April

In rural Georgia, obstetrician Nina performs clandestine abortions for patients with no means to pay or sometimes even for survivors of rape. At her job in the maternity clinic, an accusation of negligence pushes Nina's life to the breaking point. Director Dea Kulumbegashvili grew up herself in the patriarchal shadow of the Caucasus Mountains, where young women around her were forces into the same cruel fate depicted in April. She shot much of the film in secret, while pregnant herself, with the support of Luca Guadagnino. Her unflinching abortion drama was awarded the Special Jury Prize in Venice but got banned in her homeland. Its starked, stripped-back visual language conjures the alienation of Jonathan Glazer's icy Under the Skin and The Zone of Interest. In a world that feels like a hostile planet, even a woman's own body has been turned into a monster.