Set in Bucharest after the fall of Ceaușescu, Pioneers' Palace captures the chaotic essence of the time. Based on the director's own experience, the story follows a group of Romanian teenagers who, driven by the unprecedented freedoms of a free-market economy, open a disco in their high school. Surrounded by entrepreneurial opportunity and almost no limits, the teens visit Bucharest’s first-ever brothel and are exposed to the dark underbelly of an unregulated society when they are faced with potential exposure to AIDS.
After the untimely death of his brother by way of an ambush in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the protagonist, ‘81’(Alan Ritchson) unsuccessfully makes several attempts to become an Army Ranger. On his last mission to complete the Ranger selection process he and his squad encounter an otherworldly ‘soldier’.
Coverage from the Austin Film Festival, highlighting some panels and films that emphasized the importance of diverse and inclusive storytelling.
The film blends reality and the supernatural world together, leaving the viewer unsure of what’s real and what’s merely a figment of Michael’s agitated imagination.
