Pedro Vaz Simões

On a secluded island lives an autonomous community of children who don’t speak, communicating only in gestures. Guided by the eldest among them, they operate like an agrarian commune with strict rules and beliefs. Adults are banished into the surrounding woods, and every year, the oldest member of the village is sent to jump off a cliff – a ceremony that is believed to bestow eternal youth on the chosen one. This way of life is threatened when one adventurous child heeds the call of the forbidden forest.

In a small apartment in the city, a mother and her son live their own secret and silent routines, sharing these not even with each other. They would like to spend time together, perhaps even talk to each other, but he grows up with animals and planets, whereas she is always elsewhere. The long and circular days push them further inside themselves, but maybe the spark of an unexpected connection can still set them free.