The Girl From the Other Side

The audience is transported to a world divided into an inner and outer sphere. People live in the inner sphere – protected by soldiers who are there to guard against infections by the eerie creatures living in the outer sphere. A mystifying being that belongs neither to the humans nor to the eerie creatures finds a girl in a dark forest. Together, the two disparate figures wander through a dark fairy-tale world in search of shelter and answers, while on a quest to escape loneliness.

In muted colours and calm sequences of images accompanied by the melancholy voice of the “teacher”, as the enigmatic being is called, the audience is taken into a dark world that is made lighter by the loving relationship of the two contrasting characters. 

The story was adapted from Nagabe’s manga series of the same name, which was published in eleven volumes between 2015 and 2021. The subtitle of the film, “Siúil, a Rún”, comes from the traditional Irish folksong of the same name and roughly means “Walk, my love”. A film that radiates a lot of warmth even though the storyline is set in a barren landscape. (Neomi Grieder)