Dalva

Twelve-year-old Dalva is taken to a shelter home after her father is arrested for abusing her. However, she wants nothing more than to see him again. Slowly, she has to learn all over what trust, love and intimacy can be – and perhaps most of all: what it’s like to be young.  

‘Can’t a father and daughter simply love each other?’ Dalva asks the social worker in the shelter home where she lives. In Dalva’s eyes her father, who is in prison for abusing her, did nothing wrong. Her youth workers try to explain her he shouldn’t have had sex with her. The children at school call him a pedophile. But to Dalva, her father is the one who loves and protects her. Her mind is made up to run away and reunite herself with him. 
 
At the shelter home, she is supported by stern youth worker Jayden. He tries to get through to Dalva, as does her mother, her therapist and even her hostile roommate Samia. Will they be able to help her? Powerful feature debut by Emmanuelle Nicot. With an unrivalled lead by Zelda Samson, playing Dalva with both fierce determination and vulnerability. Winner of the IFFR Audience Award 2023.