In Locarno, Switzerland, strange wild animals invade the streets every summer in August, as soon as the International Film Festival opens its doors. On the shores of Lake Maggiore, the resort "dresses up" in the colors of the leopard, a nod to the Golden Leopard, the highest award given to the best film in the official competition. This year, the prize will be awarded on Saturday, August 13, at the close of the 75th edition. The spotted print is all the rage in the downtown shop windows (tee-shirt, bikini, pumps galore), even a butcher's stall is adorned with a fake fur.
In the film by Ana Vaz, 36, It Is Night in America, shot in 2021 in Brasilia and presented in the Filmmakers of the Present section, the animal presence is not fictional. A few blocks from the futuristic buildings of Brazil's capital, a monkey crosses an expressway, at times quietly, looking confident, as if it were in its natural habitat; an anteater, with its long snout sniffing the branch of a tree, has managed to avoid being run over and found refuge in a zoo. A legend says that anteaters bring bad luck, inciting some motorists to run them over. An owl looks at us straight in the eyes, and we start to feel like we shouldn't be there. What does it want to say to us?
Humans remain out of shot, except for a few furtive silhouettes
The film was shot using 16 mm film, using the "day for night" process – for a nocturnal, bluish impression – and it creates a twilight atmosphere, conducive to all kinds of fantasies. The humans remain out of shot, except for a few furtive silhouettes, and snatches of dialogue reveal a city caught off guard by the sudden appearance of these visitors. Patrolling in a vehicle, an emergency military police officer gives advice to the inhabitants, while waiting for specialists to intervene. A zookeeper refers to the animals as "refugees," surprising herself by using that term. Screams of howling monkeys mingle with strange metallic noises... This bewitching film provides the introduction to the Brasilia-born filmmaker, whose work is listed in the Light Cone catalog, a distributor of experimental films.
Dark perspectives
She is sitting, all dressed in white, at a table on which there is a wasp. You couldn't make it up. "It got stranded here during the previous interview," Ana Vaz commented, a gentle smile on her lips. The tone is composed, formal but never defensive, like those filmmakers who, having long forged their tools of reflection, put the emphasis on snippets and poetry. In It Is Night in America, the air is blue and the perspectives are dark, like in a western at the moment of the ultimate encounter.
You have 35.31% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.