Luciana Mazeto

An european artist writes about his experience in portraying life in Brazil during the colonial period. Aporteiro – concierge and security guard in one – watches the surveillance cameras in a residential building, while reflecting on his profession and the relationship with his employers. Between the exotic idyll of front yards and deterrent technology, his task is to establish security and normality. Brazil’s troubled past and complicated present come together in this highly charged film.

In Brazil, the inhabitants of Teewald, a German colony founded at the end of the 19th century, are still proud of their Germanic roots. Starting with the text of German-Turkish researcher Ilhami Paker, which uses irony to analyse different migratory movements, the film questions the complex process of constructing a national identity.

When 11-year-old Ana travels to her grandmother’s funeral in a town in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, strange things begin to happen. Next to her family’s house lies a forest, and within it a magical world inhabited by ghosts, wolves, and all sorts of fantastic beings. In the course of a carnival holiday, a family mystery linking her grandmother and her mother must be unraveled through intuition and courage. Only then will the wounds of the past be healed to re-enchant the present.

The mother is dying, the father has never cared. The two sisters Ana and Ju, however, remain strong and in solidarity with each other - even if the world around them collapses and asteroids fall from the sky.

In the first evidence of humanity in southern Brazil, we find, side by side, the visible and invisible parts of a story.