When someone you love is struggling, where does care end and control begin? Join us for Czechia’s Oscar submission, an intimate documentary that finds humor and tenderness in a family’s experience of addiction. The screening will be preceded by a welcome drink reception and followed by a Q&A with director Pepa Lubojacki and members of the crew.
TICKETSIf Pigeons Turned to Gold / dir. Pepa Lubojacki / 2026 / documentary / Czechia, Slovakia / 110 min.
Over five years, Pepa Lubojacki follows her older brother David and two cousins as they struggle with addiction and homelessness. Searching for the roots of their experiences, she turns to the family’s past and her own determination to save the people she loves. Intimate iPhone footage, stylized memories, graphic collages, and AI-animated photographs create a candid, inventive family portrait with moments of unexpected humor.
The film premiered in the Forum section of the 2026 Berlinale, winning both the Berlinale Documentary Award and the independent Caligari Film Prize. It became the first Czech film to receive the Berlinale Documentary Award and was subsequently selected as Czechia’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2027 Academy Awards.
Following the screening, Pepa Lubojacki and members of the film crew will discuss the making of the film and the challenges of turning the camera on one’s own family.
Pepa Lubojacki is a Prague-based screenwriter and documentary filmmaker who studied screenwriting, dramaturgy, and documentary filmmaking at FAMU. Her short essay film About-hair (2019) screened at festivals across Europe. She has programmed for Mezipatra and FAMUFEST and co-organized the Queer Eye cultural festival. Her work explores gender stereotypes, family trauma, and addiction, and she is writing her first fiction book. If Pigeons Turned to Gold is her feature debut.
