SMALL HOMELAND

Best friends Luisa and Renata long to leave their stifling provincial town in northeastern Italy, where tensions between locals and immigrants are forever threatening to boil over. They work as maids in a hotel but supplement their income with sexual trysts, and a blackmail scheme.

One of the bravest Italian debuts in recent memory, Piccola Patria is a carefully observed portrayal of small-town dreams and their everyday struggles. With a cast of nonprofessional actors, the film offers an authentic cry of despair regarding notions of identity in and beyond modern-day Italy.