Memory House / Casa de Antiguidades, the debut feature by Brazilian filmmaker João Paulo Miranda, is the only Latin American film announced among the fifty-six selections that are part of the 2020 edition of the Cannes Film Festival. The festival’s director Thierry Frémaux announced the lineup today in a live conference.
A co-production with the Netherlands and France, Memory House is a tale about the cultural shock of dealing with one’s roots, Brazilian folklore, and identity. Cristovam, a fifty year-old man, an émigré living far from his homeland, constantly feeling like a fish out of water, one day finds objects from his native region in an abandoned house. Memories progressively come back to him, slowly rendering him insane to the extent that he eventually turns into an animal. Miranda had previously participated at Cannes with two short films: Command Action (2015) in the Critics’ Week, and one year later The Girl Who Danced With the Devil, which won Special Mention in the official short film competition.
Additionally, the Spanish film Forgotten We’ll Be / El olvido que seremos by Fernando Trueba based on the autobiographical novel by Colombian writer Héctor Abad Faciolince, shot in Medellín, Madrid, and Milan and largely funded by Colombia’s Caracol Televisión, was also announced as part of the 2020 Cannes selection. The festival was cancelled due to Covid-19.
