Another dreary day in a small town. Viki, Sára, and Kiki, three inseparable friends since childhood, are planning to spend their free afternoon the same way they always do: vodka, cigarettes, talking about everything and nothing. But their group dynamic is different today, more explosive: one of them has reached the second round in a casting call for a modeling job, thus raising her chances of leaving this place of dashed hopes and dreams. Her friends might be willing to support her, if only their anger, sadness, and envy weren’t so powerful… A relentless but non-judgmental look at growing up without any prospects of a brighter future.

Milo lives in a home for wayward girls. While the other residents struggle with their problematic behavior, Milo is fighting a much bigger battle, for they are seeking to transition behind the walls of the institution. The only person who notices their change and is supportive is Nicki, an attendant at the home who is Milo’s male role model and also the person onto whom they project their desired identity. But the institution’s walls are too thin for Milo not to hear a rumor that turns their life upside down. More than an exploration of the fragile nature of gender identity, The Shift above all looks at the importance of having a source of support at times when our perception of ourselves is changing.

Fred and Luisa have built their relationship on a foundation of equality and on rejecting outdated gender roles. But their beliefs are put to the test when it comes time to say “I do.” Not only must they face the clash of cultures resulting from the meeting of two families from two different continents, but they must also contend with the power of wedding traditions, which catch the couple-to-be off guard and make them strangers at their own wedding. In her relationship study, Sophia Mocorrea focuses on the struggle of the individual against social pressures that one can never entirely escape. She does so in an uncompromising manner, with a camera that gets up close and personal to her characters – so that not a single glimmer of love or doubt eludes her.

Sergio has remained at home to help his father run the family’s butcher shop. His brother Flavio never accepted his share of the responsibility, had a falling out with their father, and decided to leave home. When he comes back after a long time away, Sergio briefly believes that the rift in the family can still be healed. In the hands of Giulia Regini, the art of a butcher and the art of directing are both a sophisticated craft. Her multilayered Italian drama portions out different, equally dysfunctional attitudes towards an authoritarian father, reflects on the (in)ability to forge one’s own path, and captures fleeting moments of brotherly love.

Alexei is released on parole after fifteen years in prison. But the sweet scent of freedom is poisoned by an enduring sense of guilt that keeps him from growing closer to his daughter, who in the meantime has become a prostitute. Rinaldas Tomaševičius’s social drama looks at the difficulty of making up for lost time and finding one’s place in a new, dark, grainy, and fragmentary reality. The film lends a voice to antagonistic figures rejected by society, awakening their emotions and exploring their chances for a new beginning. Clear and empathetic, it presents us with the important message that even an antagonist can become a hero.

Matthias is going on a weekend course of self-discovery called “My Value on Earth,” which was an expensive gift from his girlfriend. The course is supposed to help him deal with his chronic inability to finish things that he’s started. But before Matthias leaves, his girlfriend springs a surprise on him: he’s going to be a father. And so he hopes to use the weekend, which he has no real desire to go on, to answer new and pressing questions. The “alternative” therapist, however, doesn’t inspire much trust. The tragicomedy Frantic Attempts takes aim at the field of personal development, in particular, dubious therapists who offer quick fixes. After all, what if we should answer our existential questions ourselves instead of trying to find answers from others?

How do foreign images make their way into our minds? What do they say about an era we have never lived in but nevertheless feel we know intimately? At a time when family snapshots have become an integral part of everyday life, the film’s young director takes an original look back at Portugal’s past. Through interviews with filmmakers, she uncovers hundreds of amateur images, fleeting “imprints of the culture” of her home country, and she asks how to work with these images further. Her sensitive essay explores the ambivalent nature of nostalgia, reveals the complexity of the creative process, and encourages us to stop and be in the places we call home.

Twenty-seven-year-old Anna lives with her mother Hana in a small town on the Slovak-Hungarian border. Hana tries to protect her daughter so that she will not repeat her own mistakes in life, but instead of earning her daughter’s gratitude, Hana’s actions fill Anna with a sense of frustration and lack of fulfilment. When the young Gergej enters her life, mother and daughter are forced to reassess their relationship… Slovak director Monika Mahútová’s stylistically inventive graduate film looks at the bond between mother and daughter with understanding and subtle humor.

The sun is a source of life, warmth, and health. But British teenagers live in a country where they don’t get enough sunlight. They suffer mentally and physically and compensate for the lack of sunshine by taking vitamin D supplements. They dream of escaping to the Balearic Islands - Mallorca in the case of the protagonist - to soak up as many rays as possible in the short time they have, so they can enjoy their effects even under the gloomy British skies. A surrealistically poetic film about warmth and dreams, about the stunned reactions of locals who take the sun for granted, and about the grim phenomenon of “balconing,” which has cost some tourists their lives, even though they only came to enjoy the sunshine.

Two women’s gazes randomly meet in an empty library. Two men talk about what the best kiss looks like. A couple is kissing and she bites him… Snippets of relationships, love, passion, rationality, disgust. Director Kim Allamand’s captivating film explores all these phenomena associated with romantic relationships. Allamand has decided to deconstruct clichés of cinematic love by breaking down relationships into tiny fragments so masterfully that the viewer’s expectations are gradually sublimated and can be inconspicuously replaced by a new and fresh viewpoint. The rapid-fire images of relationships are both funny and painful – exactly like the relationships all around us.