Under the Skin

Robin Harsch : 2019
Sous la peau

Three transgender teenagers, Soän, Effie Alexandra and Logan take the long path of physical transformation to finally arrive at their perceived gender identity, supported by parents and counsellors. They undergo radical physical changes caused by hormone therapy and surgery. This is the external metamorphosis that finally brings their appearance into line with their long-felt gender identity. Behind them lie desperate years in which they had to struggle not only with themselves but also with their family and school environments. This continuous experience of rejection and harassment has made them vulnerable. They long for the day when they don't have to explain themselves all the time. Robin Harsch's documentary premiered in the Next Masters Competition at DOK Leipzig 2019.

In the Dusk

Šarūnas Bartas : 2020
Sutemose

Lithuania, 1948. The war is over, but the country is left in ruins. Untė is 19 years old and is a member of the Partisan movement resisting Soviet occupation. They do not fight on equal terms, but it is on this desperate struggle that the future of an entire people depends. At the age of discovery of life, Untė will also discover violence and treachery. The lines are blurred between the burning passion of his own youth and the cause for which he is fighting. He will invest himself wholeheartedly, even if it means losing his innocence and his life. Šarūnas Bartas's feature premiered in the Marché du Film event as part of the Official Selection at Festival de Cannes 2020.

Spring Blossom

Suzanne Lindon : 2020
16 Printemps

Suzanne is sixteen. People her own age bore her. Every day on her way to high school, she passes a theatre. There, she meets an older man, who becomes obsessed with her. Despite their age difference, they find in each other an answer to their ennui and fall in love. But Suzanne is afraid she's missing out on life – that life of a 16-year-old, which she had struggled so much to enjoy in the same way as her peers. Suzanne Lindon's feature debut premiered in the Marché du Film event as part of the Official Selection at Festival de Cannes 2020.

Inga

Dato Abramishvili & Giorgi Gogichaishvili : 2020

Inga is my name. I've just turned 18. Which means I have no right to stay at the orphanage any longer. This is the law. I've married a man whom I'd never met before. This is my choice. My husband appears to be mentally disabled. I stay with him. This is love. We live with my husband's relatives. This is family. Worst thing about this family is to be female in this family. In this country. In this world. But I'm not just female. I'm an 18-year-old woman named Inga. Raised in an orphanage, at eighteen years old Inga is in danger of becoming homeless. As she has no idea how to live outside by herself and cannot thus risk her life being independent in society, she takes the offer from the orphanage director to marry an autistic man from a male-dominated family whom she sees for the first time on their wedding day. Inga can't imagine that the house where she will move to is controlled by strictly defined rules which destroy everyone who decides to rise against this family system.

La nova escola

Ventura Durall : 2020

What is the purpose of school today? This question led to an educational revolution launched by the Escola Nova 21 programme. "Lessons for a new school" (La Nova Escola) follows the programme, which is based on the learning of skills and which has generated an educational revolution in Catalonia, during the three years of its existence. Observing the phenomenon from the perspective of our species and analysing its historical and scientific context by listening to the most qualified voices in science, the film delves into the adventure of its promoters and those who have been at the heart of this experiment when the new methods were implemented. Can an education system be successfully changed from the bottom up? Only time will tell, but the seed for rethinking the education of the citizens of the future has come to stay. And it is unstoppable. Ventura Durall's documentary premiered at DocsBarcelona 2020.

The Castle

Lina Lužytė : 2020
Pilis

Monika, a thirteen-year-old Lithuanian girl, arrives in Dublin. She is a passionate singer who has come along with her mother Jolanta, once a professional pianist, who had to take a job in a local fish factory alongside many others in the neighbourhood. They are accompanied by her grandmother who suffers from dementia and requires 24/7 care. Monika dreams of becoming a famous musician and sees a concert taking place at The Castle as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Jolanta is sceptical and reluctant to support her daughter's dreams, and so she sells their keyboard and forbids Monika from attending the concert. Nevertheless, her decision does not stop Monika, who cooks up a scheme involving the grandmother to get €100 in order to hire the keyboard.

