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It’s not every day you see a movie that resembles nothing you’ve quite seen before, making you question the very notion of what a movie can be. And yet German director Mascha Schilinski’s bold second feature, Sound of Falling (In Die Sonne Schauen), is just that: a transfixing chronicle in which the lives of four girls are fused into one long cinematic tone poem, hopping between different epochs without warning, painting a portrait of budding womanhood and rural strife through the ages.

The closest thing that comes to mind is probably Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, although this is Malick by way of Jane Campion and Michael Haneke, shifting between fleeting coming-of-age moments and scenes of resolute darkness and human cruelty. At two and a half hours, and without an easily discernible narrative throughline, Sound of Falling is arthouse filmmaking with a capital A that...

In parts of the Balkans, a remarkable tradition exists: women known as Burrneshas take on societal roles typically confined to men. They assume the physical appearance of men, adopt men’s names or nicknames, and operate with a freedom and power denied women in patriarchal cultures.

The documentary House with a Voice examines this exceptional cultural practice that has existed for centuries in parts of Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro. The film directed by Kristine Nrecaj and Birthe Templin holds its world premiere at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival in Greece on Friday – fittingly, International Women’s Day, a day highlighting issues of gender equality and patriarchy.

‘House with a Voice’

A synopsis of the film explains, “This unique societal phenomenon sees these women changing their gender socially by cutting their hair, donning male attire, adopting masculine names, and integrating themselves into male-dominated spaces.

“The unconventional practice of taking on male roles serves various purposes,...