Seasoned Slovakian documentary maker Zuzana Piussi, who is currently readying her first fiction feature, The Unbalanced [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], is truly at peak performance at the moment. After releasing three feature-length docs last year, The State Capture (see the news) plus two projects that she co-directed with Vít Janeček (The Siege and University and Freedom [+lire aussi :
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“The film shows that the disintegration of justice is one of the reasons why people are voting for anti-system parties with the belief that they will rectify these issues. In fact, these parties will not help them. If justice worked properly, the state would not be controlled to such a great extent by the oligarchy and mafia groups. It is also important to highlight what the individual parties are offering in terms of state administration and justice after the elections,” said the director, who wrapped the shoot a couple of days ago. Piussi is reacting to the current socio-political climate in the period following the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, and the fallout from the contents of the leaked “Threema communication” by the alleged mastermind behind the murder, which brought to light corruption among the country’s judges.

The title Ordeal refers to the law as a structure of social relations, as without it, society ends up “in a fog”. Moreover, “The Fog” is also the codename for a domestic police operation investigating corruption among judges, following the aforementioned leak. The film thematises the consequences of the crumbling justice system through the stories of judicial officers, entrepreneurs and ordinary people. Given the topic, Piussi wants to release the movie before the domestic general election that will take place on 29 February 2020. Before the election, another politically charged film featuring the murder of a journalist who has been uncovering the shady practices of the political elite, the mafia and white collars, Scumbag [+lire aussi :
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Ordeal is being produced by Zuzana Piussi, of Slovakia’s Ultrafilm, and Mário Homolka, of Slovakian outfit Leon Production. The domestic release is set for 13 February 2020, courtesy of Filmtopia.