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30 Jan – 9 Feb 2025

Gabriel and the Mountain

Gabriel e a montanha

Brazil | 2017 | 127' | | IFFR 2018

Brazilian filmmaker Fellipe Barbosa filmed the last year of his school friend Gabriel Buchmann, who embarked on a journey around the world in 2009 before starting university. Apart from its fatal ending, Barbosa did not know much about the journey. The backpacker met his death during a hasty climb in the Mulanje Massif, in Malawi. His lifeless body was found days later by local people.
Barbosa portrays this journey – and what it meant for Gabriel – by following in his footsteps with the camera, resulting in this road movie, biopic and reconstruction of his last months alive. Gabriel is played by João Pedro Zappa, who visits the same locations and occasionally even befriends the same people. In the voice-over, they remember Gabriel, while in front of the camera they get used to meeting another traveller. In this way, this film not only reflects on the loss of a friend, but on the cursoriness of backpack tourism.
 

Trailer

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Film details

Country of production
Brazil
Year
2017
Festival edition
IFFR 2018
Length
127"
Medium/Format
DCP

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