A screening of Zuzana Kirchnerová’s award-winning road movie about a mother, her son with Down syndrome, and an unexpected journey across Italy. The film premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Czech Lion for Best Czech Film of 2025.
TICKETSCaravan (Karavan) / dir. Zuzana Kirchnerová / 2025 / drama, road movie / Czechia, Slovakia, Italy / Czech with English subtitles / 103 min.
Director: Zuzana Kirchnerová Screenplay: Zuzana Kirchnerová, Tomáš Bojar
After years of caring for her son David, who has an intellectual disability, forty-five-year-old Ester accepts an invitation from friends to visit them in Italy. What begins as a dream of sun, sea, and a brief escape from responsibility quickly becomes more complicated. In an unfamiliar environment, David is unpredictable and full of emotion, and Ester feels increasingly afraid that they are becoming a burden to others.
Instead of staying, she starts up an old, unused caravan and sets off with David on a journey across Italy. With no plan, no certainties, and no expectations, mother and son find themselves in a space where everyday rules begin to loosen. When the spontaneous Zuza enters their lives, Ester and David are finally able to be themselves. Through this encounter, Ester begins to see that her son is no longer a child and finds the courage to want something from life for herself as well.
Zuzana Kirchnerová’s feature debut is a poetic road movie about freedom, motherhood, different forms of love, and the urgent desire to finally live, not merely survive. Caravan premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival as the first Czech film selected there in thirty years, opened the Summer Film School in Uherské Hradiště, and won the Czech Lion for Best Czech Film of 2025. Slovak actress Juliána Brutovská also received a Czech Lion for her supporting role in the film.
This event is organized by the Czech Center New York with support from the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association.
