North American Premiere
TIFF Talent Lab and Cannes Cinéfondation alumna Sara Kern makes a stirring debut with this touching portrait of a family in mourning, centering on 10-year-old Moja, who takes it upon herself to pick up the pieces of her broken family after the sudden loss of their mother.
The filmmaker employs a distinctly soft lens in her poignant interrogation of maternal instinct and female empathy, operating in the insular world of a wounded yet resourceful young girl who finds comfort in taking care of everyone around her. This is further highlighted by the film’s thoughtful use of interior settings, and the way these spaces inform the characters’ sense of sanctuary and emotional armour. Anchored in the deeply affecting performance by the young Loti Kovačič, the film gently peels off layers of trauma embedded in the fractured family routine, while expertly harnessing the sense of cultural dichotomy in its portrayal of shifting family dynamics.
Presented by
Loti Kovačič, Mackenzie Mazur, Gregor Baković, Claudia Karvan
Australia/Slovenia
2022
In English and Slovene with English subtitles
Coarse language
Open to youth!
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
NAZA
NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.
Atonement
A former Marine suffering from PTSD seeks a meeting with the Iraqi family to which he did great wrong ten years earlier in the Gulf War. Atonement navigates challenging, politically-charged psychological territory with diligence and sensitivity.
The Sandbox
Borders are the faultlines of the world. Kenya-Jade Pinto's doc examines how modern surveillance technology, bio-metrics and AI are combining to make land and sea borders as impenetrable as air travel, and suggests the unspoken cost is our own humanity.
The Pervert's Guide to Ideology
Slavoj Zizek re-teams with director Sophie Fiennes for another wildly entertaining romp through the crossroads of cinema and philosophy. From The Sound of Music to Titanic, Jaws to The Dark Knight, Zizek offers new ways to understanding Hollywood.
The Pervert's Guide to Cinema
The Pervert's Guide to Cinema takes the viewer on an exhilarating ride through some of the greatest movies ever made (Hitchcock, Lynch, Tarkovsky et al). Serving as guide is Slavoj Zizek, the superstar Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst.
You Had to Be There
In a strange quirk of fate, the legendary Toronto '72 production of the musical comedy Jesus hit Godspell launched a constellation of comedy stars, all unknown at the time but now known to us as Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Victor Garber, et al
Credits
Producer
Gal Greenspan, Rok Bicek, Sharlene George
Screenwriter
Sara Kern
Cinematography
Lev Predan Kowarski
Editor
Haim Tabakman, Hayley Miro Browne
Production Design
Maddison Haywood
Director
Sara Kern
Sara Kern is a Slovenian-Australian writer and director. She graduated in film directing from the University of Ljubljana’s Academy of Theatre, Film, Radio, and Television in 2013. Kern worked as a screenwriter for the Slovenian National Television’s Children and Youth Program for several years before moving to Australia. Her 2016 short Good Luck Orlo premiered at the 73rd Venice Film Festival and went on to screen at the Toronto, Chicago, and Seattle International Film Festivals.