Body Rice

In der Wüstenlandschaft des Alentejo begegnet sie Julia und Pedro, die beide ebenso verloren scheinen wie sie selbst. - Während der hedonistische Optimismus der 1990er Jahre inzwischen reichlich alt aussieht, scheint die zweite Form des Eskapismus wieder in Mode zu kommen: das apathische Leiden am Schicksal, gerade so wie in den 1980ern. Hugo Vieira da Silva macht daraus eine Studie über Körpersprache und kontemplative Momente.


The German teenager Katrin is sent to Portugal as part of a reintegration programme for delinquent youths. In the barren surroundings of the Alentejo she meets Julia, who is also there for a social programme, and Pedro, who lives locally but walks around equally lost. These young people only seem to feel in the right place when they can dance to very loud techno. In that strange 1980s way, it is a very existential film: 'I've got the spirit, but lose the feeling,' as Joy Division said.
All the characters are "deterritorialised". A sense of dislocation and permanent unease are the collective feelings. I want to register these peripheral bodies at the surface, and above all I want their skin. Formally, I do exactly the same: events are suspended, rather than materialised. I am interested in what is not seen. (Hugo Vieira da Silva)