The Book of Vision

Carlo Hintermann : 2020

Eva, a promising young doctor, leaves her brilliant career to study History of Medicine in a remote university. Now is the time for her to call everything into question: her nature, her body, her illness, and her sealed fate. Johan Anmuth is an 18th century Prussian physician in perpetual conflict between the rise of rationalism and ancient forms of animism. "Book of Vision" is a manuscript that sweeps these two existences up, blending them into a never-ending vortex. Far from a proper scientific text, the Book contains the hopes, fears, and dreams of more than 1800 patients. The patients' spirits still wander through the pages. The book hides a mystery. Life and death are both part of a continuous flow. Nothing expires in its time. Only what you desire is real, not merely what happens. Carlo Hintermann's first fiction feature premiered as the opening film at Venice International Film Critics' Week 2020.

Nightwalk

Małgorzata Szumowska : 2020

It's nighttime in Warsaw, Poland. Two very different homes. In one, a father is slovenly stretched out on a sofa, watching sports, expecting his son to be everything he is. In another apartment, all clean modern, an affluent mother sits to have dinner with her daughter, who isn't like her at all. Simultaneously, both the boy and the girl embark on a night journey of transformation, where they shed their inherited gender layers. The city streets become a catwalk of liberation. When they meet, by chance – face-to-face, body-to-body – they wordlessly mirror each other with comfort and assurance. The nineteenth commission from designer Miu Miu as part of "Women's Tales", a series of short films by women who critically celebrate femininity in the 21st century. Małgorzata Szumowska's film screened at Venice Days 2020.

Lacci

Daniele Luchetti : 2020
The Ties

Naples, early 1980s. The marriage between Aldo and Vanda begins to break down when Aldo falls in love with young Lidia. Thirty years later, Aldo and Vanda are still married. A mystery about feelings, a story of loyalty and faithlessness, of resentment and shame. Betrayal, pain, a secret box, a home laid waste, a cat, the voice of people in love and that of people out of love. Adapted from the novel by Domenico Starnone, Daniele Luchetti's feature premiered out of competition as the opening film at Venice International Film Festival 2020.

Don't Forget to Breathe

Martin Turk : 2019
Ne pozabi dihati

Fifteen-year-old Klemen lives with his elder brother Peter and single mother in a small and remote rural town. He adores his brother, so when his well-established routine of spending time with his beloved brother on the tennis court and by the nearby river gets interrupted by Peter's sudden and passionate love affair with beautiful Sonja, their relationship causes a whirlwind of conflicting emotions for Klemen. Angry at Sonja for pulling Peter away from him, Klemen also cannot resist the attraction he feels for her. Confused by his feelings, he starts behaving erratically. Martin Turk's third feature premiered in competition in the Alice nella Città section at Rome Film Festival 2019, and screened in competition in the Croatian Programme at Pula Film Festival 2020.

Where the Road Leads

Matīss Kaža : 2020
Kur vedis cels

The story of Eva, a sixteen-year-old aristocrat who goes missing from the Baron's manor on the day of her arranged wedding. When the Baron's head servant, Magda, is found murdered in the manor's stables, an investigation starts where everyone is a suspect. The Baron's henchmen, local law enforcement and other involved parties set out to find the girl who has chosen to set her own destiny in a time of great social imbalance. But Eva will do everything it takes to secure her freedom.