20.000 Species of Bees

Perfect for the festival's Memmetaal programma is 20,000 Species of Bees. It shows that language can be crucial. Especially for eight-year-old Aitor, who spends a summer in the Basque country with their mother. In Basque there is no male or female gender of words, which suits Aitor - also known as Cocó - very well. In fact, Aitor doesn't feel like an Aitor or Cocó at all, but they don’t really know how they do feel either. The eight-year-old confides these doubts to their mother, grandmother and friends, but not everyone knows how to deal with this. How can a mother deal with the search for her child's identity when she still has to deal with her own ambivalent upbringing?

A calm and delicate coming-of-age from Celine Scammia (Tomboy), in line with her previous work. Lead actor Sofía Otero (aged 9) was the youngest winner of the Silver Bear for best acting performance last February.