shortly before the Prague Spring, took place at Jiří Trnka Studio in Prague. Despite Soviet censorship, ‘Fantastic Planet’ managed to avoid being banned.
The feature film section of Kino Susidiv will also include György Pálfi’s comedy thriller ‘Hen’, which tells the story of the world through the eyes of a chicken; the Polish biopic ‘Chopin, Chopin!’ about Frédéric Chopin; the Austrian docu-fiction film ‘The Loneliest Man in Town’ about an ageing blues musician; ‘Broken Voices’, a psychological drama inspired by the real-life scandal surrounding the Bambini di Praga children’s choir; and ‘Silent Friend’, Ildikó Enyedi’s triptych film.
The festival programme will also feature a selection of Jan Švankmajer’s short animated films, a programme of children’s short films, a retrospective exploring family life through four short films, as well as festival hits from the Warsaw Film School.
You can check out the full festival program via the link. Admission to the festival is free.
