A Primeira Morte de Joana

Joana is a curious thirteen-year-old girl who, together with her best friend Carolina, starts digging into the family history. Driven by the desire to discover why her favourite grand-auntie lived alone and never had a boyfriend, Joana starts unraveling the stories of the women in her family and asking herself new questions. She takes the first step into the adult world, but she doesn‘t fully understand it yet. And when gossip about Carolina kissing a girl starts spreading in the conservative Brazilian countryside, the dynamics between the girls gradually changes. Follow Joana on her path to sexual awakening in the fragile setting of a family dealing with a loss. Sincere, sensitive and with breathtaking acting by the teenage protagonists, the film is filled with mystery and tenderness and offers a brilliant reflection of stories and values passed from generation to generation, and of the fact that we sometimes cannot understand them easily. (Mezipatra Queer Film Festival)