PRIVATE by Daniel J. Meyer

SHORT SYNOPSIS

Laura and Albert—distant cousins turned siblings after Laura’s mother’s death—live in a tiny flat with Albert’s mother, who scrapes by month after month.

The two youngsters must learn to survive in a space with no corner for privacy; for all the settings they tweak on Instagram, at home there are always three.

When certain photographs fall into the wrong hands, their fragile reality shatters, culminating in an overwhelming finale that compels us to ask: where lie the boundaries between intimate and private when everything implodes?

FULL SYNOPSIS

-He is my brother.
-And she is my sister.
-Yet, we are not brother-and-sister in the usual sense.

Laura and Albert—distant cousins turned siblings after Laura’s mother passed—navigate adolescence side by side, uncovering their intimacy and their desires.

-The point is, she’s my sister.
-And we’re friends, too.
-And cousins.

Their mother, now guardian of both, works tirelessly, caring and protective yet respectful of their youthful quest: perhaps from lack of time, perhaps from not knowing how to connect. Still, her presence is unwavering—loved and resented all at once—watching over two growing souls. In short, the loving chaos of parenting two teens.

Three adults by choice—despite the prejudices of age—cramped together in a tiny flat with walls that feel… invisible. Three fierce lives, stifled by the physical and emotional pressure cooker, denied both freedom and privacy.

Then one day the pressure cooker bursts—inside or out, from one trigger or many at once. The invisible walls crumble, the dynamic shatters, everything explodes. The rush of fresh air leaves us breathless, and suddenly we yearn again for the scorching closeness we once knew. But the cooker is gone, and gathering its fragments to rebuild it is… too difficult, perhaps impossible.