Avanti popolo

After separating from his wife, André goes back to live with his father. The reunion of the two reveals a difficult and distant relationship, due to the disappearance of the other son 30 years ago, during the Brazilian military dictatorship. The father lives a life of reclusion and longing, emotionally tied to his dog Baleia (Whale). He spends his days playing with Baleia, who is more interested in what is happening outside than with his master. Hoping to get closer to his father, André brings up some old super-8mm film rolls, shot by his brother before his disappearance. “AVANTI POPOLO continues my work that began with my shorts GRANDMOTHERS and OMA, where i began to research autobiographical themes, linked to politics, history and its relation to repressed memories of family traumas. (…) it’s been almost 30 years since the end of military dictatorship in Brazil, and even with the new government’s policies and the investigative 2012 ‘Truth commission’, this subject is often treated as the past and not necessarily as an open wound of the present.” (Michael Wahrmann)

In the presence of Michael Wahrmann.