Director: Andreea Cristina Bortun / Romania / 2026 / 92 mins
Lavinia is a tempest. She’s impulsive, she miscalculates and doesn’t know how to love very well. She wants to be a good mother for her fourteen year old son Dani: she wants her house to become a palace for them to live under bluer skies. As the four seasons pass by, the two find themselves in a push and pull, under the quiet, watchful presence of the river.
Lavinia’s unresolved love affair with her ex-partner ends up shaping not just the choices she makes, but also Dani’s future. Down in their valley, many things remain unsaid while grief lingers beneath the surface.
This striking debut feature from acclaimed Romanian director Bortun has just launched an ambitious international festival run. It has been selected for the innovative Smart 7 network of top-tier European film festivals.
“The story of the film is backed by a process of immersive research that I conducted over six years with rural communities in southern Romania. Using artistic research informed by anthropological fieldwork was an intuitive decision. It seemed natural and necessary to take part in and intimately get to know this world. The non-professional actors brought me back to this territory… above all, they brought themselves to the screen.” – Andreea Cristina Bortun
