International Competition

In a Swiss mountain village, hikers head out, a fountain splashes reassuringly and a churchwarden prepares a mass. Debut director Valentina Shasivari evokes the calm of this serene landscape with tightly framed shots in contrast-rich black-and-white. But the soundtrack, with its creaks and crackles emanating from underground, beneath the mountains, raises questions and a creeping, ominous feeling. There’s something going on here, but what is it? Men with high-tech measuring instruments pepper the landscape, and local people study their surroundings intensely. Mountain Flesh is a meditation on people versus nature, and religion versus science. It creates a dystopian portrait about a community living under constant threat.