Rafael sleeps. Rafael waits. Rafael hugs. Rafael lies down. Rafael cries.

The young Jimena searches for her identity. The film follows the life of the young woman with her mother and grandmother, white middle-class women, and the exchange of letters with her father, a foreign and black man, whom the young woman resembles. Seeking to free herself from the feeling of inadequacy, Jimena rewrites her family relationships and creates other ways of experiencing love, friendship and work ties. Through her eyes, the film considers questions about class, family, tradition, race and gender.

Edgar Wilson, a roadkill collector in rural Brazil, dreams of escaping his small-town existence with Nete, the love of his life. When Nete decides to join her family in an apocalyptic cult, Edgar finds himself at a crossroads. With the world on the brink of destruction, Edgar and his unlikely companion Tomás – a disgraced and excommunicated priest – embark on a dangerous road trip through a landscape plagued by chaos and despair.

Caetano Gotardo, whose contribution to the omnibus film Neverquiet (Film of Wonders) was screened in 2011 at IFFR, stays close to home in his second feature. He writes, directs, edits and also plays the leading role. The story is set in the Brazilian artists’ milieu. Joao has extensive conversations with friends, strangers and himself. For instance with his best friend Irene, who cannot let go of memories of her ex; and the boy he meets in the metro, with whom he wants to have sex. Beside life and love, the creative process is a recurring theme in the conversations, in the best traditions of filmmakers like Éric Rohmer or Hong Sang-soo. Piece by piece, the encounters, conversations and monologues have a great influence on Joao, who literally wrestles with his attitude to life. A puzzle unfolds within which time, narrative, character and perspective are all jumbled up in an intriguing way.

The story of the decline of the Soares family in the final months of the 19th century. Isabel is the dying mother, and her daughters are Maria and Ana. The three women try hard to forget about their pasts in the coffee farm and face the industrial times that start to take over Brazil.