Milk Teeth

The sensory world of childhood is rendered with dreamlike intensity in this haunting tale of a young girl’s disappearance on the eve of Ceaușescu’s fall.

Blending the Romanian cinema’s signature realism with a distinctive sense of mystery and rich audiovisual textures, Mihai Mincan turns Milk Teeth into a haunting cinematic experience. The year is 1989, and ten-year-old Maria is the last to see her older sister before she vanishes without a trace while taking out the trash. The parents do everything they can to find their daughter, but it’s a hopeless struggle against a collapsing system. The event casts a long shadow, leaving Maria stranded in the void of the adult world – a symbol of a whole generation’s vulnerability in a crumbling society.

• Johan Blomqvist