38° Torino Film Festival

Celia is eleven years old and studies at a nuns’ school in Zaragoza, where she lives with her mother. She and Brisa, a new classmate who has just moved there from Barcelona, head into adolescence. As they grow up, in the Spain of the Expo and the 1992 Olympics, Celia discovers that life is made of many truths and also a few lies. The directing debut of Pilar Palomero isn’t only the story of her life; it is also a portrait of many Spanish women who grew up during the 1990s, torn between a traditional way of life and a much more modern, highly emancipated one.

Magdalena hasn’t had any news from her son since he left Mexico to cross the border into the United States, months earlier. The authorities want her to sign his death certificate but when Magdalena meets a parent in mourning, she decides to embark on a journey through Mexico to discover her son’s destiny. When she meets Miguel, a young man who was forced to repatriate from the United States, the two find themselves together, facing the violence and desolation of a country that has changed profoundly. A terse debut on a private history about a drama that an entire country shares.

Dove Creek, West Virginia, was once a flourishing American mining town. Now, this post-industrial community is in decline. Cole Freeman works as a nursing home aide looking after the elderly, but he can hardly make ends meet even by dealing in illegal painkillers on the side. Like many of his generation, he is looking for a way out, but opportunities are few in this rapidly changing landscape. Cole belongs to a generation who feel trapped by a toxic combination of existential fear, lack of opportunity and powerlessness.

Taiwan. Mickey and Gin Gin are best friend. Mickey looks after her depressed mother and spends her free time at the temple, trying to join the all-male martial art group. Gin Gin, more impulsive, makes money dancing in nightclubs. When Gin Gin came up with a plan to meet Jay in Guangzhou, China, Mickey decide to devote herself finding her father, who abandoned her and her mother years before. Facing sometimes comic and sometimes brutal situations, Mickey and Gin Gin strenghten their friendship and achive a mature self-awareness.

Lauren and Kelly are inseparable sisters who grew up in a small town in Ireland. Their lives go different ways after their mother dies and Lauren is left alone to face their family’s dark and traumatic past. One day, after having disappeared for over one year, Kelly suddenly returns home and after the initial tension, the two women regain the equilibrium that had perforce been lost. Closer than ever, Lauren and Kelly want to clear up their family’s secrets: nevertheless, their investigation isn’t well received in town, where spiteful talk scuttles the truth and those who are searching for it.

Cristovam, a black man originally from a rural area in northern Brazil, moves to a city in the south, a rich, former Austrian colony, to work at a dairy farm. He is surrounded by xenophobic, conservative people and feels like a stranger in the community and alone. When he discovers an abandoned stone house full of objects that remind him of his origins, he decides to move into that place, where the memories slowly seem to come to life and push him toward a radical transformation. A magical debut that delves into Brazilian folklore tradition to depict today’s social and cultural tensions.

Okju and Dongju move into their grandpa’s house during their summer vacation after their father went broke. While young Dongju well adapts to his new home, Okju rather feels awkward about this new environment. Soon after their soon-to-be-divorced aunt also moves in, and as Okju spends time with her family, the house and her grandpa are starting to grow on her. However, when her grandpa gets sick, father and aunt decide to send him to the sanatorium and sell the house.

Akram and Azar are sisters. Both lie about their brother’s disappearance, telling everyone he fled to Germany. Day after day the lie becomes bigger and more unmanageable, leading everyone to a dark and mysterious destiny.

Mofe and Rosa live in Lagos. He works in a factory; she is a hairdresser. They want to emigrate in the hope of finding a better life abroad than the one they have in Nigeria. But destiny seems to thwart their plans and when their dream evaporates, they are forced to reconsider the possibility of constructing their longed-for future at home. From Nigeria, a powerful debut in which drama, but also patience and the ability to come up with solutions, take on the form of daily life.

Regina, una ragazza di quindici anni che ha perso la madre anni prima, sogna di fare la cantante. Il padre, Luigi, che rappresenta ormai tutta la sua famiglia, crede molto nel talento della figlia e non smette mai di supportarla. D’altra parte Luigi la capisce bene perché lui stesso ha dovuto rinunciare alla propria carriera musicale proprio per stare vicino alla figlia. Il loro legame sembra fortissimo, indissolubile, almeno fino a quando, un giorno, un evento imprevedibile cambierà le loro vite.

Cristi è un giovane poliziotto rumeno che vive un’esistenza apparentemente contraddittoria: lavora in un ambiente gerarchico e maschilista ed è un omosessuale riservato e geloso della propria vita privata. Nei giorni in cui Hadi, il ragazzo con cui ha una relazione a distanza, è venuto a fargli visita dalla Francia, Cristi viene chiamato per un intervento: un gruppo nazionalista e omofobo ha interrotto una proiezione di un film a tematica omosessuale. Quando uno dei manifestanti minaccia di smascherarlo, Cristi perde il controllo.

Mario just loves to dance but for someone like him to make a career of it is impossible. He lives poorly with his mother, fighting his addiction to drugs. During a stay in Rome, he and his friend Lenz become victims of a terrorist attack. Lenz dies. Mario survives uninjured. After his return, villagers’ reactions get him destabilized as he finds no support whatsoever. One day he meets Nadim, who distributes Korans in the street. Nadim and his brothers help him overcoming his addiction. Mario’s transformation into a Muslim is an affront to the whole village. Besides all sorrows, yet his heart beats for dancing.