Celebrating twenty years, Venice Days (aka Giornate degli autori) is kicking off this week alongside the Venice International Film Festival with a jury headed by Joanna Hogg. One premiere that has caught our eye is Cláudia Varejão’s Kora, which examines the stories of refugee women living in Portugal. They all carry their past in their body and words, as well as their loved ones in portraits. From these memories we access the intimate, political gaze of those who reconstruct (their) present. Ahead of the premiere, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first trailer.
“Every day, people are thrown out of their homes and their countries by oppression, armed conflict and human rights violations. Many of them lose parents, children, every relational or emotional reference. They are deprived of their everyday lives, of their education, of their jobs and even their native tongues. From one moment to the next, everything changes: behind them, all that’s left is destruction, while ahead lies only uncertainty,” said director Cláudia Varejão. “We are living through an unprecedented human tragedy. We have failed as a species and as a society. As a human being, as a citizen, and even as a director, I feel responsible. Kora gradually arose from this feeling of being too small, and, at the same time, from the frustration of being part of something that doesn’t represent me. This film is my gaze, both political and emotional, on the historic moment that I’m living in.”
See the exclusive trailer below.
