Lucija Barišić

A visit to her old elementary school turns into a profound questioning of self-worth when 20-year-old art student Lana realizes that, unlike her best friend's engineering degree, her own achievements simply do not count in the eyes of their former teachers. Confronted with their passive-aggressive hypocrisy and her own suppressed childhood trauma, Lana realises she can no longer just look at the floor and let history repeat itself.

What starts as a seemingly cheerful evening with board games, music, and jokes shared between a young woman, her boyfriend, and his parents gradually becomes quite uncomfortable as the boyfriend’s father grows increasingly relaxed in the presence of his son’s girlfriend. He starts ‘entertaining’ the group with his macho and sexist remarks. Observing her boyfriend’s dynamic with his father and mother, Anja realizes that “not all glitter is gold”. She would rather return to her own parents, with whom she has a strained relationship, than spend another minute with him.

A young girl's perfectly happy relationship with her boyfriend is thrown into quiet chaos after a fleeting encounter with her ex-girlfriend on the street. Plagued by the heavy thought of "what if", her past begins to infiltrate her present as she starts seeing her ex everywhere she goes. She is caught in a psychological tug-of-war between the comfort of her current love and the magnetic illusion of a past romance.

Paths of Love is a poetic documentary that explores the many forms and stages of love through two deeply personal stories. An eighteen-year-old girl experiences the ache of distance as she finds her first love unexpectedly while traveling. In contrast, her eighty-year-old grandmother looks back on a lifelong romance that began when she and her husband were just sixteen; a love she describes as “perfect.” Blending observational street scenes, stylized artistic imagery, and archival photos and footage, the film gently captures the presence of love in both grand narratives and quiet, everyday moments. Each story is emotionally distinct, offering a window into how love takes shape differently across age, time, and experience. Paths of Love invites viewers to reflect on the presence of love all around us; in memory, in chance encounters, and in everyday gestures.