Give Me Liberty
Kirill Mikhanovsky / US, 2019 / 110 min.
Vic works as a medical transport driver in Milwaukee and has a busy work schedule ahead of him. Soon he is running late as protests bring the city to a halt.
Vic’s granddad nevertheless manages to persuade Vic to take a detour so that a group of elderly Russians are able to attend a funeral.
Chaos mounts as Vic next stops to pick up regular passenger Tracy. The encounter between strangers leads to both awkward and hilarious scenes. A portrait of America’s failing health care system, filmed with compassion and humour.
Kirill Mikhanovsky based himself on his own experiences as a wheelchair bus driver for his hilarious but moving debut film. Together with screenwriter Alice Austen he created a raw and original slice of life story about people confronted with obstacles, in their lives and in the city. The American dream is not working for them.
Give Me Liberty is an endearing and humorous look at ordinary people, with powerful improvised play by the non-professional actors. The film was selected for the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Cannes in 2019 and won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award in 2019.
Details
Director
Kirill Mikhanovsky
Production year
2019
Country
US
Original title
Give Me Liberty
Length
110 min.
Language
ENG, RUS
Subtitles
NLD
Format
DCP
Part of
Previously Unreleased
The films featured in Eye’s Previously Unreleased programme were screened at major national and international festivals, but were never released to Dutch cinemas. Frome 17 June Eye brings a choice of films previously selected for international festivals to Dutch film audiences to redress the balance.
Why in Eye
Any filmmaker who succeeds in making a diverting, virtuoso film about transporting the elderly and the disabled that is set in and around a wheelchair bus for the entire length of the film, is a great filmmaker and deserves to be shown on the big screen.
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