Jiachun is 18 years old and lives in an old house with her mother who has just moved home from the hospital. Other than relying on the financial subsidy from relatives, Jiachun works in the rubber plantation to make a living. As the Lunar New Year approaches, Jiachun prepares various dishes. She also puts up decorations in the house to create a festive atmosphere, in the hope of returning to the old days when the home was lively and joyous.
Three separate short stories by Jan Drda from the collection The Dumb Barricade: The Dynamite Watchman, Hatred and Traces.
The story of two sisters from the Slovak-Hungarian border who, after a long separation, reveal the common moments of their complicated childhood. They return to a bleak landscape and an abandoned hotel, forced to deal with urgent questions of responsibility towards themselves and their loved ones.
David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he's gay. The school bully thinks he's a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth: David wants to be a girl. On the first day at his new school, Leo Denton has one goal: to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in his class is definitely not part of that plan. When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long, and soon everyone knows that Leo used to be a girl. As David prepares to come out to his family and transition into life as a girl and Leo wrestles with figuring out how to deal with people who try to define him through his history, they find in each other the friendship and support they need to navigate life as transgender teens as well as the courage to decide for themselves what normal really means.
"Dedication" is the story of a maid working in a hotel who uses a black magic spell in the hopes of harnessing the talent of one of the hotel's frequent guests - an eccentric writer - and passing it on to her unborn son.
Self-conscious 13-year-old Taylor dreads her annual shopping trip with her mom, until one day when she discovers the perfect top, sparking a new-found confidence.
Two clerks in a night club, milk, stuffed head of an antelope, voices from afar, homo-erotic tension and the question, if it is possible to extricate from routine and emptiness with the help of a crime. A black and white nightmare in psycho bits.
A rookie filmmaker on a TV production set tries to survive a constraining environment where people don't respect her boundaries. During the wrap party, she begins to process what she experienced.
When an aspiring painter grapples with self-doubt in his artistic journey, his father must learn to love and accept him for who he is.
Like every year, a group of friends arrives at a remote and secluded place to "celebrate their friendship". This is the 36th time now, but this year is going to be different. Stana has lost his battle with cancer and for the first time ever there are only five friends. Spring is blooming, they kill a lamb with their own hands and drink to Stana's memory. However, one of them, Dalibor, has a secret he does not want to share.
While a seemingly picture-perfect suburban family enjoys breakfast together, an omniscient narrator reveals their repressed inner thoughts and secrets…all just moments before a nuclear bomb is dropped on the family.
Filip is released on parole from a youth detention center and returns home to his mother, who is being seemingly helpful with his integration back to life. However, in a familiar environment surrounded by people from his past, Filip's frustration starts to show.
Exploring love's complexities, an experimental film captures a woman's brief yet significant journey, prompting her to break free and embrace newfound liberation
Charlie Young and Daisy Palmer are two of four college actors competing in a theater production in hopes of being awarded a scholarship to NYU. Their director assigns Charlie and Daisy the roles of husband and wife and asks them to replicate their stage relationships outside of the theater before rehearsals.
A woman goes to the most beautiful view as she says one last goodbye to the person who meant the most to her.
Everyone thinks they have crazy relatives. But in this family, dad lives in the closet.
Blake, a hopeless teenage girl struggling with suicidal ideation, is involuntarily sent to a psychiatric ward for a 72-hour hold after attempting to kill herself. Blake is forced to come to terms with her past as her mind increasingly becomes detached from reality. With the help of fellow patients and a devoted nurse, Blake can accept that she needs help.
After a family tragedy, Samuel develops severe agoraphobia and OCD. We follow him as he tries to navigate his solitary life and overcome his crippling illnesses.
Nick and Lisa met at a party and immediately felt mutual sympathy for each other. But their happiness did not last long because one day Lisa mysteriously disappeared. A few years later she found Nick to sort out the past and figure out what went wrong. Will a simple conversation be enough to heal the wounds of the past?