Set in contemporary Milan but examining universally poignant issues, As the Shadow delves into the reality of illegal immigration, falsified work permits, human trafficking, and smuggling. Claudia, a bored and lonely travel agent who studies Russian, finds herself in a complicated situation when she agrees to take in, for just a few days, her teacher’s beautiful “cousin” who is visiting from the Ukraine. As time passes without an end of the visit in sight, Claudia is pulled from her comfortable life into a world she does not know. Marina Spada captures the tone of these unequal relationships as power and control shifts from one person to the other. 2006, Italy, 35mm, in Italian with English subtitles, 87 minutes.