NATURAL LIGHT
Special Features: U.S. Premiere
[TERMÉSZETES FÉNY]
Hungarian director Dénes Nagy (HARM) won the Best Director award at this year's Berlinale for this impressive narrative debut, an immersive World War II-set drama about a Hungarian special unit — allied to the German forces — rooting out partisans in the occupied Soviet Union. A farmer during peacetime, Lieutenant Semetka (Ferenc Szabó) is forced to take over leadership of his unit when their commander is killed by a partisan ambush en route to a remote village. Now the reluctant leader of his troop, Semetka moves to occupy the village, ordering that the villagers be sequestered in the town's communal barn in an effort to limit possible communication with the surrounding rebel forces. But when back-up arrives, what starts as a practical decision eventually makes Semetka a morally compromised participant in something far more sinister. Filmed in Latvia with a cast of Hungarian and Latvian non-professional actors, NATURAL LIGHT is a powerfully authentic indictment of war and subtle portrait of its tragic consequences. Winner, Silver Bear, Best Director, 2021 Berlin International Film Festival. Official Selection, 2021 London Film Festival. DIR/SCR Dénes Nagy, from the novel "Természetes fény" by Pál Závada; PROD Sára László, Marcell Gerő, Inese Boka-Grūbe, Caroline Piras, Melanie Blocksdorf. Hungary/Latvia/France/Germany, 2021, color, 103 min. In Hungarian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Run Time: 103 Minutes
Opening Date: Wednesday, December 01, 2021
Genre: War drama