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.

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.