Every morning Madalena makes bread for Antonio’s old coffee shop. And every day she crosses the railroads where no trains have passed for years, cleans up the gate of the locked cemetery, listens to the priest’s sermon and then shares lunch with the other old villagers. Clinging to the memory of her dead husband and living in her past, Madalena is awakened by the arrival of Rita, a young photographer who comes to the village of Jotuomba where time seems to have stopped and people are stuck in their memories and daily rituals. And why is the cemetery locked? The beautifully photographed debut film of documentary maker Julia Murat is a melancholy homage to Brazil’s Paraiba Valley, once a flourishing region that prospered thanks to its coffee plantations, now a derelict region full of empty estates and ghost towns. Prize winner at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.
Film details
Countries of production
Argentina, Brazil, France
Year
2011
Festival edition
IFFR 2012
Length
98'
Medium/Format
35mm
Language
Portuguese
Premiere status
None
Director
Julia Murat
Producer
Julia Murat, Lucia Murat, Juliette Lepoutre, Marie-Pierre Macia
Editing
Marina Meliande
Screenplay
Maria Clara Escobar, Felipe Sholl, Julia Murat
Music
Lucas Marcier
Production company
Taiga Filmes e Video, MPM Film (Movie Partners in Motion)