DIELL

Lonline

In a world filled with dread and beauty, a young girl needs to overcome her fears so she can return home to her dying grandmother.

Synopsis

After taking her first trip by train, a shy, young girl, Dielleza, arrives in a rural town with her uncle, a night-time security guard, Vasil.  Her uncle takes her back to the home he shares with his wife, Dielleza’s aunt, the unfriendly Liria.

The next morning, Dielleza’s uncle leaves for a few days to work in another city.  Liria also leaves to go to work.  Too shy to socialize with the other children, Dielleza spends her first day sitting in front of the locked apartment.  Liria returns that evening, finding the little girl asleep in the hallway.  A neighbor reproaches Liria for leaving the girl outside all day.

A rebellious, free-spirited teenage girl next door, Vani, is forced by her mother to take care of Dielleza.  To her own and everyone else’s surprise, Vani grows fond of our timid, little girl.

Every night, Dielleza is tormented by her fear of the dark.  She finds solace by sleeping next to a Virgin Mary night light.  That comfort is short-lived after her aunt finds her sleeping on the floor and takes the light away from her. 

 When Dielleza asks when she will be able to return to her grandmother’s home, her Aunt Liria tells the girl that it will not be possible anytime soon.  Dielleza’s grandmother has gotten sicker and may even die.

 Vani takes Dielleza up to the roof of an apartment building to take in the view of the surrounding countryside and get some sun. “I’m not afraid of anything,” – Vani tells Dielleza as she dances on the ledge of the building. 

 Before they part that evening, Vani gives Dielleza a magical gift: a dream catcher that Dielleza can put in her window to stop her bad dreams from coming inside.  Dielleza grows fearful.  Is Vani leaving her?  Vani assures the little girl that she will meet her in the morning. 

 But the next day, Dielleza learns that her new friend has attempted to escape and reunite with her father who has left to live in England.  Vani is caught and sent to boarding school as punishment.  Dielleza will never see Vani again.

 Worried about her grandmother and shaken by Vani’s disappearance, Dielleza sits looking out the window, thinking.  Vani’s dream catcher flaps in the wind.

 At dawn, as the last star fades in the night sky, Dielleza, suitcase in hand, sneaks out of her aunt and uncle’s apartment.  Dielleza wanders up the train tracks that brought her into town, hoping that the steel rails will guide her back home.