Minimum Love – Films – Visions du Réel

Minimum lásky

Maja Penčič
Czechia | 2025 | 75 min
International Premiere
Language : Czech
Subtitles : English, French

Maja Penčič roams the streets of Prague, camera in hand, conducting wild investigations into the state of mind of her compatriots. Amidst the inebriated interactions, a picture emerges of Czech youth who openly share their opinions on the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, feminism, romantic turmoil and consensual sexuality.

On the fly, the camera catches hurried faces escaping from a Prague metro station, addressing them – often in vain – with a rather ordinary question: “How are you today?”. In the manner of a scouting mission, this prologue immediately frames the objective of Maja Penčič’s project: to spontaneously investigate the mindset of her fellow citizens. She waits patiently in line at club entrances or in more underground spaces where young people are free to indulge themselves. Seemingly taking the expression “in vino veritas” at face value, the director asks them what they think about the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, gender relations, sexual consent, their search for love, and more. Slowly, the camera settles, and deeper conversations emerge amid the widespread revelry. Anxiety, disillusionment and bewilderment emerge in the looks to camera, reflected back at us by Gen Z as portrayed in Minimum Love, desperately fleeing the mute violence of an apathetic, sanitised society.

Emmanuel Chicon

Minimum Love, 2025
Foxy Girl, 2022
Passportless Mess, 2021