Avanti popolo

Almost 30 years after the Brazilian dictatorship, Michael Wahrmann is afraid this period and its victims will be forgotten. This inspired him to make his first feature, in which he incorporates his own experiences as a young left-wing militant in Israel alongside themes such as family traumas and suppressed memories. Recently divorced André moves in with his father, who leads a withdrawn life in a stuffy flat. The ever-present absence is that of André’s brother, who studied in Russia in the 1970s and disappeared without a trace after his return. The claustrophobic fixed-frame scenes are intercut with Super-8 films shot by the brother, which André has found. In this way, bits of the past come to life. However, the father doesn’t want to know. In an aside, leaders of the dictatorship turn up in an art project. The protagonists are played by film academic André Gatti and the Nestor of Brazilian film, Carlos Reichenbach, who died in 2012. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)