Cheerful Milan (Milan Ondrík) grew up in the remote village where his family still lives. He was raised by a brutal, critical father and made to work from a young age. He’s just an ordinary guy who, despite his own status as an economic migrant, thinks that foreigners take Slovak jobs. He hopes the wages that he brings from abroad will provide more opportunities for his three children, but he hasn’t fully considered what his absence from home means for them and his wife. When the middle-aged carpenter returns from his construction job in Germany to celebrate the Christmas holidays at home, he finds his community — and his sons — in thrall to a controlling Catholic priest and mysterious far-right paramilitary youth group. Acclaimed director Marko Skop’s latest is a cautionary, state-of-the-nation drama highlighting xenophobia, religious hypocrisy and the rise of the extreme right in a small Slovak village.

Winner: Best Actor, Karlovy Vary; Best Film, Batumi, Almaty

In competition for the FIPRESCI Prize

Director Marko Škop is expected to be in attendance on January 5 and 6.