The Castles of Memory

Based on the Hailak short story and other works by Polish writer with experience of Siberian exile Waclaw Sieroszewski, the plot revolves around the poor Yakut peasant couple Khabdzhiy and Keremes struggling to survive in the taiga area of the most remote East corner of the Russian Empire at the end of XIX century. After the death of the second newborn child both young man and woman obediently get back to their chores to make it through another day and get ready for a lengthy and exhausting winter. The local Yakut ruler orders the family to admit to their house the Russian political convict Konstantin and keep him till further notice. The worlds of the family and the Russian unwelcome guest are colliding from the first days due to completely polar backgrounds. Despite the mutual challenge of the household against surrounding wild nature, Konstantin gradually settles in and claims the position of master of the house.

A film producer named Romeo falls in love with a mysterious woman named Juliet.

A broken body in a white dress, lying lifeless in a swaying soya field. The image of this motionless body lends an extra charge to everything that follows. Marcheti follows three protagonists in turn. They don't know one another, but are all in some way connected through Madalena. Luziane, a club hostess, knocks on her door for money. Wealthy Cristiano inspects the vast expanse of soya fields for his demanding father. Trans woman Bianca and her girlfriends divide Madalena's things between them while reminiscing. Marcheti shot the film in the agrarian region where he grew up, capturing with great visual flair this largely unfilmed rural part of Brazil. A place where big agricultural machinery crawls monster-like across the landscape and the farthest corners are known only to drones. A world that can also take on a spooky aspect - now and then, Marcheti inventively gives an eerie twist to even the most everyday scene. Madalena is above all a window on a world that is getting out of control. But Marcheti is also clearly making a statement about his country, which has the highest rate of murder of transgender people in the world. A plea for empathy, rather than pity.