Guaxuma

  • Nara Normande
  • France, Brazil
  • 2018
  • 15 min
  • Dutch Premiere
  • IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

“I was born on a beach.” These are the opening words of an intriguing autobiographical narrative, in which the young filmmaker Nara Normande returns to her childhood in Guaxuma, a district in the city of Maceió, Brazil. Her parents were part of a wave of hippies who came from all over Brazil to this coastal city in the northeast.

Her childhood in Guaxuma was happy and carefree: there were parties on the beach every week, and adventurous secret trips to deserted hotels. At the beach she made a deep and eternal friendship and felt free. But later came sadness, separation and death.

The melancholy tone of Normande’s voice and the remarkable combination of animation techniques transport us into the world of her memories. She builds houses and dreams out of grains of sand, and shows photos of her parents in happier times. She and her friend run together as sand dolls along the beach, while a flock of origami birds fly towards the horizon.  

Credits

  • 15 min
  • color
  • DCP
  • Spoken languages: Portuguese
  • Subtitles in: English
Director
Nara Normande
Production
Damien Megherbi for Les Valseurs, Justin Pechberty / Les Valseurs, Livia de Melo for Vilarejo Filmes
Cinematography
Pedro Sotero, Simon Gesrel, Jean-Louis Padis, Maíra Labrudi
Animation
Pedro Luá, Sylvain Derosne, Diego Akel, Nara Normande, Clemence Bouchereau, Julien Laval, Abi Feijo, Tãnia Duarte, Sofia Gutman , Aurore Peuffier, Melody Boulissiere, Anne-Lise Nemorin, Gervaise Duchaussoy
Editing
Eduardo Serrano

IDFA history

2018
Dutch Premiere
IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

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IDFA history

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