Neuchâtel 2022 Daily: I AM WHAT I AM From China, BEAUTIFUL BEINGS From Iceland

I Am What I Am
Screens tonight in the open air at 21:45. Visit the official festival page to learn more.

From China, director Sun Haipeng brings the festival to a close with a "glorious fight-for-yourself journey," to quote the festival's official verbiage. What exactly does that involve?

Per the official synopsis: "To stand up to the bullies tormenting them, three young kids from the countryside take up lion dancing, but the learning curve is much steeper than initially thought. By outdoing themselves, they will reach an epiphany.

"Both extremely realistic and powerfully cathartic, I Am What I Am pits its endearing characters against the challenges of a spectacular tradition, and pushes them to transcend their quest for identity with an intensity rarely experienced at the movies."

Watch the charming trailer below.

Beautiful Beings
Screens this evening at 18:45. Visit the official festival page to learn more.

Before the closing night ceremonies, why not watch a coming-of-age drama from Iceland that looks distinctly different from what you might expect? Directed by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, the film gets back to the issue of fighting, which has been considered repeatedly during the festival:

"Brutal is the violence teenagers dish out to each other. Beaten to the point of disfigurement, Balli is taken under the wing of his classmate Addi’s gang, when the latter starts experiencing ominous visions.

"Amidst his new environment, where the urge to let might be right predominates, a crack appears, through which tenderness, loyalty and solidarity are allowed to creep through. A superbly cast coming of age drama in Iceland’s ragged countryside."

Watch the trailer below for a preview of the varying moods captured in the film.

Visit the official festival page to learn more about today's programming.