Kino Rebelde has picked up international sales rights for “September Afternoon” by writer-director Nicolaas Schmidt, which has its world premiere in the Cineasti del Presente competition section at the Locarno Film Festival.
The film is described as a work that “transforms the romantic idea of the summer retreat into a quiet meditation on contemporary resignation, fragile intimacy, and the longing for connection.”
In the film, a couple refuses to accept that summer is over. For a last time, they head to the coast with the intention of spending two afternoons together between the sand dunes and the sea.
The temperature has long been too cold for sandals and shorts; the blustery autumn wind is no substitute for cosy rays of summer sun. On the way to the beach, they cross paths with a woman they know loosely. Upon arrival, they look in vain for a dune to take shelter from the wind; a small dam is built and defended hard against the tide, an attempt to erect a windbreak is made.
These desperate struggles against the encroaching elements are merely a brief interlude before the situation unravels into a disaster of an entirely different magnitude.
