NIGHT SONG
Directed by Maya Da-Rin
Written by Maya Da-Rin & Juliana Fausto
Brazil / France
SYNOPSIS
When the machines stop in the enormous soy fields and the workers return home, a strange immobility hovers over the plantation. No birds or in- sects can be seen and one hears only the faint rustle of the wind on the leaves. Helena is 7 years old and live with her parents who work on a large mon- oculture soy plantation in southern Brazil. She is a sleepwalker and when her mother gets sick and needs to go to the hospital, Helena approaches to a Guarani old lady who lives alone in the back of the farm and is called “Bugra” by the white workers. A feeling of identification added to the loneliness that surrounds them ends up creating a strong friendship between them. When an unknown, pesticide-resistant plant spreads across the field, threatening the harvest, workers and agronomists speculate about its origin. But none of the assumptions correspond to what Helena sees in her nocturnal wander- ings.
DIRECTOR’S BIO
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1979, Maya Da-Rin is a filmmaker and visual artist. A graduate in industrial design from the University of Rio, she participated in art, philosophy and film workshops at the Cuban Film School. In 2010, she moved to France to study at the Fresnoy – Studio National des Art Contemporain, where she was awarded with distinction in 2013. She was then admitted as a resident artist at the Laboral Art Centre in Spain. She also holds a Master’s degree in Cinema and History of Art in Paris III, with the subject “Modes of animal figuration in contemporary cinema” under the direction of Nicole Brenez.
Her documentary films Margem (2007), Terras (2009) and her video installations Horizonte de eventos (2012) and Camuflagem (2013) were selected at the festivals of Locarno, DokLeipzig, Toulouse, Guadalajara, the São Paulo Biennale, MoMA and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York where they received numerous awards.
Her first feature-length fiction, « The Fever » (2019), was developed at the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinefondation residence, La Fabrique du Cinéma du Monde and TorinoFilmLab, among others. The film had its world premiere in the Locarno International Competition, where it won the Golden Leopard for Best Actor for Regis Myrupu, the FIPRESCI International Critic Award for Best Film and the Young Jury Award. The fever has participated in over 100 festivals and received 48 awards, including the Thessaloniki Special Jury Prize, the best film in Biarritz, Pingyao, Mar del Plata and Indie Lisboa, and the best film in Chicago and Rio. The film was also the grand winner of the 52nd Brasília Film Festival (Best Film, Direction, Actor, Photography and Sound) and the Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasiliero 2021, where it received awards for best film, best photography and best editing. It has been sold in a dozen countries including Brazil, the United States, Canada, France, United Kingdom and China.
CAST AND CREW
Director – Maya Da-Rin
Writers – Maya Da-Rin & Juliana Fausto