Paternal Leave

Directed by Alissa Jung

Alone and angry, a teenager travels to the coast of northern Italy to meet her biological father. On the beaches of Emilia-Romagna’s Riviera, deserted in winter, the girl meets him for the first time. Their encounter is fraught with questions, longing and conflict, as they struggle for acceptance, love, and honesty. It’s a difficult and complicated reckoning between the choices of the past and its repercussions on the present.