Strange River (Estrany Riu)

People say time feels shorter as we grow older, but it never passes faster than during a first summer love. Catalan director Jaume Claret Muxart captures that formative moment in the life of quiet sixteen-year-old Dídac (Jan Monter). Alongside his parents (Nausicaa Bonnín and Jordi Oriol) and younger brothers (Bernat Solé and Roc Colell), he pedals along the Danube through a summer unlike any other. Perhaps it is even the family’s last holiday together, as Dídac, deep in adolescence, increasingly craves autonomy and privacy. Those needs grow stronger and drive a wedge within the family when he suddenly encounters the mysterious Alexander (Francesco Wenz). Through him, Dídac seems to rediscover both the world and himself, but now in a richer, more colourful, more intense key. All the while, the river flows on, an endless current of vitality running through the characters.

For his poetic debut, Claret Muxart drew inspiration from the cycling trips he took with his own family as a child. He makes the essence of summer (the season when life itself seems to bloom) tangible in the chirping of crickets, a refreshing plunge into unexpectedly cool water, a sudden storm, and the drowsiness of endless afternoons. Cinematographer Pablo Paloma shot Strange River on 16mm, letting it unfold like a sun-drenched summer memory, shimmering with warmth, color, and light. The Danube itself becomes an active presence, imbued with agency, as if it were a character in its own right. Its strong, metaphorical presence recalls the work of Satyajit Ray, while Dídac’s awakening summer romance evokes Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name. Strange River also shows kinship with the poetic realism of the 1930s and the films of Jean Renoir. One thing is certain: Catalan cinema - currently flourishing with voices like Albert Serra, Carla Simón, and Elena Martín - has found a promising new name in Jaume Claret Muxart.