If I Close My Eyes I'm Not Here

In Vittorio Moroni's intimately observed coming-of-age drama, a Eurasian teen struggles to find his place in the universe - and in working-class Italy. Infused with a desire to uncover a side to Italy little-exposed in cinema, this is Moroni's second film that deals with themes around immigration.

Kiko is a teenager whose now dead father was Italian and his mother Marilou is from the Philippines. They live with Ennio, his mother's new boyfriend, a foreman who recruits and exploits illegal migrant workers. Kiko goes to school but at the same time he is forced to work in Ennio's building yards.

When the days aren't filled with gruelling work, Kiko escapes to an old abandoned bus that he's turned into his private refuge - a place to dream. One day it seems his fate could change: an elderly friend of his father's, Ettore, comes looking for Kiko and offers to become a tutor for him. Slowly but surely, Ettore's true identity and intentions come to the surface.