TOUCH

Film synopsis

ANI (24) is a young Romanian woman who studies professional dance in Cologne.
The final performance of the dance school is coming up and Ani is rehearsing with her dance colleagues on a choreography called "TOUCH".
The director of the dance theater will be watching the performance to welcome new talents into the ensemble. Ani feels torn. Because at the same time her mother in Romania is suffering from cancer and she needs urgent financial support from Ani for medical care. But Ani misses her mother and would rather give up everything to visit her sick mother at home. Ani tries desperately to meet all of the family's expectations. However, Ani wants to make her own decisions and be free like her girlfriend Mara who is Anis closest person, but doesn't want to lose Ani and encourages her to stay in Cologne and fight for the job, so they can stay together. Ani's mother dies all of a sudden the day of the performance, but Ani has no time to mourn. Her father pushes her to go on stage. But Mara is overwhelmed by her feelings and suffers strong grief, whilst the director of the theatre is watching her having a black out on stage. The audience and the choreographer are uneasy but Mara walks onto the stage and takes Ani's hand. Mara gently guides the movements and they dance an intimate duet in front of everyone. Like they always do at home when no one is looking. Familiar and tightly embraced, they dance in the spotlight and forget everything around them. In the midst of chaos, Ani feels disappointed to not have been able to support her mother before she died. She realises that she was trying so hard to hold everything together and that she was trapped. Now, she can let go and in Maras arms she forgets about the director and the performance and embrace her emotions and grief.