REDEMPTION

Four letters, four voices, no image shows the speakers. On 21 January 1975, a child from a village in northern Portugal writes to their parents in Angola about how sad Portugal is. On 13 July 2011, an old man in Milan recalls his first love. On 6 May 2012, a man in Paris tells his young daughter that he will never be a proper father. And on 3 September 1977, a bride in Leipzig struggles, during her wedding, against a Wagner opera she cannot get out of her head. “Redemption” by Miguel Gomes, Portugal, 2013.

Gomes lays the monologues over archival footage from the four countries. The film reveals who is speaking only at the end – turning these intimate confessions into a commentary on the European present. The short film premiered in Venice in 2013, and later screened in Toronto. “Redemption” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2013 in the Kurzfilm section.

Shown at the 2013 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2013 · Film Archive