US Premiere!
Ryna is the cinematic portrait of a 16-year-old daughter of a poor Rumanian who runs a gas station in a small community on the Donau. Ryna has been brought up as a boy because her father had longed for a son. Per her father’s orders, Ryna keeps her hair shorn and wears coveralls; she is not allowed to act or dress like a girl. But this doesn’t stop her from flirting with the local postal boy or indulging her secret obsession with photography. She is also the object of attention of the town’s mayor as well as a French doctor whose car keeps breaking down. Though Ryna’s spirit seems indomitable, alcohol and backroom dealings are forces that break her family down, leading to a shattering betrayal. Ryna shows the awakening of a young girl’s soul and the pain that goes with it. A beautifully shot narrative of a girl inhibited from becoming a woman.

Ryna is Ruxandra Zenide’s very first feature film. Born in 1975 in Bukarest, Romania, Zenide received a degree from the Institute HEI (Hautes Études Internationales) in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1998. She then studied filmmaking at New York University in 1999 before attending FAMU, the famous film school in Prague.

Producers: Eric Garoyan, Catalin Mitulescu, Xavier Ruiz Screenwriters: Marek Epstein, Ruxandra Zenide Cinematographer: Marius Panduru Editor: Jean-Paul Cardinaux
Music: Antoine Auberson Cast: Dorotheea Petre, Valentin Popescu