A Parked Life is een intiem portret van Petar, een stoere vrijbuiter die al negen jaar een beroep doet dat hij verafschuwt: truckchauffeur. Hij is één van de honderdduizenden Oost-Europese vrachtwagenchauffeurs die 46 weken per jaar kriskras door Noord-, Zuid- en West-Europa rijden en telkens maandenlang in hun cabine leven op en langs snelwegen. Terwijl hij de monotone ritten ondergaat, de vele uren wachten en de onvriendelijke behandeling die hem vrijwel overal te beurt valt, voelt hij zijn vrouw en kind van zich weg drijven.

Gaandeweg verandert de film van toon en stijl en wordt de kijker dieper ondergedompeld in de emotionele consequenties van dit leven voor de chauffeur. De vele kilometers die Petar aflegt worden een metafoor voor een innerlijke reis, een pelgrimstocht: Hoe is hij in dit leven beland? Leidt de snelweg hem naar een beter leven? Of is het een straat zonder eind? A Parked Life is een road movie pur sang die ons naar verre uithoeken van het Europese continent voert en waarin de landschappen bijdragen aan het gevoel van vervreemding. A Parked Life is bovendien een brandend actuele documentaire over de moeilijke positie waarin Europa zich sinds de laatste uitbreiding bevindt. Een blik op een continent met een droom van eenwording, waarin xenofobie floreert en solidariteit onder druk staat.

1976: Chile has been suffering under the right-wing dictatorship of General Pinochet for three years already, but the more well-to-do 49-year-old Carmen has other things to worry about: she has to supervise the renovation of the family’s beach house. While choosing the perfect hue of paint, she hears a gunshot. Later, the local priest, whom she knows from previous charitable work, appeals to her, asking her help with a homeless man called Elias. As it turns out, Elias has a gunshot wound and is a fugitive from Pinochet’s secret police. By agreeing to assist, Carmen becomes involved in Elias’ illegal and hence life-threatening work.

1976 is a perfect showcase of the personal merging with the political, all due to the splendid screenplay and debuting Manuela Martelli’s excellent direction. Aline Küppenheim plays the part of Carmen with gusto. Martelli can be seen at this festival as an actress as well in Machuca.

In Kazakhstan, more than 400 women die from domestic violence every year, while the number of women who end up in hospital after abuse is even many times higher. It is a form of violence that is deeply rooted in Kazakh society. For women it takes a lot of courage to speak out against it. One of the women who dare to do so is Bayan Yessentayeva, a famous blogger with millions of followers, as is journalist Assem Zhapisheva, who has published extensively on the issue. Yessentayeva produced this film, Zhapisheva wrote the screenplay.

A successful influencer, dressed in orange, promotes cosmetic products from a brand called “Happiness” with a mesmerizing sales pitch. The façade of “happiness”, however, conceals quite a different story: her body is black and blue from the many blows her husband has been doling out for years. Her daughter is about to get married, and a similar fate awaits her. Something has to be done.

Anas, a former rapper, finds a new job at the arts centre of the Sidi Moumen district of Casablanca. One of the first things he does is embellish the classroom wall with spray paint. Frankly, the centre’s director is not amused, though all Anas wanted was to prepare his students for his hip-hop and rapping lessons. They are invited to give it a try, but none of them manages to impress Anas much. He tries to explain that rap is not just chanting some rhyming lines, but rather should address everyday life concerns. Actually, there are plenty of things they could rap about.

With his film, written by himself, French-Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch wanted to give voice to young people. He has certainly managed to do so in this story brimming with infectious energy, in which he clearly conveys the challenges Moroccan teens are facing in this day and age.

17-year-old Sarya has lived in Japan since she was five. It seemed easier to tell her friends that she was originally from Germany, though she and her family are actually Kurdish refugees from Turkey. But now all their troubles seem to be a thing of the past. Sarya is doing well at school, she has friends and there is even a boy in the picture, Sato, for whom she has special feelings. Nothing seems to stand in the way of a normal life, until one day her father’s residence permit is revoked. This has enormous consequences.

