IFF Rotterdam is one of the world’s most renowned film festivals and is known for discovering unique films and young talented directors. In addition to contemporary works, it devotes a special place to retrospectives and thematic programmes. It is a great success for Slovak cinema that its 51st edition (26 January – 6 February 2022) will internationally premiere Eduard Grečner’s digitally restored film Seven Days Every Week (1964) within the Cinema Regained section, dedicated to rediscovering forgotten gems of world cinema.
Seven Days Every Week is a psychological story about the lives of university students who, often at the cost of their own mistakes and disappointments, are searching for their place in society. It captures the feelings of insecurity and fear that grip people in the face of the looming danger of nuclear war.
In 2022, Cinema Regained will screen six films; in the past, this section has rediscovered “forgotten” films by such greats as George A. Romero, Amos Gitai and Orson Welles. “Seven Days Every Week is undoubtedly an exceptional phenomenon in the history of Slovak cinema. Formally and in content, it is a radical, modern film, comparable to the films of the French New Wave of the 1960s by directors such as Alain Resnais, Chris Marker, Marguerite Duras or Alain Robbe-Grillet. It was especially Alain Resnais who inspired Eduard Grečner,” says Rastislav Steranka, director of the National Cinematographic Centre of the Slovak Film Institute, adding that “the film is the first Slovak classic film in the Cinema Regained section. And if I’m not mistaken, it is also the first film from our archive collections ever to be screened at the Rotterdam Film Festival.”
The IFF Rotterdam has a reputation as a festival whose winning films from the competition sections pave the way for filmmakers to enter the ‘big’ world of cinema and often herald the success of films. What about classic works? “I believe that Eduard Grečner’s film will become ‘rediscovered’ thanks to Rotterdam selection. Ideally, representatives of film festivals and cinemas will see it and select it for their programme. After more than half a century, the film will start travelling the world again. I am convinced that it deserves it,” Steranka concludes.
Web: https://iffr.com/en
