The favorite (also) of the Greek public, Fatih Akin, is back with his new film, which premiered at the last Thessaloniki Festival. The Turkish-born German director takes on a pure biography for the first time, telling the story of Jivar Hadjabi, better known today as a rapper in the German scene under the name Xatar. In the film, we follow the history of the Kurdish jaguar, from its birth in Iran, its escape to neighboring Iraq, and from there its re-immigration to Central Europe. Life in the Bonn ghetto will soon lead him into the underworld until the gangster gives way to a hip-hop performer.

This whole almost fabulous story is presented by Akyn in a rather long film of almost two and a half hours, which, however, does not tire. And all because the viewer has to pay attention to many different things: from the traumatic relationship of the protagonist with his father to the reality of an immigrant entangled in a maze in search of a better life. Akin prefers to filter it all through the prism of humor, but that doesn’t mean he’s doing comedy. On the contrary, its bittersweet form works, although the end result might have been more interesting if it had been less “clean” and stylized.

The film, which premiered at the two-week Cannes Film Festival, is an impressive Ukrainian debut. On the eve of the local pagan carnival, Pamfir returns to his village on the Romanian-Ukrainian border after several months of work abroad. However, his teenage son’s recklessness will lead to disaster, and Pamfir will return to his former illegal activities (cigarette smuggling to Romania) to make amends to local bosses, who happen to be largely identified with policewomen. place.

Starting with an exemplary atmosphere of harsh realism, full of mud, snow and bitter cold, the Ukrainian film takes us to a world full of adversity, where people do everything possible to survive. Their connection with nature is close, as can be seen from the carnival custom, but such are also family ties that determine almost all manifestations of life.

One of the lesser-known films of the great Ingmar Bergman was released this week in a digitally restored copy. Of course, there are many star actors here, and Max von Sydoff plays a man who leaves for an isolated island (apparently, this is Bergman’s beloved, Faure) after breaking up with his wife. There, he meets two women who will pique his interest: a woman stuck in a dead-end marriage (Bibi Anderson) and her enigmatic, mentally ill friend (Liv Ullman). At the same time, the maniac is torturing animals in the area. The Swedish author, with the help of his actors, creates another exemplary psychograph with a touch of mystery, even building in the main narrative and innovative episodes in which the main characters themselves talk about their characters.

Young Vic dreams of sailing the seas with his father, a Viking leader, only the latter continues to doubt his son’s qualifications. However, everything will turn upside down when an ancient magic sword that can turn everything into gold falls into their possession. After a strange accident, Vic finds himself on an exciting adventure full of surprises and dangers, in the company of his good friend Ilvy and the rest of the Viking crew.