Marella Bombini

At the age of twenty, Sophie Taricone sets out to tell a story that began before she was born. Through archival footage shot by her parents, Kasia Smutniak and Pietro Taricone, she retraces their 2003 journey to Mustang—a remote Himalayan kingdom known as "the last Tibet"—and she follows Kasia’s return there after Pietro’s death. Spanning more than two decades, the film weaves together past and present as Kasia forges a lasting bond with a local community in Mustang and helps to establish a school dedicated to preserving its culture. Through Sophie’s journey, the film explores memory, identity, and the fragile balance between Western progress and an ancient, spiritual way of life.

Three women, different for age, ethnicity, background, but whose stories come together in the description of some crucial events that took place in Turkey in the last 5 years. Asli and Sebnem today are free, even though they are still waiting for the final verdict. After 3 years of prison for a watercolor, Zehra has been freed on 24 February 2019. But her fighting has found a way to “escape” before that day, through a clandestine letter she sent from the prison. The letter was delivered through her lawyers and she narrates her story, her fight and the harsh days of her imprisonment.

For her debut film, model-actor turned filmmaker Kasia Smutniak travels to Poland’s forbidden red zone to shine a light on her home country’s border policies and the European Union’s refugee crisis.