Migration and conflict are central themes of the films in the Giornate selection this year, including 10 titles playing in Competition for Dag Johan Haugerud’s jury.
Damien Hauser’s Memory Of Princess Mumbi follows a documentary maker in dystopian Africa recording the effects of a global conflict that erupted after mankind ceded control to AI. In Firouzeh Khosrovani and Morteza Ahmadvand’s Past Future Continuous (Taskovski Films), an Iranian expatriate monitors her parents back in Tehran through security cameras. Amir Azizi’s Inside Amir follows a man on the verge of emigrating from the same city. Cyril Aris’ A Sad And Beautiful World (Paradise City) depicts the personal impact of Lebanese instability through a three-decade-long romance.
Showing in Special Events, Lana Daher’s Do You Love Me uses archival footage to preserve Lebanon’s fractured history, while Nicolas Wadimoff’s Who Is Still Alive records testimonies of nine Palestinian refugees standing on a painted map of Gaza.
Both Vladlena Sandu’s Memory (Loco Films) and Nastia Korkia’s Short Summer (Totem Films) remember the Chechen Wars, the former drawing on the filmmaker’s own childhood and the latter focusing on a child’s vacation with her grandparents.
Youthful innocence is also disrupted in Mayra Hermosillo’s Vanilla (Bendita Film Sales) when an eight-year-old’s family struggle to hold onto their home in 1980s Mexico. Gianluca Matarrese’s docudrama hybrid I Want Her Dead (Mediawan Rights) depicts a tempestuous domestic conflict between two Calabrian sisters-in-law.
The influence of nature on human emotion is another theme. In Gabriel Azorin’s Last Night I Conquered The City Of Thebes (MoreThan Films), two friends embark on a confessional journey after encountering ancient thermal springs. In Stergios Dinopoulos and Krysianna Papadakis’s Bearcave, an unspoken connection between two women develops during an adventure to a mystical cave. Sharunas Bartas’ Laguna (Shellac) follows two siblings’ catharsis on the Pacific coast of Mexico.
Nicolangelo Gelormini’s fact-based Gioia (Vision Distribution), the Competition’s only Italian title, recounts a student and teacher romance that turns dark. Claire Simon’s Writing Life — Annie Ernaux Through The Eyes Of High School Students (Be For Films) explores the impact of the Nobel Prize-winning author’s work in contemporary education.
Closing film Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t (Fandango) — from 2008 Venice lion of the future winner Gianni Di Gregorio — depicts the life of a retired professor disrupted by a surprise visit from his daughter and grandchildren.
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