Silver Lessinia for the film Better to Go Mad in the Wild
The Italian jury awarded Better to Go Mad in the Wild the Silver Lessinia at the Italian Film Festival della Lessinia for its surreal portrait of Šumava recluses.
The documentary film Better to Go Mad in the Wild continues its successful international festival circuit. It brought home one of the two main awards from the 32nd edition of the prestigious Italian festival Film Festival della Lessinia in Bosco Chiesanuova – the Silver Lessinia for Best Feature Film (Lessinia d'Argento per il miglior lungometraggio).
Official statement of the international jury
The festival's international jury, composed of experts from Italy, Jordan, Portugal, and Germany, was particularly captivated by the artistic freedom and the refusal of simplistic labels:
“The film we have chosen begins in a small and seemingly isolated world, and slowly opens itself to something much larger. The filmmaker resists the temptation to explain or define his characters. Instead, he approaches them with the same sense of freedom that seems to guide their lives, allowing the film itself to remain open, unpredictable and alive.
In their contradictions, their idiosyncrasies and their singular way of being in the world, the film gradually finds its own form. What may at first seem like a small story becomes something much wider: a reflection on freedom and belonging, on the passing of time, and on what it means to choose one’s own way of life.
A film of great humanity, in which freedom is not only what is portrayed, but also the way the film chooses to look. The Lessinia d’Argento for the best feature-length film goes to “Better Go Mad in the Wild”, by Miro Remo.”
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From Wildness to a Story of Love and Radical Freedom
The analysis by Italian festival critic Giovanni Teodori also captures with great precision the journey the film offers. While at first the picture may come across as an unconventional, surreal fairytale about two Šumava eccentrics smoking marijuana, taking nettle baths, and living off the grid, deeper layers gradually emerge from beneath the surface.
Through their original poetry, memories of anti-communist resistance, and the constant reflection of identical twin brothers František and Ondřej Klišík, the story transforms into a reflection on aging, desire, and an undying fraternal bond.
The can read the review from the Giovanni Teodori 
here.
As director Miro Remo noted in an interview for Italian critics:
“In the editing process, we intentionally worked with uncertainty regarding when the audience can tell the brothers apart. On the surface, they are almost identical, but on the inside, they are two completely different human beings. One seeks absolute freedom, while the other needs routine and stability. Despite constant conflicts and the wall they built between themselves, their bond is indestructible. For me, from the very beginning, this was above all a film about love and the radicalism with which they chose to remain true to themselves.”
The victory in Italy serves as confirmation for the entire creative team that the story of the Šumava recluses and their unique world resonates with audiences regardless of geographical or language barriers.