Legacy

Dorian Boguţă : 2019
Urma

Anton, a famous pianist, is missing. Nicoară, the police officer in charge of the investigation, gradually learns about the artist's troubled destiny, his bizarre relationships and the decisions that triggered a whirl of surprising events. Also, that he suffered from a nervous breakdown and had left the world of music. After the death of his parents, Anton had become obsessed with the happiness of his sister Ana, beyond the confines of brotherly love. It doesn't take long for Nicoară to realise that there is more to this case than meets the eye. Dorian Boguţă's feature directorial debut premiered in competition at Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur 2019.

We Are the Radical Monarchs

Linda Goldstein Knowlton : 2019

Queer besties and community activists Anayvette Martinez and Marilyn Hollinquest wanted to empower the young women of colour in their Oakland neighbourhood, by setting up a youth group. Instead of selling cookies and learning to sew, these girls march on LGBTIQ+ Prides and meet activists from Black Panthers. They earn badges for units on social justice, such as Black Lives Matter, Radical Beauty, Disability Justice, and being an LGBTQ ally. We Are the Radical Monarchs follows the creation of this social justice radical troop and the blossoming of self-love. We also follow Martinez and Hollinquest as they struggle to keep Radical Monarchs alive alongside full-time jobs and limited funding. This joyous film is full of hope and inspiration to see the next generation of fierce, confident young women more than ready to take on the world. Linda Goldstein Knowlton's documentary premiered in competition at SXSW 2019, and was selected to have its UK premiere at BFI Flare 2020.

Caught in the Net

Vít Klusák & Barbora Chalupová : 2020
V síti

A documentary on what can happen to young girls when left at the mercy of the uncontrollable virtual world. Everyone knows something like this is happening. But this is the only experiment to fully demonstrate what excessive openness on the internet means. Hiring three actresses who are over 18 but who look much younger, the filmmaking couple created fake profiles of 12-year-old girls on Facebook and other platforms. The production team built an actual film set consisting of three young teenage girls' rooms, complete with plush toys, pink bedsheets and posters. The actresses, pretending to be these prepubescent girls then communicated with strangers who approached them based on their fake accounts. They attracted dozens of men in the first ten days, then hundreds, and finally thousands. The numbers of those looking for sexual satisfaction from the interactions are shocking. Most of the middle-aged men stopped at nothing to lure the supposed children into sending them photos or videos. The production doctored pictures of the girls with nude images of models, and then when an actress declined to take her clothes off in a live chat, the man would threaten to share the pics online. After weeks of online communication, there was even a personal meeting, and hidden cameras and microphones, along with undercover bodyguards, were placed in a Prague patisserie. A social experiment that turns into an interventionist documentary, the materials from which have been forwarded to the police who are starting official investigations. Barbora Chalupová and Vít Klusák's film won the Best Film award when it premiered in the Czech Competition section at Prague One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival 2020.

Caught in the Net – trailer (cineuropa)

Transkids

Hilla Medalia : 2019

Four Israeli teenagers undergo the process of life-and-identity-saving gender transformation in a country where military service is mandatory and Orthodox Jewish religion is the law. Sixteen is a riotous age – full of promise and excitement, riddled with hormone explosions and petulance. Four teens let the cameras in to share a crucial juncture in the formation of their identities. Romy is a typical beauty queen, whose secular single mum tried to steer her away from femininity with orthodox school. Liron tried hard to be super girly before realising it was completely wrong for him. Noam is born into a religious family and wants to become a rabbi. And Ofri is a regular tomboy scout who always knew he was different. Delving into its subjects' lives as they divulge the turning points in their transitions, the film examines the impact upon them of the society they live in. Hilla Medalia's documentary was selected to have its UK premiere at BFI Flare 2020.

Isabella

Matías Piñeiro : 2020

Mariel wants to play the role of Isabella in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure". She has already prepared for an audition, but she is distracted by money problems. In the hope of receiving financial support from her brother, with whom she has had no contact for a long time, Mariel turns to his lover, Luciana, who is also an actress, albeit a more successful one. Luciana agrees to convince him, but only if Mariel goes ahead with the audition. However, luck is seldom on Mariel's side. Time after time, she tries to win this role that persistently eludes her. And time after time, she encounters Luciana, a sort of more successful doppelganger, who leads Mariel to doubt her own ambitions: to act or not to act. Mariel's dilemma intertwines her idea of success with her experience of friendship, motherhood and pursuing a career. Matías Piñeiro's feature premiered in the Encounters section at Berlin International Film Festival 2020.

Really Love

Angel Kristi Williams : 2020

Set in a gentrifying Washington DC, a rising Black painter tries to break into a competitive art world, while balancing a whirlwind romance he never expected. Isaiah is on the brink of giving up when he meets Stevie, an intelligent and intriguing beauty. Isaiah's creativity flows with Stevie in his life. They fall in love, but his work remains overlooked, bruising his ego. When Isaiah convinces a gallerist to take a chance on him, he pours himself into his art, which catapults his career, but doesn't leave room for love. Frustrated, Stevie accepts a dream job in Chicago, breaking Isaiah's heart. A year passes without communication until Isaiah sees Stevie at his group show in Chicago. Though Isaiah's life seems to have improved, it isn't what he imagined without her. Angel Kristi Williams's feature directorial debut was selected to premiere in competition at SXSW 2020.

Aviva

Boaz Yakin : 2020

Aviva is the story of a couple and their complicated relationship in trying to balance both sides of their respective characters; the masculine and feminine. Aviva and Eden as with all new relationships are facing conflict within their partnership. These conflicts extend outward, touching everything, resulting in disruptive behaviour that challenges their very real connection. Aviva and Eden, in the story of their journey as a couple from courtship to marriage, to a divorce and finally into deep loving friendship. It is a theme of the masculine/feminine duality in each of them and how that balance or imbalance affects the relationship between them. For the purposes of this story, each character is played by a man and a woman to reflect the conflicting sides of our own inner male and female perspectives. Aviva is the unique exploration of gender within ourselves, told through the lens of a modern-day romantic relationship from Paris to New York. Boaz Yakin's narrative feature was selected to premiere at SXSW 2020.

Summerland

Jessica Swale : 2020

Secluded in her picturesque countryside cottage, Alice toils away at her academic thesis on pagan myths while the rest of the world is in turmoil. The Second World War rages, yet its impact is barely felt by the solitary and prickly writer. Unmarried, she attracts the consternation of local villagers and is tormented by their children. Nursing a heartache from her past, Alice would quite like the world to leave her alone, but it has very different plans for her – in the form of Frank, an evacuee from London. Initially determined to be rid of this interloper, the guilelessness of youth soon breaks though Alice's tough exterior. The boy opens old wounds with innocent questions about Alice's past. Flashbacks reveal an all-consuming love affair with the decadent Vera, which unfolded when both women were barely out of their teens and everything seemed possible. Jessica Swale's directorial debut was selected to premiere at BFI Flare 2020.