Amor Fati

Cláudia Varejão : 2020

Amor fati could be translated from the Latin as love for one's destiny, but also as the love that is destined for us. Two twin sisters, a master and his dog, lovers who look like each other – all doubles are possible in this simultaneously poetic and hyper-realistic universe. Here, love comes in all shapes and sizes, building a choreography of visual resemblances, while also questioning what makes a couple in the contemporary world. Amor Fati seeks out parts that complete each other. These are portraits of couples, friends, families and pets and their owners. They share the intimacy of daily life, habits, beliefs, tastes and even some physical traits. From their faces, from the choreography of their gestures, is unveiled the story that binds them. Drawn from everyday life, right before our eyes the film portrays a chorus of affection and the collective memory of a country. Cláudia Varejão's documentary premiered in competition at Visions du Réel 2020.

She Paradise

Maya Cozier : 2020

Sparkle is a naïve 17-year-old girl seeking community and excitement when she stumbles upon a free-spirited dance crew who invite her to their next audition. Welcomed into the sisterhood despite her lack of street smarts, she soon meets Skinny, a rapper who's immediately taken with Sparkle's wide-eyed innocence. Navigating this thrilling yet sinister new world that revolves around nightlife and cash, Sparkle finds her fate in the hands of those with power in this seemingly postcard-perfect setting, with misogyny brewing beneath the surface. An authentic and reverent exploration of female friendship, sexism, and the ways in which music and dance shape communities in the Caribbean. Maya Cozier's feature debut premiered in competition at Tribeca Film Festival 2020.

Asia

Ruthy Pribar : 2020

Asia and Vika, a pair of Russian immigrants in Israel, are more like sisters than mother and daughter. Young mom Asia hides nothing about her work-hard, play-hard lifestyle, and expects the same openness and honesty from teenage Vika. But Vika is at an age where privacy and independence are paramount, and inevitably begins to rebel against her mom's parenting style. With two stubborn and opinionated women under one roof, Asia finds herself in new territory and stumbles to achieve a balance between asserting her parental authority and respecting her daughter's point of view. When health issues lead Vika to be confined to a wheelchair and her need for romantic experiences and sexual exploration becomes more urgent, Asia must step in and become the mother Vika so desperately needs. Vika's illness turns out to be an opportunity to reveal the great love within this small family unit. Ruthy Pribar's feature debut was winner of the Nora Ephron Award, and the awards for Best Actress and Best Cinematography in the International Narrative Competition section when it premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2020.

Wake Up on Mars

Dea Gjinovci : 2020
Réveil sur Mars

Two teenage sisters, Ibadeta and Djeneta, lie in a vegetative state in the small Swedish home of their Kosovar family. They fell into a coma three years ago. The cause of their mysterious malady is known as Resignation Syndrome, a phenomenon attributed to their violent psychological trauma experienced as refugees shuttled between two countries. In Sweden, hundreds of children have been affected by this enigmatic illness, which can occur when their residency permits are denied. As their devoted parents work to keep their daughters alive while awaiting updates on their immigration status, their youngest son, Furkhan, imagines a life beyond the snowy expanse of his temporary backyard – and into the far reaches of space. Furkhan's desire to build his dream ship to the stars, escaping the unimaginable reality of his sisters' illness, serves as a powerful, visually arresting metaphor for the contemporary refugee experience. But will Furkhan and his family be forced to return to Kosovo before he finishes his masterpiece and his sisters return to consciousness? Dea Gjinovci's documentary feature debut premiered in competition at Tribeca Film Festival 2020.

Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint

Halina Dyrschka : 2020

Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was an abstract artist before the term existed, a visionary, trailblazing figure who, inspired by spiritualism, modern science, and the riches of the natural world around her, began in 1906 to reel out a series of huge, colourful, sensual, strange works without precedent in painting. Although af Klint created thousands of paintings and drawings during her lifetime, she directed her abstract pieces to be kept under wraps until 20 years after her death. The subject of a recent smash retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, af Klint was for years an all-but-forgotten figure in art historical discourse, before her long-delayed rediscovery. The film describes not only the life and craft of af Klint, but also the process of her mischaracterisation and erasure by both a patriarchal narrative of artistic progress and capitalistic determination of artistic value. Halina Dyrschka's directorial feature documentary debut is the first and only film on the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint.

Pyrale

Roxanne Gaucherand : 2020

In the middle of summer 2016, the box tree moth takes over the Drôme Provençale region. Accidentally introduced into France, this moth forces inhabitants, virtually forsaken by the authorities and helpless faced with the scale of the phenomenon, to improvise defensive systems to fight the invasion of their houses and businesses as well as the devastation of their lands. In this apocalyptic climate, 18-year-old Lou spends her last summer in the South and discovers her feelings for her childhood friend, Sam. As their relationship gradually develops into a love affair, the urgency and upheaval that she feels echo her environment; an ecosystem subverted by an unexpected invasion. Roxanne Gaucherand's short premiered in the Burning Lights International Competition section at Visions du Réel 2020.

Själö – Island of Souls

Lotta Petronella : 2020

Själö is an isolated island in the Baltic Sea, off the coast of Finland near Turku. Its name means island of souls. For centuries, a closed institution served as a final destination for socially transgressive women at Själö. Finally, in 1755, it was fully turned into an asylum and functioned as such until 1962. The outcast women were kept there in detention, to be observed, studied and measured – in much the same way as the surrounding nature is by scientists at the now converted Centre of Environmental Research of the University of Turku. While a young scientist is collecting samples around the island, the past emerges in the whispers of the unsent letters and empty rooms of the hospital, writing the unknown history of the nameless women. The space fills up with hidden memories as the invisible archives come alive. Whose stories are remembered and whose are forgotten? Lotta Petronella's documentary received the F:act Award Special Mention when it premiered at Copenhagen International Documentary Festival 2020.

Debout sur la montagne

Sébastien Betbeder : 2019
Up the Mountain

Stan, Hugo and Bérénice are three childhood friends who grew up in the mountains. They were inseparable but then grew apart. 15 years later, as adults somewhat damaged by life, they find themselves in the village of their childhood, having returned to bury Hugo's brother. The reunion marks the beginning of an adventure and a new life. Will it allow them to reconnect with the fantasy, the carefree and the joy of their first years? It seems it's not so easy to leave behind the place where everything started and where everything is still possible. Sébastien Betbeder's feature premiered at Lyon 2019.

L'échappée

Mathias Pardo : 2019
The Escape

Barely of age but not quite adults, Tess and Anatole still know nothing about love. Anatole sleeps where he can while waiting for a stable job to come along, whereas Tess is about to start preparatory classes in Paris. They first meet in the surroundings of a port in decline, like a symbol of a country that is suffocating but which still has something to say. He has a tent, she has a car: together they will criss-cross the country's roads and draw out the summer, to ensure they never forget. Mathias Pardo's feature debut premiered in competition at Saint-Jean-de-Luz International Film Festival 2019.