Theresa Von Eltz – director – Four Kings

FRED’s Chiara Nicoletti meets Theresa Von Eltz, director of FOUR KINGS, in competition at the 13th edition of ALICE NELLA CITTA’.

In her first feature film, the german director, chooses Christmas holidays and an adolescent psychiatric clinic as the time and place to set this coming of age story about four adolescents, two boys and two girls, forced to stay in for “the most wonderful time of the year” and therefore the most challenging one.

This forced confrontation between them and with an unconventional young doctor by their side, will lead them to finally grow up and realize they can still be special even with so many imperfections.

FOUR KINGS: Christmas is approaching, and with it, the desire for harmony, beauty, light and hope. Being unable to cope with her parents’ conflict, Alex (16) makes a radical decision. A day later she finds herself in the adolescent psychiatric emergency unit. There she meets three other young people: Lara (17), the striking daughter from an academic family, who’s having acidflashbacks; shy Fedja (16), who is being bullied at school; and violent Timo (17), who has just been moved from the closed ward. Under the care of the young psychiatrist Dr. Wolff (38), they will spend a Christmas together that none of them will ever forget.

A heart wrenching drama about four young, smart, damaged youths who must spend their Christmas holiday in a juvenile psychiatric clinic. Together, alone and confronted by an unconventional psychiatrist, they will have a Christmas that they’ll never forget.