love in a bottle
netherlands
Directed by: Paula van der Oest
In the chaos of a pandemic-disrupted Milan airport, strangers Lucky (Hannah Hoekstra) and Miles (James Krishna Floyd) almost miss each other. But the romantic impulse wins out: Lucky swipes Miles’s luggage tag, and this becomes a lifeline for the both of them during the dark, isolating early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Directed by the prolific Paula van der Oest (Tonio, EUFF 2018), this long-distance relationship unfolds completely within the oasis (or purgatory) of the computer screen. Consider it a You’ve Got Mail for the always-online era. “[Lucky and Miles] are opposite personalities: she is a playful perfume maker and trampoline jumper, he is a somewhat inhibited ICT professional and nature photographer … Love in a Bottle is remarkably intimate; a privilege of the (emergency) chosen form … [It] captures something essential about digital contact, which sometimes makes conversations less veiled and more honest” (Bor Beekman, De Volkskrant).
CAST: Hannah Hoekstra, James Krishna Floyd
Language:
English
Genre:
ROMANCE
Runtime:
79 min
YEAR:
2022
[Horák] matches each of the film’s periods to a different style: the 1960s to the Czech New Wave, the 1970s to normalization films, and the 1980s to documentary-like grainy footage. The stylisation enables a fine adjustment of dramatic effects”
(Martin Kudláč, Cineuropa).
Awards:
- Bulgarian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards 2018
- Golden Rose Festival of Bulgarian film: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Critics Gild Award and Audience Award