Princesa Morta do Jacuí

A certain way of making cheap science fiction movies began in 1950s Hollywood but was radicalized by Godard, Marker, Ruiz – and has found especially fertile soil in Brazilian cinema today. Here we see an explorer in a protective suit, haunted by childhood trauma, pacing through abandoned fields strewn with industrial junk. Special effects evoke a disquieting, artificially constructed world of eternal daylight. Soon there are repeated apparitions of a strange Princess. A free variation on Bioy Casares’ classic “Morel’s Invention” with some modern tweaks regarding gender and ecological catastrophe. (Viennale)