Marina Palii

Lucia has everything a woman could want. A loving husband and son. The opportunity to devote herself entirely to her family. A lifelong friendship with Cristina, which began during their university days. Yet, amid the intoxicating idyllic summer holiday, Lucia can feel nothing but longing for the person she once was. Lucia and Cristina, accompanied by their husbands, spend the summer in a small beach village whose charm has faded over time. Behind a façade of peace and security, Lucia finds herself drawn to everything that is not handed to her on a silver platter. An unattainable man from her past emerges in their holiday group, giving her a reason to hunt. Because life should not be without a bite.

The corpse of a woman is found in front of Maria’s apartment window. She agrees to take charge of the funeral, becoming involved in her neighbour’s existence. Maria adopts the woman’s unattended dogs and forms a bond with her estranged son. After the burial, Maria tries to reclaim her own life back, but a haunting feeling lingers.

Among the guests who come to the mansion of aristocratic landowner Nikolai over Christmas are a politician, a young countess, and a general with his wife. They dine and discuss topics such as progress and morality. As the debate becomes more heated, cultural differences become increasingly apparent.

Roxana is a young Romanian nanny looking after 8-year-old Georges, the son of David and Elizabeth. David's a financier at the European Bank of Strasbourg. Working on a project for a motorway across Romania, David asks Roxana for some help.

Romania, 1989. The twilight of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s dictatorship. In a small, isolated town, Maria, a ten-year-old girl, is the last person to witness her sister disappearing before her eyes. Torn apart by the loss, she tries to make sense of a new, terrifying reality. Can she summon the courage to grow up?

A year in the life of a family in a typical backyard in the center of the Moldovan capital Chisinau in the 1990s: Zina lives here with her husband Victor and daughter Eva and, like the other inhabitants of the house, struggles for the family's financial survival. Through the eyes of the family, we experience a country in transition after the fall of the Iron Curtain.