Flesh Out

Berlinale 2019
Panorama

Flesh Out

A Film by Michela Occhipinti

2019 - Italy - Drama - 1.85 - 94 min.

with Verida Beitta Ahmed Deiche , Amal Saab Bouh Oumar & Aichetou Abdallahi Najim

Language: Hassaniya
Produced by Marta Donzelli & Gregorio Paonessa

Verida is a modern girl. She works in a beauty salon, is addicted to social media and hangs out with her friends. Still, she is engaged to a man chosen by her family. Like many girls her age, she is under pressure to gain a substantial amount of weight in a tradition called gavage, in order to reach the voluptuous body considered in Mauritania a sign of great beauty, charm, wealth and social status. The wedding is fast approaching and meal after meal Verida is starting to challenge everything she always thought was normal: her loved ones, her way of life, and not least, her own body.

Berlinale 2019
Panorama

More Films

She, A Chinese

A film by Xiaolu Guo

2010 - France/Germany/United Kingdom - Drama - 1.85 DCP - 98 min.

She, A Chinese tells the story of, a young Chinese woman, MEI, who leaves her monotonous village life behind for the excitement of the nearest big city, Chongqing. However, life there doesn't quite turn out as she expected it; fired from her factory job, she falls in love with SPIKEY, a hit man whose own past soon catches up with him. A spur of the moment decision takes Mei to London, where she marries an elderly man, MR HUNT. A new life begins for Mei, trapped in the silence of Mr Hunt's house, alienated and bored. Her frustration at life with Mr Hunt leads Mei into an affair with RACHID, an Indian immigrant who runs a local take away restaurant, and she moves into the backroom of the restaurant to live with him. Rachid decides to return to his own country, leaving Mei pregnant and alone, facing an uncertain future.

Charlatan

A film by Agnieszka Holland

2020 - Czech Republic/Ireland/Poland/Slovakia - Drama - 2.35 - 118 min.

Inspired by the true story of herbalist Jan Mikolasek, who dedicated his life to caring for the sick in spite of the immense obstacles he faced in his private and public life. Born at the turn of the 20th century, Mikolasek wins fame and fortune using unorthodox treatment methods to cure a wide range of diseases. Already a local institution in Czechoslovakia before World War II, the healer gains in reputation and wealth whether during the Nazi occupation or under the Communist rule. One after the other, every regime will want to use his skills and in return gives him protection. But how high shall be the costs to maintain this status as the tide turns?

Despite the Night

A film by Philippe Grandrieux

2016 - France - Erotic Drama - 154 min.

English musician Lenz searches for his lover Madeleine, who has mysteriously disappeared, but tumbles into an amour fou with troubled, self-destructive Héléne. Grieving the loss of her infant son, Héléne seeks oblivion in the murky subterranean world of a brutal sex ring, followed by Lenz. A stark, elliptical, hauntingly spectral narrative with scenes of sensual abandon and raw carnality.