Romanian Film Festival Seattle – 13th Edition

A few days before Christmas, having quit his job in Germany, Matthias returns to his multi-ethnic Transylvanian village. When a few new workers are hired at a small factory, the peace of the community is disturbed, as some locals react with fear and hostility. Conflicts and passions erupt at a village meeting, breaking through the thin veneer of apparent understanding and calm.

Ten-year-old Filip travels with his father to buy new school shoes, but is left alone after his father gets side-tracked. A mistake at the shoe shop leaves him with two right-foot shoes. Too ashamed to go home empty-handed, Filip sets out to fix the problem himself. Along the way, he meets new people, befriends a stray dog, and learns to navigate various challenges with his childlike approach.

Natalia and Ginel leave their small Romanian Danube village to work abroad in a big Flemish city. One evening, when she is assaulted after meeting a local, Natalia asks Ita, a friend from home turned into a crook, to help her. Ita uses their frustration against the values of a world they consider to be arrogant, decadent, and historically guilty for their misery as second-rate citizens – invisible migrants. The result is a tragi-comical ideological heist only revealing the complete lack of communication between East and West, between rich and poor, between masters and slaves.

Laura suffers from severe amnesia and depression following an accident, so she can’t remember who the people around her are. She is reluctantly persuaded by her family to go on a boat trip to Türkiye, but the closer she gets to her destination, the more unclear the reality and the purpose of the trip becomes. They are caught up in a series of situations in
which they change their minds depending on the context, their own principles seem to be relativized, while their choices become irrational.