At 88 years old, my grandfather Fernando suggested that we make a film together. His proposal comes when I tell him I'm moving out of his house. So we started filming, me with my camera and he with his. Although we have lived together for more than 20 years, it is through the camera that we see each other like never before. That Breath is an intimate record of our bond, love and loss, in search of understanding what it means to be alive.
After the coup in Uruguay in 1973, thousands of intellectuals and artists fled the country. The filmmaker’s father was among them and left for Europe. After his passing, she came upon some Super 8 movies and audio files he had recorded. Through this archive, she started building a new family story trying to reveal and understand the silent pain of exile.
A trip across various parts of the world and of other times to understand my ideologic heritage and what to do with it. Opera Prima is my first look at the world that becomes a mirror in which to recognize myself.
Sailing on a Uruguayan Navy ship, a group of soldiers sees their lives consumed by risk and fatigue. Their destination is Antarctica and they will cross the stormy ocean to deliver supplies to a scientific base. Their journey, often interrupted by icebergs, is long and fraught with danger. Upon reaching their destination, the landscape becomes dominant and the men slowly disappear. There, in the midst of the storm, all traces of humanity have been erased and the world dilutes us in the waters of the thaw.
Chacho tries to occupy his time in order to escape from drug use. He takes courses in film and baking. He doesn't show up at the shelter on weekends. That's when the devil catches him, he says. His life changes when he moves into a new house, without the rules of the shelter. But temptation is latent and his abstinence grows.