A talk show radio host has chosen emotions as his theme for tonight’s show, which proves surprisingly banal until he gets a call from an old friend. The friend accuses the host of sexually abusing his son and the atmosphere quickly turns very intense and very dark. The lead performance carries the whole film and keeps you hooked as the story unravels and escalates. Shot mostly in one room, excellent cinematography and sound design help build the suspense using just a few elements. It is not just the pedophilia theme that makes this a powerful and disturbing film—it is how this hidden secret, suddenly exposed, has altered both their lives in unimaginable ways.
Community Partner
Adriano Luz, António Fonseca, Maria João Pinho
Portugal
2021
In Portuguese with English subtitles
Sexual Violence, Child Abuse
Featured in:
International Shorts: Morality Plays
Morals are being challenged on many fronts. The protagonists in this program of short films are all faced with difficult moral choices and they don’t always make the right decisions.
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No Other Land
Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.
The Way, My Way
All manner of pilgrims flock to France and Spain to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago. One such is Bill, a stroppy sexagenarian Australian filmmaker who's determined to do the Camino with minimal prep, a dickey leg, and no firm idea why.
Resident Orca
Captured in Puget Sound in 1970, killer whale Lolita spent the next half century in a cramped tank in Seaquarium, Miami. The film follows a coalition of Lummi elders, animal lovers and philanthropists on a rescue mission to return her to the ocean.
Misericordia
Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, this film goes from drama to comedy without putting a foot wrong. Sex and murder are the subjects, and writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) mines them for suspense and outrageous laughs.
The Stand
This rousing doc explores a 1985 dispute over logging in the Haida Gwaii. Taking us from canny retrospective commentary to the thick of the action, director Chris Auchter employs animation and a wealth of archival footage to riveting effect.
Credits
Producer
Sandra Faria
Screenwriter
Filipe Melo
Cinematography
Vasco Viana
Editor
Gabriela Soares
Production Design
Juan Cavia
Original Music
Filipe Melo, The Legendary Tigerman, Marante
Director
Filipe Melo
Filipe Melo is a musician, film director, and author. He studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and currently works as a jazz pianist, producer, and orchestrator. He has composed music for film, and directed music videos and award-winning short films. He is also a comic book author whose works have been published in the US, Brazil, France, Poland, Turkey, and Spain.