Published: July 06, 2023| 09:00 AM

Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) previously worked as a translator for the U.S. Government in her native Afghanistan, but then she emigrated, found a new home in Fremont, California, and a job at a fortune cookie factory. Consumed by loneliness and insomnia, she decides to hide a message in one of her fortune cookies and send it out to the world. You will see Jeremy Allen White, known from the critically acclaimed series The Bear, in a supporting role.

The visually exquisite black-and-white tragicomedy Fremont, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival, will join the Crystal Globe Competition at 5:00 p.m. with its international premiere in the Grand Hall. The director and co-writer of the screenplay is Iranian-born Babak Jalali, a BAFTA Award nominee for Best Short Film.

Where the Wind Blows, an intimate pilgrimage set in Italy, will then screen in the Grand Hall from 8:00 p.m. The monotonous days of the pious and taciturn Antimo change upon his encounter with the farmhand Lazzaro. He decides to convert the simple man to faith but wants to distance himself from the mundane Sunday sermons. This will set both men on a new path.

In the film, the writer and director Marco Righi loosely builds upon his feature debut Days of Harvest (2010). His protagonists once again face difficult questions about the meaning of life, sin and hope.