Director's statement

When I made "The Next Skin", I wanted to explore identity as something unstable, shaped by trauma and desire. The story follows a teenager who returns to a mountain village years after disappearing, and whose true identity remains uncertain. I was interested in how grief and hope can blur perception—how a family might choose belief over doubt. The landscape becomes a psychological space, isolating and enigmatic. **The film ultimately suggests** that identity is not only about facts, but about the stories we need in order to survive, and that sometimes truth is less powerful than longing.