For many years debuting director Emma Kawawada has served as assistant director to Hirokazu Kore-eda, the famous Japanese director whose films almost always revolve around the ups and downs of families. In this coming-of-age story, written by herself, Kawawada zooms in on family relationships as well, but links them to topics rarely discussed in Japanese cinema: immigration issues and racism.

In 2014, Korean director July Jung was a guest at WCA to present her now award-winning debut feature A Girl at My Door to the audience. The story revolved around a police officer, played by South Korean actress DoonaBae, who has to deal with an assault case. Jung’s second feature, Next Sohee, again focuses on a female detective, also played by Doona Bae. The film had its world premiere at the last Cannes Film Festival, where it received a seven-minute standing ovation.

When high school student Sohee gets a job at a large Internet provider’s call centre one of her dreams seems to come true. However, the dream soon turns into a nightmare; she is facing an extremely heavy workload, while only earning a fraction of the normal salary. Sohee cannot handle the stress and she takes her own life. In her determination to get to the bottom of Sohee’s death, detective Oh Yu-jin (Doona) makes some staggering discoveries.

The lives of Virginio and his wife Sisa, an older Quechua couple, have not become any easier since no rain has fallen for a very long time in the place where they have been living for years: the Highlands of Bolivia. The local river is also starting to dry up, while water is essential for their existence as llama herders. In fact, they have no choice but to move to the nearby capital, La Paz, something their visiting grandson Clever is also trying to convince them of. They don’t want to leave, however; their life here may be Spartan, but it is also the life they love.

Anyone who hears about climate change will not immediately think of its consequences for life in the Andean highlands. In this sublime, self-written debut, Bolivian director Alejandro Loayza Grisi shows that the consequences are far-reaching here too. He presents his film in a meditative pace, with breathtakingly beautiful images.

Haiti has not been faring well for a long time. There is great poverty in the Caribbean country and corruption and violence are commonplace. Wouldn’t it be better to leave? In her self-written feature debut, this is the question that Haitian director and actress Gessica Généus raises from a female perspective. Généus is aware of the social and political abuses, but her story focuses on the dynamic and creative sides of Haitian culture.

Anthropology student Freda lives with her family in a poor neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, where they run a small shop. Her younger sister Esther hopes to move up the social ladder by lightening her skin, while her brother Moïse thinks he will have more luck in Chile. Though Freda still believes in Haiti, she too has to decide whether she will stay or leave: her boyfriend Yeshua has asked her to go with him to the Dominican Republic.

The whole village is devastated when their fellow villager, young, beloved racing driver Jesús López, dies in an accident. His cousin Abel, a drifting teenager, increasingly feels tempted to take Jésus’ place, not only wearing Jesús’ clothes and getting closer to his cousin’s friends, but also moving in with Jesús’ parents. At first, people accept this behaviour, but as Abel emulates his cousin more and more, the villagers start to feel uncomfortable. A car race in memory of Jesús is organized in the village. Abel takes part, driving Jesús’ car.

Director Maximiliano Schonfeld situated his film in a rural community in Argentina, convincingly conveying what life is like for young people living there. Blending magical-realistic elements into his psychological approach, he tells a story of transformation and resurrection. Winner Best Latin American Film at the Mar del Plata Film Festival.

The lure of crime is never far away in the border region between Argentina and Bolivia, where Cabra lives with his mother. While his Chilean father (Alfredo Castro) is serving a long prison sentence, his mother is making plans to move to the more prosperous south of Argentina with her boyfriend. Cabra won’t hear of it. He lives for the malambo, the energetic, fiery dance of gauchos.

While Cabra is making final preparations for an important dance competition, his impulsive father, on short leave from prison, suddenly shows up, demanding all the attention of the family. Against the background of the chaos and excitement of carnival, Cabra is dragged deeper into the criminal world than he wants to, jeopardizing his own dreams for the future in the process. Malambo champion Martin Lopez Lacci plays an impressive lead role as a timid teenager showing his true self in the powerful dance.