Cinédokké Sagl

1977. Sixteen-year-old Mario lives in a small village in Ticino, Italian-speaking Switzerland. While society around him is shifting in many ways, he experiences his first awkward sentimental approaches, has trouble in school, and constantly clashes with a father who doesn’t seem to get him.

In a Swiss mountain village, hikers head out, a fountain splashes reassuringly and a churchwarden prepares a mass. Debut director Valentina Shasivari evokes the calm of this serene landscape with tightly framed shots in contrast-rich black-and-white.