Farewell Paradise

  • 93'
  • Netherlands
  • 2020

The idyllic life in the Bahamas of a family with four young daughters is cruelly disrupted when mother decides to return to Switzerland. Director Sonja Wyss is the youngest of the daughters, who all returned to Europe with their mother. She reconstructs the events surrounding their departure and everything that subsequently happened through conversations with her parents and sisters and her own memories. A tale unfolds of the struggles of a single mother, a distant father, a judgmental society and the difficulties the girls faced growing up.

Apart from beautiful archival photos and films and quiet footage of locales, this documentary consists of talking heads. With at times crushing candour, the parents talk about their decisions, with all the radical consequences for their children. The disarming, moving and affecting testimony, which seems cathartic, adds up to a story of unrequited love, infidelity, resilience, sorrow and sisterly love. Without sentimentality, with honest emotion, visible pain and the right dose of humour.

  • 93'
  • Netherlands
  • 2020
Director
Sonja Wyss
Premiere
World premiere
Country of production
Netherlands
Year
2020
Festival Edition
IFFR 2020
Length
93'
Medium
DCP
Language
German
Producer
Simone van den Broek
Production Company
Basalt Film
Sales
Basalt Film
Screenplay
Sonja Wyss
Cinematography
Stef Tijdink, Reinout Steenhuizen
Editor
Katarina Türler
Sound Design
Mark Glynne
Local Distributor
Periscoop Film
Director
Sonja Wyss
Premiere
World premiere
Country of production
Netherlands
Year
2020
Festival Edition
IFFR 2020
Length
93'
Medium
DCP
Language
German
Producer
Simone van den Broek
Production Company
Basalt Film
Sales
Basalt Film
Screenplay
Sonja Wyss
Cinematography
Stef Tijdink, Reinout Steenhuizen
Editor
Katarina Türler
Sound Design
Mark Glynne
Local Distributor
Periscoop Film