HERE (2023)
Recipient of the FIPRESCI Prize and Encounters Award at the Berlin Film Festival, the latest film from Bas Devos (VIOLET, 2015 AFI European Union Film Showcase) is a wandering, delicate meditation on human connections. Stefan (Stefan Gota), originally from Romania, works construction jobs in Brussels, waiting for life to pass him by. Having made a fresh pot of soup, he wanders around town and shares it with the people he comes across. On a rainy night, in between inconsequential-yet-endearing encounters, his journey intersects with that of Shuxiu (Liyo Gong), a Belgian-Chinese PhD student studying moss. From the late-night Chinese restaurant in urban Brussels to the lush mossy forest in the outskirts of town, landscapes provide a stage in which Stefan and Shuxiu's drifting stories are gently and fondly intertwined. Intricately restrained and marked by moments of magical realism, HERE explores the simplicity of life and unexpected kinships one may find by paying a little more attention to the beauty in the world. (Note courtesy of AFI FEST.) Winner, Encounters Award for Best Film, 2023 Berlin International Film Festival. Official Selection, 2023 Toronto and New York film festivals. DIR/SCR Bas Devos; PROD Marc Goyens. Belgium, 2023, color, 82 min. In Dutch, Romanian, Mandarin and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Run Time: 82 Minutes
Opening Date: Saturday, December 09, 2023
Genre: Drama
