Babai
The Babai is the night-time bogeyman for children: traumas determine who you are, according to this claustrophobic portrait of two Russian brothers.
65'
Russia
IFFR 2020
Many years ago, Cebaldo bade farewell to his family, who are members of Panama's indigenous population. Now, working in a Portuguese fishing port, he is overcome by nostalgia every evening and plays a melancholy song on the jukebox in a café. So begins this intimate, philosophical reflection on personal and cultural homesickness, memory and identity. Poetic texts mix with strongly cinematic images to set the tone, which was partly inspired by director Ana Elena Tejera’s research into pre-colonial stories and myths.
We are brought along on a journey of an indigenous story of creation through a funerary ritual to the celebration of a political uprising. Cebaldo returns to Panama, where tradition lives on, but his youth is gone. There is a passing reference to Panquiaco, the man who showed Spanish conqueror Balboa the way to the Pacific. Unburdened by genre, Tejera – who refers to her first film's style as simply "cinema" – bleeds narrative and documentary forms into reverie.
IFFR 2020
Programme IFFR 2020
A selection of fifteen feature-length debut films, presented at IFFR in world or international premiere.
Read more about this programmeThe Babai is the night-time bogeyman for children: traumas determine who you are, according to this claustrophobic portrait of two Russian brothers.
65'
Russia
IFFR 2020
1934. Bolivia is at war with Paraguay. Led by a mercenary German general, native soldiers push ever deeper into the hostile Chaco region.
77'
Bolivia
IFFR 2020
By day, Koki is a nice tourist guide in Guatemala City, but at night he lures men to a hotel – where they are relieved of their property.
75'
Guatemala
IFFR 2020