The Day My Father Became a Bush

In a charming town in an unspecified country, young Toda (Celeste Holsheimer) has a relatively carefree life. Above all, she enjoys helping her pastry-chef father (Teun Kuilboer) make sweets in his bakery. When conflict breaks out between the "Ones" and the "Others," her father is conscripted to go off to fight, which leaves Toda in the care of her grandmother (Anneke Blok). The town becomes an active war zone, and Toda's grandmother arranges for her to travel secretly across the border to a neighbouring country where her mother (Noortje Herlaar) lives. But the plan is ruined by corrupt officials, and Toda must flee, penniless, to find her mother on her own. She comes to rely on her own resourcefulness and intuition in order to navigate the perils that obstruct her every move. (Toronto International Film Festival)