Springtime in Lisbon and Nicolau turns 24, but doesn’t celebrate. Living at his parents’ house, hostage to a dream of becoming a musician that never comes true and trapped in the ideal image of an ex-girlfriend who left him a year ago and never came back, Nicolau feels incapable of moving forward and inventing a life of his own. He takes odd jobs that don’t allow him to leave his parents’ house, until the day he discovers that his mother is just as unsatisfied with her life as he is. Nicolau is shaken, but doesn’t fall. On the contrary, he moves forward. He gets a job in a stationery store, moves in to a shared house, and life starts rolling again. And with life, his dreams and his heart. Up ahead, a girl and an island.
João Rosas
Born in Lisbon (Portugal) in 1981, he is the author of three collections of short stories and various documentaries and short films, such as ‘My Mother is a Pianist’ (2005), ‘Birth of a City’ (2009), ‘Entrecampos’ (2012), ‘Maria do Mar’ (2015, premiered in Locarno and prize- winner in Portugal, Spain and Brazil), and ‘Catavento’ (2020), which won the prize for Best Short Film at Bafici 2021 and a Special Mention from the Jury at the Festival du Cinéma de Brive. His latest documentary, ‘Death of a City’ (2022), won the DocAlliance Award 2023 for Best Feature. ‘The Luminous Life’ (2025), his first feature-length fiction film, premiered at IndieLisboa and participated in the Karlovy Vary competition.
