Raised on the wide-horizoned pampas beyond Buenos Aires, two Argentinean girl cousins — Guillermina “Guile” Aranciaga and Belinda “Beli” Stutz — spend their time playing make-believe and goofing off, become teenagers and then women with children of their own in The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer, photographer-turned-filmmaker Alessandra Sanguinetti’s luminous, indelible documentary.
Shot over 25 years from 1999 onwards, this cinematic work evolved from an earlier project that resulted in exhibitions and books, which also recorded, in large-format photos, Guile and Beli’s child-to-adult evolution. Indeed, Sanguinetti can be heard out-of-frame talking to the girls, or taking another shot with her still camera, sometimes popping in front of the lens for a cameo appearance like a fellow playmate who just happens to be 20 or so years older than the kids.
The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer
The Bottom Line
A beautiful way of seeing.
