The fall is always a time when film studios trot out their very best awards contenders. And this year is no different, with dozens of films vying for relevancy and voters’ eyeballs. However, statistically, many of those films will not only be passed up for awards consideration but many will actually not be very good at all. So, this fall, why not skip at least one of those probable duds and check out a new restoration of a classic film, “My Twentieth Century,” that is guaranteed to excite you and make you proud to be a cinephile?
In honor of the film’s 30th anniversary, Kino Lorber has teamed with the Museum of the Moving Image in NYC to present a special release of the 1989 film, “My Twentieth Century,” from acclaimed filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi, starring Dorotha Segda, Oleg Yankovsky, and Paulus Manker. The unconventional fairy tale tells the story of two twin girls on the eve of the 20th century.
The Hungarian film was immediately recognized as one of the very best to debut at that year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it took home the Camera d’Or prize. As mentioned, “My Twentieth Century” is written and directed by Ildikó Enyedi. She has only directed eight films over the course of her 3+ decades-long career. Her most recent film, 2017’s “On Body and Soul,” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Enyedi is currently working on her next film, titled “The Story of My Wife,” which stars Léa Seydoux and is expected to be released in 2020.
Kino Lorber’s 4K restoration of the 1989 classic “My Twentieth Century” will be shown at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City from November 15 to November 24.
Here’s the synopsis:
This luminous, unconventional fairy tale takes place on the eve of the twentieth century. Two twin girls, Lili the anarchist and Dóra, a luxurious woman of loose morals (both played by the young Polish actress Dorotha Segda), along with Mr. Z. (Tarkovsky mainstay Oleg Yankovsky) who loves them jointly, all reach the Hungarian border at the same time aboard the Orient Express. Defiantly in pursuit of happiness and in retreat from the “mass murdering century,” they are all entranced by Edison’s inventions and drunk on the miracle of existence.