Flower Buds - Poupata (2011, Czech Republic, 100 minutes, 35mm)

Flower Buds tells the story of the Yuletide breakdown of a family living in a snow-drenched small Bohemian town. Disheartened daughter Agata wants a happy life far from home, fully aware that her only hope is to escape and, so doing, betray those close to her, while brother Honza believes in the purity and power of love, regardless of the seedy circumstances under which it might be born and sustained. Their mother Kamila, a Spartakiad enthusiast, looks confidently to the future and does not intend to accept the misery of the present, notwithstanding that her husband, Jarda, is an incorrigible problem gambler, ever digging a deeper hole for them all to fall into.

A crisply shot slice of social realism which falls somewhere between the powerful earnestness of Ken Loach and the woebegone humour of British TV series Shameless, Flower Buds was winner of the 2012 Czech Lion for Best Film, also picking up awards for Best Director, Best Cinematography for several time winner Vladimír Smutný and Best Male Actor in a Leading Role for Vladimír Javorský as the bedraggled Jarda.

Please join us after Flower Buds for our Closing Night party in the RMIT Capitol Theatre foyer, where the wonderful Vardos will have us all dancing and the first Green Fairy Absinth cocktail is on us...

Director and Screenwriter Zdeněk Jiráský Producer Viktor Schwarcz Production Company Cineart TV Prague

Screening CLOSING NIGHT Sunday, June 9, 7pm, at RMIT Capitol Theatre

Purchase tickets for CLOSING NIGHT and Flower Buds through TryBooking.