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Winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes, the latest from Franco-Spanish auteur Oliver Laxe returns the director to his Galician roots for a mesmerising tale of a mysterious arsonist and the forces of nature.
High in a remote rural mountain village of Galicia, middle-aged Amador has returned home to his elderly mother, Benedicta, and her three cows, having been released from prison where he served time for starting a fire that laid waste to half the town. The rhythm of life slows to a gentle hypnosis, until one night, another fire breaks out, threatening to engulf the mountains in towering blaze.
Following on from his Cannes Critics Week-winning Moroccan road movie Mimosas (MIFF 2016), Oliver Laxe returns to his birthplace for an absorbing meditation on the tension between the landscape and those that inhabit it, capturing haunting imagery and unforgettable moments of the sublime.
“Laxe paints an immersive portrait of the Galician countryside, in which the mystery and beauty of the landscape dwarfs the inner turmoil of those who occupy it.” – Sight & Sound
