Aarcflick

My favorite film at this year's festival was an evening screening of a leisurely three-act western with an epilogue. Biliana and Marina Grozdanova's Eastern Western is a masterpiece. Too often (and with a certain weariness), westerns focus on frontier justice and infighting within the law enforcement system. Grozdanova's film is refreshing in the way it manages expectations and becomes a delicate treatise on the brotherhood that arises from the immigrant experience in 19th-century America.  With the exception of one beautifully executed shootout, the film chooses to focus on campfire conversations, everyday life, and the all-consuming need for friendship in unfamiliar territory. Directors: Biliana Grozdanova, Marina Grozdanova Writers: Biliana Grozdanova, Marina Grozdanova Stars: Stefan Bandic, Meag Belland, Dora Brtan Beginning with immigrant Igor (Igor Galijasevic) and his young son as they fend for themselves in a winter cabin, Eastern Western immediately captivated me w...