The feature debut of director Katarína Gramatová Promise, I’ll Be Fine will have its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival, which will take place from 28 October to 6 November 2024. The film will compete in the Main Competition.
The Slovak-Czech co-production, Promise, I’ll Be Fine follows 15-year-old Enrique and his mother, Martina. Enrique hopes for her return home so they can be together, instead of being apart due to her job. Living with his grandmother in a village, Enrique obeys his mother’s requests in the hope that they’ll save enough money to reunite. When he’s not fulfilling her tasks, he enjoys riding mopeds around the village with friends. But everyone in the village knows something that he doesn’t. Thanks to his friends, Enrique slowly discovers his mother’s true intentions.
The film is inspired by true events, and according to the director, “the film speaks to a pivotal moment in adolescence, when we begin to discover our own values, which sometimes leads to conflict with those who raised us. As children, we often hear that mothers want the best for their children, but in difficult life situations, some mothers use their own children for their own happiness. From my perspective, it is a struggle for survival.” For the project, she collaborated with a group of non-professional actors from the eastern Slovak countryside, whose authentic expression and living conditions she brought to the film after intensive research and time spent in their vicinity.
Katarína Gramatová graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava last year. Her hybrid documentary A Good Mind Grows in Thorny Places has received recognition at international festivals, including its premiere at the Krakow Film Festival and participation in the prestigious Future Frames program at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The film also received a Special Mention at the ElbeDock festival.
Promise, I’ll Be Fine was produced by DRYEYE Film, a young and ambitious production company founded by Igor Engler. The film is their majority-produced feature film. The co-producer is Julie Marková Žáčková from the Czech production company NOCHI FILM.
