In the Flesh

In an anonymous war-torn country, soldiers have taken control of a town, and its citizens are forced to obey ironclad rules. Under military control, no one can leave without permission. At 15, boys become soldiers, and girls are forced to labor in the food production facilities. Resigned to their fate, the horrors of oppression have dulled as daily routines have exhausted hope for change. And each day, under the leering eye of a male warden, 17 year-old Daryn rakes soil in a greenhouse alongside uniformed young women – undistinguished except for the length of their pony-tailed hair. But in the covetous eyes of her best friend Meisa, Daryn is different from the rest. Daryn is spoiled by gifts the Colonel showers upon her mother, whose role as his lover keeps them protected. And Daryn different. Her flesh is imprisoned, but her mind dreams of shores beyond. And when she accidentally witnesses the arrest of a human smuggler, a passport left behind becomes a ticket to a new life – and a death sentence for another. Inspired by the true events of the petrified animals caged in a Belgrade zoo during the 1999 NATO bombings, Kong explores the moral ambiguity of fate in his remarkable debut. (Internationales Filmfest Oldenburg)