Claudia Tosi

Torn apart and enraged by ethnic conflict, Mostar is more like two "ghettos" divided by a big boulevard, than the joyful Montmartre of the Balkans that it was before the war.

Earth to earth, water to water. The body weight of a newborn child is up to 85 percent water, but in adulthood, the ratio can be cut into half. In a way, people dry up as they grow older. In Claudia Tosi’s documentary, people drink water, watch the rain and wait for their death. The Perfect Circle depicts a man and a woman, Ivano and Meris, who spend their final days at a hospice in the hills of Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy. Their illnesses are in the terminal stage and they know that death is only a matter of time. But the ever-nearing end may fleetingly be forgotten, like when they close their eyes and get lost in the music – until the bodies being carried out next door once again remind them of the inevitable. Death also becomes a part of life for the patients’ loved ones, who want to spend the last available moments with the soon to be departed.

The award-winning documentary I Had a Dream by Claudia Tosi follows two female politicians, centre-leftist MP Manuela Ghizzoni of the Democratic Party and City Council member Daniela de Pietri, as they persistenly strive to change things.