Bergman Island

Mia Hansen-Løve : 2020

A filmmaking couple, Chris and Tony retreat to the mythical Fårö island for the summer to each write screenplays for their upcoming films. In this wild, breathtaking landscape where Ingmar Bergman lived and shot his most celebrated pieces, they hope to find inspiration for their next features. As days spent separately pass by, the fascination for the island operates on Chris and souvenirs of her first love resurface. As the summer and their screenplays advance, the lines between reality and fiction will then progressively blur against the backdrop of Fårö's wild landscape and tear the couple even more apart.

Le Grand Viveur

Perla Sardella : 2020

Mario Lorenzini is a mystery of cinema. Dying suddenly, he left behind him an unprecedented and secret cinematographic body of work, filmed in Super 8, chronicling the daily life of an Italian village. He was a farmer, a hunter, and a film buff. He lived in Rimasco, a small community in the Piedmont mountains. At the end of the 1960s, Lorenzini bought a Super 8 camera and became an amateur filmmaker. A man of passion, a great pleasure-seeker, he then dedicated himself to filmmaking. He filmed the day to day of mountain-dwelling life, his neighbours, the slaughter of pigs, the passing of the seasons, and the scenery of a territory that subtly changes with every take. Perla Sardella's documentary of Lorenzini's archives premiered in competition at Visions du Réel 2020.

Sisters with Transistors

Lisa Rovner : 2020

Think of early electronic music and you'll likely see men pushing buttons, knobs, and boundaries. While electronic music is often perceived as a boys club, the truth is from the very beginning women have been integral in inventing the devices, techniques and tropes that would define the shape of sound for years to come. As one of the film's subjects, Laurie Spiegel explains: "We women were especially drawn to electronic music when the possibility of a woman composing was in itself controversial. Electronics let us make music that could be heard by others without having to be taken seriously by the male-dominated establishment." Sisters with Transistors is more than just the history of a music genre: it's the story of how we hear and the critical but little-known role female pioneers play in that story. With the wider social, political and cultural context of the 20th century as a backdrop, this all archival documentary reveals a unique emancipation struggle, restoring the central role of women in the history of music and society at large. Lisa Rovner's documentary was selected to premiere at SXSW 2020.

Darkness

Emanuela Rossi : 2019
Buio

Stella, a 17-year-old, and her younger sisters, Luce and Aria, are locked inside their secluded, dark mansion with bars on the windows. Out there the Apocalypse: two thirds of humanity is dead since sunlight has become too strong and men only can go outside, women can't stand it. Their claustrophobic life is brightened up by special games, such as the Air party or the picnic by the lake. These games, usually led by Stella, are aimed at reimagining the past they shared with their late mother. But their father gets angry – he would like them to completely erase the past. Things break down when Luce, the second daughter, who is by now a teenager, starts asking about the outside. After an incident where Aria leaves the house and Stella goes to fetch her, and after a couple of days of the father's continuous absence, Stella decides to go out into the world. As she finds out, the stories the father has been telling are a far cry from the truth. Emanuela Rossi's feature debut premiered in the Alice nella Città section at Rome Film Festival 2019.

Gunpowder Heart

Camila Urrutia : 2019
Pólvora en el corazón

Claudia and María have fallen in love. They roam the streets of the city of Guatemala. Claudia works at a call centre and is uninterested in the world around her. She lives with her activist grandfather, who tries to persuade her to join his cause. María unlike Claudia, is more spontaneous and lives with her mother in the outskirts of the city. The chaotic streets are filled with common stories of abuse, unforgiving police officers, and charming secret corners. Everything changes one night when they are attacked by three men. Although they manage to escape, Claudia is faced with the dilemma of choosing revenge or listening to her grandfather's advice. Camila Urrutia's feature debut premiered in competition at Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival 2019, and was selected to have its North American premiere at SXSW 2020.

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 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.