Gustavo Jahn

The convergences and complexities of life in a middle-class suburb of Recife, Brazil, are played out in mesmerizing style in this stunning debut feature from film critic turned director Kleber Mendonça Filho. Taking a broad, diverse set of strikingly realistic characters - including a bored housewife seeking solace in technology, a descendant of colonial landowners struggling with his dark, mysterious past and a security company employed to provide protection to them all – Filho paints a rich, detailed portrait of a community connected and engulfed by fear, desire and the incessant murmur of modern life. A beautifully subtle, fiercely intelligent and utterly engrossing snap-shot of present-day Brazil, this bold, compelling and endlessly intriguing film has announced one of the most exciting new voices in contemporary world cinema.

After a stirring encounter with the French Foreign Legion, Ida, sets sail with her own corps of five men, none of whom speak the same language, to trace the route of this fabled troop. Their voyage will take them from Marseille to Algeria, the historical headquarters of the Legion. Along the way, boundaries blur. Life at sea produces a special kind of mutual understanding.