Ivan Ostrochovsky

The raw and melancholy naturalism of Ivan Ostrochovsky’s impressively shot Koza has won it much festival attention this year, including the top prize at Vilnius International Film Festival. It’s the Slovakian portrait of a financially desperate former Olympic boxer who is driven to return to the ring to earn the money for his girlfriend’s abortion, despite the risk of severe damage. The film is the breakthrough second feature for the filmmaker, who co-directed playfully tongue-in-cheek doc Velvet Terrorists tracing the misguided idealism and failed attempts at armed resistance to the Czech Communist regime of three clumsy rebels.