Ours Is the Wasteland

What if, at the end of World War II, an economic crisis had spread to every nation, including those that had not directly taken part in hostilities?

Maria and Matías feel life is slipping through their fingers, and turn to birds, real and imagined, in a search for meaning and connection.

In the mid-1980s, during a summer day, Rui Carlos and his friends Maranau and Tomané enjoy their free time in the neighborhood, between football matches and playful games. Rui Carlos repairs his worn-out shoes and heads out to borrow a valuable football from their neighbor, Dona Olinda, who daily entrusts it to him. As the teams are chosen and the game begins, typical neighborhood interruptions ensue: a visit from Mascote the dog, a break for lunch, and spontaneous games. But when the ball gets punctured, Rui Carlos is left to face responsibility and the realities of growing up.

An old generation tells a story about a bright clear river. It is the story of a place where the bucolic landscape merges with urban sprawl. A place where one ancient mill keeps on spinning, moved by the water of a river that has a different color now.

Mirages have been reported along the Spanish coast. A young French woman travels to San Sebastián to observe these visual aberrations. There, she meets a mysterious Portuguese woman who tells her a story from her youth: of obsession, and a gaze that can turn the world inside out.

In a remote rural area, a woman on the run has a supernatural encounter surrounded by enigmatic sounds. As she immerses herself in that reality, she is confronted with unexpected phenomena that her rational mind cannot understand.

A November day in Porto, in a square where skaters jump up a flight of stairs. Three characters share a moment, which is divided into three subjective shots and which, without dialogue, are intended to characterize them emotionally. The idea of shared love is called into question.

When night falls, a man pierces the darkness and encounters a monstrous being that speaks to him in an unknown tongue. Night after night he gives himself over to this obsession, trying to understand what the shadows hide. He tries to photograph it, draw it, but is consumed by the darkness.

A group of boys shatters the matriarchal memory of an old bedroom. In the face of impending danger, the older boys vie for leadership. As the evening progresses, they turn to violence. Chico, the young misfit, finds a tragic portent of desire.