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2019 · 18m · Austria
Directed by Martin Monk
Genres: coming-of-age, drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
After a conflict with her mother, a young woman named Sofia hitchhikes southward in search of the father she has never known, and is reluctantly driven by Michael, an engineer who becomes an unlikely companion on the journey.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Cannes Cinéfondation, EFA Short Film candidate. Austrian road movie, hitchhike to Italy in search of biological father, surrogate father in the trucker. The form is well-worn (Nebraska gets the comparison and earns it), but Monk is working in a tradition that still produces good films.
A Cinéfondation Austrian road movie that uses physical distance as emotional cartography — the surrogate-father drama is conventional but Lia Wilfing and the southbound highway do real work.
Monk uses the Austrian road movie as a container for a precision emotional study — the geography does real work here, and Lia Wilfing's performance carries the weight of an absent parent without a single scene of melodrama.
Festivals
- Festival de Cannes 2019
- Sarajevo Film Festival 2019
- Raindance Film Festival 2019