Stray

A young man (Kieran Charnock, The Rehearsal), after being released on parole after serving time for attempting to harm the man who killed his girlfriend in a hit-and-run, secludes himself in a cabin. It is not clear whether he is trying to forget the past or reconcile with it, although his hesitancy with the locals suggests that he is much closer to the scene of the crime than he would care to admit.

Locked away in a prison of his own making, Jack one evening encounters Grace, who is also seeking refuge, having been recently discharged from a psychiatric facility far from her homeland. Played by the captivating Arta Dobroshi, star of the Dardenne brothers' Lorna's Silence, Grace's own private struggles linger beneath her attraction to Jack as these lonely, enigmatic strangers drift into a relationship that promises to either heal or hurt. Oscillating between a desire for connection and the isolation of their suppressed emotions in a cold and remote landscape, these outsiders struggle to repair their broken pasts in this beautifully restrained drama.