Serena Alfieri

A retelling of the classic tale, with Red as a psychotic vigilante.

16-year-old Filipino-Italian teenager Ren is trapped in his mother Mia’s possessive love, who must break free during a three-day Filipino wake as Typhoon Edith approaches Manila. When news arrives that Mia’s mother Moini is dying in the Philippines, mother and son return to Manila, where Ren finds himself enchanted by Jolina, his cousins’ babysitter, and coached in the art of love by his eccentric cousin Monique. As Typhoon Edith nears and family dysfunction brews, Ren must claim his independence.

At the verge of the forest, stealthy human presences gather around the fire while, from afar, the rumble of gunshots echoes. Not far there is a wall made of sharp metal marking the beginning of Europe. A clan of Afghan smugglers lives waiting for people to lead to the other side of the border, wandering through the labyrinth of an eternal and sleepless night.

Gian, a 65-year-old ethnomusicology professor, fights the darkness caused by the sudden onset of amnesia. Flashes of the past, that blend with hazy archive footage, haunt his mind like a phantasmagoria of images. Despairing, Gian tries to end things, but he fails. In the aftermath, Miriam, the daughter he does not recognize, moves into his apartment with her son Elyas. She helps him find a diary written into his twenties that revolves around Leila, a girl with whom he discovers love in the space of one night. This emotion exacerbates Gian’s pain but pushes him to recover his memory.