Mara dreams of leaving her Ruthenian village just as a new reservoir threatens to swallow it. Join us for Flood, Slovakia’s Oscar submission and a Czech coproduction, followed by a Q&A with director Martin Gonda. This historical drama follows a father and daughter whose conflicting hopes for the future collide as they face the loss of their home.
TICKETSFlood / dir. Martin Gonda / 2025 / historical drama / Slovakia, Czechia, Poland, Belgium / 103 min.
In Czechoslovakia in 1980, Mara hopes to study in the city and become a pilot, but her widowed father expects her to stay and work the family farm. Plans for a reservoir force their village to confront the loss of its homes and land. As Mara and her father struggle over her future, both must reckon with a place they may never see again.
Set in a Ruthenian community in eastern Slovakia, Gonda’s debut feature brings a history of displacement close to home. Through the bond between father and daughter, Flood asks what remains of a community when its familiar landscape disappears.
Flood won the SIGNIS Prize at the 2025 Mar del Plata International Film Festival. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Martin Gonda about the film and the history behind it.
Martin Gonda studied film and television directing at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. His short film Pura Vida premiered in the Cinéfondation section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Flood, his first feature, grew out of childhood visits to the area around the Starina reservoir, where villages had been submerged.
