Hes-so ECAL/HEAD

Lucien, a 28-year-old cabaret musician, suffers from pathological shyness. Tonight, instead of doing his standard pianist's routine, he wants to get up on the stage and sing his lyrics for the first time in front of an audience. Waiting in the wings, he calms his stage fright with alcohol and cigarettes. He wants to make it through this hell, which will also be his liberation.

In a Swiss mountain village, hikers head out, a fountain splashes reassuringly and a churchwarden prepares a mass. Debut director Valentina Shasivari evokes the calm of this serene landscape with tightly framed shots in contrast-rich black-and-white.