FAMILY FILM

"[An] elegant, darkly unpredictable fusion of ashen black comedy and urgent domestic drama … Don't hold your breath for a Disney remake." – Variety

When well-to-do Igor and Irena take off on an Indian Ocean sailing adventure – with beloved dog Otto in tow – they leave 16-year-old daughter Anna behind to look after her younger brother Erik. Both soon find themselves under the corrupting influence of Anna's vampish best friend Kristina, but when a storm strikes Igor and Irena's boat, leaving Otto to fend for himself on a deserted island, the fallout will force them all to confront the binding resentments at the core of their so-called family.

A contender for most ironic (and literal) title at this year's MIFF, Family Film sees writer/director Olmo Omerzu burrowing to the heart of Tolstoy's observation that "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." A sharply observed and riotously performed set of character studies that also features one of the best canine performances of 2016, Family Film is a bold and unexpectedly poignant reflection on the paradoxes of those we call kin, in all their maddening, inescapable and sometimes life-saving glory.

"It's [his] ability to juggle and dissolve two cinematic registers, the family adventure and the dark, ironic human drama, that makes Omeru's second feature such an impressive achievement." – Screen