Junges Licht

Julian Collien, 12 years old, lives in a mining village characterized by constrictions, poverty and brutality. Julian doesn't see any point in school: he wants to be a miner, just like his father. When his mother, who suffers from colic, has a nervous breakdown and takes his little sister to the sea, Julian and his father are left by themselves during the summer holidays. Now Julian feels responsible for the household, making bread and butter for his father and meeting him at the pit at the end of his shift. Julian doesn't much like spending time with the other boys in the village, whose games tend to be violent. However, their landlord, Gorny, lends him a camera and tells the boy to take photographs of his friends when they go swimming. But Julian would much rather watch Marusha, Gorny's precocious 15-year-old stepdaughter, who has captivated him – and also cast a spell over his father. (Berlinale)