Night Song

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Note of intent

As in my previous films, the characters’ relationship with the land is the starting point for delving into the contradictions of a patriarchal and oligarchic society, marked by its colonial legacy. Night Song is centered on the relationship between women of different generations and cultures living in an environment devastated by the soybean monoculture. Moved by a feeling of inadequacy and the fear of losing her mother, Helena finds in Bugra the possibility of expanding and changing her world.

Synopsis

Silent immobility reigns when the machines come to a halt in the immense fields of monocultural soybean plantations. Helena (6) lives with her parents, who work on a large soy farm in southern Brazil. She is afflicted with sleepwalking and ever since her mother was diagnosed with cancer she has been visiting a Guarani Indian woman called Bugra by the white farmhands. A sense of identification allied to the mutual solitude creates a strong bond between them. Helena spends hours listening to stories about the invisible beings in the sparse woods that still flourish in the region. When an unknown and pesticide-resistant plant begins to sprout, threatening the crops, workers wonder where it has come from. But none of their speculations correspond to what Helena sees in her late-night walks.

Visual concept

Not unlike Helena’s solitary walks in the night, Night Song is a sensorial and dreamlike experience. Revolving around traditional Guarani stories and clashing visions of the world, Bugra’s stories cut through Helena’s dreams and nightly visions. Sound and visual approach are anchored in the contrasts between the repetitive and silent landscape and the plurality of the unheard voices. Darkness is no longer filled with danger but now brings the possibility of encountering new forms of life.