Si yo fuera el invierno mismo

Jazmín López : 2020
If I Were the Winter Itself

Four friends meet on a remote estate to create a cinematic re-enactment of three iconic works that embodied the social and artistic revolution of 50 years ago: La Chinoise (1967) by Jean-Luc Godard, Inextinguishable Fire (1969) by Harun Farocki and the performance Untitled (Facial Hair Transplants) (1972) by Ana Mendieta. The estate is a living backdrop for dreams and phantoms. In all its faded glory, it symbolises the privilege of these young artists who gather there to discuss the meaning of their activist examples. Carmen, the project's initiator, is overwhelmed by feelings and thoughts about her ex-lover, Valentin, whom she can't get off her mind. In long takes, the mobile camera explores the rooms of the estate, where the boundary between acting and being seems to dissolve. The spatial dimensions of the location are used to condense time and link Carmen's subjective and objective realities. During the artistic process the friends undergo and between the lines of their cerebral conversations, this gives rise to a mysterious, deep exploration of the complex mourning of lost love. Jazmín López's second feature premiered in competition in the Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020.

Instinct

Halina Reijn : 2019

Nicoline, an experienced psychologist, starts a new job at a penal institution. She meets Idris, a sex offender who, after five years of treatment for a series of extremely violent sexual assaults, is about to go on his first unaccompanied probation. His team of practitioners are enthusiastic about his development but Nicoline is vehemently opposed, concluding after only a few short meetings that he still poses a great danger to society. Unable to sway her colleagues, she concedes, but also begins to notice her own inability to resist the rush of Idris's manipulation. As her intrigue quickly escalates to infatuation, Nicoline recognises in Idris something unsettled in herself. And where intent is both unimportant and unclear, the two then find themselves face to face in a grippingly quiet yet stomach-churning battle for power and control, in which there can be no true winner. Halina Reijn's feature, her directorial debut, was winner of the Variety Piazza Grande Award when it premiered at Locarno Film Festival 2019. The film received the Cineuropa Prize, Youth Jury Award and the award for Best Actress when it screened in competition at Les Arcs Film Festival 2019.

Nocturnal

Nathalie Biancheri : 2019

Newly arrived from Dublin, 16-year-old school running champion Laurie lives alone with her single mother in a Yorkshire coastal town. Something of an outsider, the aspiring athlete struggles to connect with the other girls on her track team, distancing herself with a quietly combative demeanour. But Laurie can't deflect the attention of Pete, a handyman in his thirties performing some odd jobs at her school. Frustrated and lonely, Laurie overcomes her initial fear of Pete. After a couple of curt interactions, she eventually agrees to hang out with her new admirer and almost immediately a connection is apparent. As they spend more time together, a unique bond grows, yet Pete's intentions remain ambiguous. Until one day when Pete's real predicament and intentions come to light and the truth emerges. Nathalie Biancheri's feature debut premiered at BFI London Film Festival 2019, and screened in competition in the Hauteur section at Les Arcs Film Festival 2019.

Daughter

Daria Kashcheeva : 2019
Dcera

An innovative and heart-wrenching puppet animation in which the bond between a father and a daughter is imperiled by matters that go unspoken and hurts that are slow to heal. The interruption of a small bird transports a woman back to memories of her father. Should you hide your pain? Withdraw yourself into your inner world, full of longing for your father's demonstrative love? Or, should you be understanding and forgive before it is too late? An expressionistic recollection of missed opportunities, the film depicts the relationship between a father and daughter as they overcome a mutual lack of understanding to find their way back to each other. Daria Kashcheeva's short was winner of the Cristal for a Graduation Film, and the Junior Jury Award for a Graduation Film when it premiered in competition at Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2019.

Daughter – official trailer (vimeo)

Psychobitch

Martin Lund : 2019

The coming-of-age story of two young people: an unexpected encounter between the best student in the class and a psychotic and rebellious girl. Frida is different – not because she is, but because she wants to be. The 15-year-old has no desire to be part of "Generation Perfect" where all kids end up alike – in stark contrast to Marius, the golden boy of the class, who wants to be the best at whatever he does. When the two are put together in class study tandem, Marius sees a good opportunity to prove how great he is again. Frida for her part has no intention of letting herself be helped or 'fixed'. Yet in his fights with Frida, Marius also experiences something exciting, challenging and completely new. Soon, learning becomes loving – and Frida and Marius, despite their differences, plunge into an unusual, turbulent relationship. Martin Lund's feature screened at Filmfest Hamburg 2019, and was winner of the Audience Award at ArteKino Festival 2019.

Dust and Ashes

Park Hee-kwon : 2019
축복의 집

Hae-su, a frail young girl who works at a factory, is always covered in dust. There seems to be a problem at home, and she seems to be taking care of it in a mysterious way. Her mother has died and the girl runs around anxiously in order to hold the funeral in secrecy. She is clearly in distress, but what is the truth behind Hae-su's suspicious behaviour? Unanswered questions trigger lingering, disquieting feelings about what really happened, how it happened and what lies in the future for her. Park Hee-kwon's feature debut premiered in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019.

Isaac

Jurgis Matulevičius : 2019
Izaokas

The infamous Operation Barbarossa, the code-name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, expanded to Kaunas in June of 1941. Between forty and sixty Jews were tortured and brutally killed in the incident known as the Lietūkis Garage Massacre. During the massacre a Lithuanian activist, Andrius Gluosnis, kills his Jewish neighbour, Isaac. Twenty-five years later in Soviet Lithuania, movie director Gediminas Gutauskas returns from the USA with a screenplay of a film that portrays, in details, the Lietūkis Garage Massacre and describes a particular situation where Isaac is killed. The screenplay is later brought to the attention and investigated by the KGB. Why does a director, who once relocated to the USA, return to Soviet Lithuania? Why is his scenario so unusually historically accurate to the massacre, as though he would have witnessed it himself? Perhaps he knows someone who attended the massacre themselves? The aftermath of the murder returns many years later to cripple life and love, triggering a chain of fateful coincidences. Jurgis Matulevičius's feature debut premiered in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019.

Nour

Maurizio Zaccaro : 2019

As two women scroll through their holiday photos at dawn aboard a boat, they hear cries that sound like they're coming from people in the sea. Little by little, they make them out in the water. They're immigrants whose boat has sunk in the Lampedusa waters. Nour is ten years old and she crossed the Mediterranean by herself to reach Europe. What is she doing on her own in Lampedusa, among the survivors of a shipwreck? Pietro Bartolo, the doctor on the island, takes care of her and, step by step, he tries to reconstruct not only the girl's past, but also her present and a new future. Maurizio Zaccaro's feature premiered in the Festa Mobile section at Torino Film Festival 2019.

Cleo

Eva Cools : 2019

Cleo is a 17-year-old girl who survives a devastating car crash which kills her parents. After that fatal night she is raised by her caring grandmother who tries to offer Cleo and her little brother a loving home but finds herself faced with a rebellious teenager. Cleo's father was a renowned concert pianist and she too has been playing the piano since childhood. Although she often listens to contemporary music, the piano – and in particular Rachmaninov's work – plays a central role in Cleo's cathartic processing. Cleo begins to lose herself in Brussels and seeks refuge in the older, mysterious Leos whom she meets in a nightclub and who seems to understand the struggle she is in. Viewing him as a stranger with whom she can reinvent herself, unencumbered by her past and her trauma, she is unaware of the tragic circumstances linking him to herself and her family. Eva Cools's feature directorial debut premiered at Film Fest Gent 2019, and screened in competition in the Alice nella Città section at Rome Film Festival 2019.