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Storytelling, speculation and testimony blur in this hybrid docu-fiction film about grief, memory and the importance of mothers.
Catarina Vasconcelos lost her mother at a young age. Her father lost his mother just before she was born. Using these parallel deaths as her thematic anchor, Vasconcelos creates a filmic communion and a love story between two individuals across time and place.
Through haunting close-ups, contemplative long takes and arresting environmental tableaux, The Metamorphosis of Birds explores renewal, the cycle of life, and how the personal interweaves with the elemental. Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize in the Berlinale’s Encounters strand, this biographical work mines emotional depths with its poignant narrative and visual artistry.
“The Metamorphosis of Birds presents family history as a sequestered realm of poetry, metaphor, loss, longing, and love. Shot on 16mm, it is a tremendously pretty and delicate film, whose hushed quality of imaginatively extrapolated family diaries felt like a long hidden secret we were granted access to.” – MUBI NotebookStorytelling, speculation and testimony blur in this hybrid docu-fiction film about grief, memory and the importance of mothers.
Catarina Vasconcelos lost her mother at a young age. Her father lost his mother just before she was born. Using these parallel deaths as her thematic anchor, Vasconcelos creates a filmic communion and a love story between two individuals across time and place.
Through haunting close-ups, contemplative long takes and arresting environmental tableaux, The Metamorphosis of Birds explores renewal, the cycle of life, and how the personal interweaves with the elemental. Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize in the Berlinale’s Encounters strand, this biographical work mines emotional depths with its poignant narrative and visual artistry.
“The Metamorphosis of Birds presents family history as a sequestered realm of poetry, metaphor, loss, longing, and love. Shot on 16mm, it is a tremendously pretty and delicate film, whose hushed quality of imaginatively extrapolated family diaries felt like a long hidden secret we were granted access to.” – MUBI Notebook
