Temblores

Jayro Bustamante : 2019
Tremors

When Pablo arrives at his family's house outside Guatemala City, everyone is already waiting tensely for this beloved brother, son and husband to appear. Everyone at the clan's villa is horrified: Pablo has fallen in love with another man, Francisco. In doing so, he is calling into question all the values by which this deeply religious evangelical family lives. In spite of resistance from his relatives, Pablo moves in with Francisco, who is closely linked to the city's subculture and leads a completely different, liberated existence. Pablo loses his old home, but somehow never really settles in the new one. His wish to unite the two worlds turns out to be a dead end. Putting their faith before everything else, his relatives are adamant that Pablo can be 'healed'. With help from their ultra-religious community, the family does everything in its power to get their prodigal son back on track, no matter the cost. Jayro Bustamante's second feature premiered in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2019.

Un monde plus grand

Fabienne Berthaud : 2019
A Bigger World

In order to forget the death of Paul, the man of her life, Corine leaves Paris for a few weeks to direct a project in Mongolia. But her meeting with the shaman Oyun disrupts her journey, as Oyun proclaims that Corine has received a rare gift and must be trained in shamanic traditions. Back in France, she cannot refuse what is now imposed on her: she must go back to Mongolia to begin her initiation. She will agree to start a journey of discovery, which will lead her to discover a new culture, ancestral and forgotten ways, but most importantly herself. Based on Mon initiation chez les chamanes by Corine Sombrun, Fabienne Berthaud's feature premiered in competition at Venice Days 2019.

Unremember

Flavia Castro : 2018
Deslembro

Joana, a teenager, feeds her soul with literature and rock. In 1979, when amnesty is granted in Brazil, she lives with her family in Paris. Overnight and against her will, Joana moves back to the country she barely remembers. In the early 1980s, in Rio de Janeiro, the city she was born in and where her father has forcedly disappeared, she recovers pieces of memory from a fragmented childhood. Not everything is real, not everything is imagination. And as she remembers, Joana is able to write her own story in the present tense. Interweaving personal and political history, Flavia Castro's largely autobiographical first feature premiered in competition in the Orizzonti section at Venice International Film Festival 2018, and screened in the New Cinema section at Transatlantyk Festival 2019.

I Am They

Fox Fisher & Owl Fisher : 2019
A Non-binary Love Story

I Am They is a feature length documentary that follows the story of Fox and Owl, as they explore the many challenges facing non-binary people in the UK today; from legal issues to language, from marriage to hate speech. Through a protest-wedding Fox and Owl set out to raise awareness of the wider issue of lack of legal gender recognition in the UK, and speak with many other non-binary people about the challenges they face. The film also explores issues and topics faced by older non-binary people, non-binary youth, non-binary people of colour and non-binary people from across Europe. Their film is the first feature documentary on trans issues by My Genderation, an ongoing film project focusing on trans lives and trans experiences, created by trans people for a much wider audience. It was published today, 14 July, International Non-Binary People's Day.

I Am They – A Non-binary Love Story (YouTube)

Field of Blackbirds

Arzana Kraja : 2019
Fusha e mëllenjave

Once a political prisoner who was brutally tortured during the late eighties in Kosovo, Syla now leads an uneventful life in London where he was given refuge twenty years ago. The seeming stability of his new life is fractured by his nephew's chance remarks that suggest Syla has a child. Profoundly disturbed, Syla is compelled to return to Kosovo, and to finally confront the demons in his past. Syla journeys to unearth what happened to Zylfija, the love of his life and the child she carried when he was forced to leave her behind. He ultimately is forced to face up to the events which destroyed his life. Arzana Kraja's feature debut premiered as the opening film at Prishtina International Film Festival 2019.

Les fauves

Vincent Mariette : 2018
Savage

Summer is in full swing in a Dordogne camping site. Several youngsters mysteriously disappear, and as rumours begin to circulate about the presence of a panther in the surrounding area, the teenagers can sense a feeling of danger to their core. 17-year-old Laura, who is spending the holidays with her family at the campsite, is trying to solve the mystery when one of her friends vanishes without trace. Unlike all the others, Laura isn't frightened of the mysterious feline; on the contrary, she is strangely attracted to it. In this electric atmosphere, Laura meets Paul, a creepy yet charming writer. An ambiguous relationship develops between these two, who, though seemingly different, are brought together by their passion for mystery. Vincent Mariette's coming-of-age thriller premiered at Fantastic Fest 2018, and screened in competition at Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival 2019.

What Might Have Been

Florian Koerner von Gustorf : 2019
Was gewesen wäre

Astrid is in her late forties and has her life firmly under control. She has fallen in love with Paul, and their first weekend trip together takes them to Budapest for a few romantic days, just the two of them. But in the Hungarian capital things happen differently than they had planned. They run into Julius, Astrid's first great love, whom she had met at an artists' party in East Germany in 1986. It was a love that was never easy, but always exciting. There are still feelings that couldn't really be quashed by the course of history. Together with Paul, Astrid looks back at her past, and suddenly everything could be as it had never been. A fantastic coming-of-age story set in the adult world. Florian Koerner von Gustorf's directorial debut premiered in the New German Cinema section at Filmfest München 2019.