Sparta

Soft-spoken, doting, and seemingly impotent Ewald (Georg Friedrich) and his Romanian girlfriend are setting off for her homeland to visit her family. Their lacklustre relationship crumbles, and Ewald, a pedophile who hasn’t acted on his reprehensible inclinations, begins to fixate on scouting abandoned schools in various states of disrepair — which he plans to convert into dojos for prepubescent boys (played by local non-actors as part of a participatory and meticulously monitored production alongside consenting families). Ewald’s dubious endeavour is rounded out by visits to a nursing home inhabited by his father, who suffers from dementia and whose only lucid moments come through visits to the cemetery and songs from his days as a Nazi officer. https://www.tiff.net/events/sparta