Attenberg

Love, death, obsession, and family ties motivate the characters in this offbeat drama from writer and director Athina Rachel Tsangari. Marina (Ariane Labed) is an eccentric woman in her early 20s who has few friends and is physically repulsed by men, though she isn't satisfied by sex with women. One of the few things that bring Marina happiness is a high-rise block of flats in the industrial town where she was born; while the building is plain and unexceptional, there's something about the place (built to house the workers at an aluminum-processing facility) that fascinates her. The building was designed in part by Marina's father (Vangelis Mourikis), who is similarly obsessed with his own handiwork. As their love of the building brings them together, Marina becomes her father's companion and helper as he struggles through therapy for advanced cancer, with his coming death lurking on the horizon. Attenberg received its North American premiere at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.