Madalena has vanished. Elon saw his wife yesterday before she left for work but when he went to pick her up, she was nowhere to be found. Her colleagues don’t know where she is, she isn’t in one of the hospitals and the police think it’s too soon to file a missing person’s report. And so Elon wanders Belo Horizonte at night, past endless concrete and favelas. Life in the metropolis seems dimmed, as if it too awaits Madalena’s return.
The camera sticks close to Elon, pulling us further into his world. It’s a claustrophobic one, and increasingly so. Whilst others shrug their shoulders, dismissing his worries, Elon’s restlessness increases. He tacks back and forth between doubt and paranoia, which doesn’t help his grip on reality. The minimalist, haunting soundtrack by Daniel Saveedra and Pablo Lamar (of La última tierra fame) punctuates this impressive report on a disintegrating life.
Programme
Highly anticipated first feature of film artist Dane Komljen, about two men who live together harmoniously in an abandoned bungalow park. When a third party arrives, they must find a new balance. Essayist fiction and architectural quest for the fragility of human relationships, told via construction projects, landscapes and archive footage.
100'
Serbia
IFFR 2017
Jakob, the filmmaker, follows Cameroon refugee Paul on his risky trip to and across Europe. Going through different political as well as mental borders, this journey dramatically affects both of them. An absolutely genuine, unbiased and unpredictable adventure film about unusual connections in an agitated political context.
93'
Germany
IFFR 2017
Coming-of-age drama in which a Puerto Rican teen girl is living at her strict grandmother’s house, waiting until she can move to America to be with her mom.
98'
Puerto Rico
IFFR 2017