Palindromes

Colour, 35 mm
USA, 2004, 100 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Twelve-year-old Aviva wants to become a mother. She does everything she can to make it happen and would surely succeed if not for her sensible parents. So the girl decides to run away from home, and she finds herself in an unknown world where she meets bizarre characters. As happens so often with runaways, she ends up returning home. But it’s hard to say whether Aviva can ever be the same again. The central narrative concept isn’t simple, outdoing even Buńuel and Godard: the sympathetic heroine is played by several actresses and on various time planes, with a remarkable cumulative effect.

About the director

Todd Solondz (b. 1959, Newark, New Jersey) graduated in film from New York University and shot his feature debut Fear, Anxiety and Depression in 1989. He then wrote, directed, and produced Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995), which was screened at a number of top festivals, including Toronto, Berlin, and Sundance where it won the Grand Jury Prize. Another writer-director creation, Happiness (1998), won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes IFF and was nominated for a Best Screenplay Golden Globe. The Film was also screened in 1999 at the KV IFF (Forum of Independents). Premiered at the 2001 Cannes IFF, Storytelling (2001) was also included in the programme of the New York and Sundance film festivals, and the New York Times named it one of the Ten Best Films of the Year.