Califórnia

The year is 1984 and 17-year-old Estela (Clara Gallo) is looking forward to the journey she’s going to make to California. Her uncle Carlos lives there, a licentious music journalist. Before the summer vacation starts, the camera follows Estela in her hometown of São Paolo where, together with her girlfriends, she makes her first acquaintance with sex and drugs. In a voice-over, she confesses her secret desires, while the soundtrack with 1980s bands like The Cure and Joy Division shapes the tempo.
In this way, countless cultural references from that time pass by, from the torn-off sleeves of T-shirts to the debut of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It strengthens Estela’s desires for America, the land of MTV. At the same time, in the background we see the changing political climate in Brazil. Rapid social progress goes by fits and starts. When her dream vacation is endangered, it turns out there’s a good reason for that.