Hanami

"Hanami is a Japanese word that refers to the act of contemplating the cherry blossom, which falls to the ground like rain", Denise Fernandes told Cineuropa. "The title of the film is kind of an oxymoron, since Cape Verde experiences recurrent droughts." With this explanation, Fernandes recently not only clarified the title of her film, but also revealed its poetic essence. In her debut, the Swiss-Cape Verdean filmmaker beautifully lingers on beauty and transience. She searches for it in the unique setting of her film: Fogo, a volcanic island where "Mother Nature can be harsh but also quite tender". But she also looks for it in Nana, a vulnerable woman who grew up on Fogo.

Fernandes' sensitive coming-of-age film follows her through three key stages of life: first as a toddler after her mother, Nia, unexpectedly leaves her. Then during a magical-realist adventure while lying feverish at the foot of a volcano - high fever is something she is prone to as a child with ailing health. And finally as a teenager carrying the traces of her childhood memories. "Sometimes, as human beings, we carry with us a pain that we don't understand and that we struggle with for a lifetime", she explained. As a result, the film paints a poetic portrait of her (inner) journey through a world that hovers between reality and dreams, with a focus on the influence of her equally harsh and tender environment.

Fernandes uses a minimalist, thoughtful style to tell Nana's dreamy story, with cinematographer Alana Mejía González managing to capture Cape Verde's beauty in vibrant colours and textures. "The location was like a canvas that gave me the freedom to explore my creativity uninhibited", Fernandes confessed in late August, just after her film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival. "The final aesthetic is a mix between some very detailed, research-based work I did with my DoP. Plus some spontaneous elements offered up by the island itself." And you can sense this in the wonderful world outlined in Hanami. The vast landscapes, from the deep blue sea to the pitch-black volcanic soil, cleverly accentuate Nana's internal journey. For as with falling cherry blossom to which the Japanese title of Fernandes' debut refers, there is more behind that beautiful, poetic sight. Much more.