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Territory

What we do is not always what we need.

synopsis

Laura (33) is both nervous and excited when she is invited to a festival in Rio de Janeiro. She is a photographer at the beginning of her career, trying her best in all that she does. She lives with her husband in a small apartment in Helsinki. Seemingly, she is doing ok. Yet, some things appear to be out of balance beneath her everyday actions. On her first night in Rio Laura is robbed in the street. Laura’s reaction is fierce, her personal territory has been violated. Her emotions develop from self-pity and anger into an enthusiastic sense of taking advantage of the situation, of wanting to let go. Her usual, work-oriented, disciplined self is replaced by a new role: a flirting, outspoken and wild behaviour, up to the moment when she is face to face with her own capability of being violent – a moment when she needs to find another way out. In the end, what she finds is neither a solution nor an answer. Rather, there is a long-awaited possibility for Laura to just be: to breathe, to feel, to perceive.

Director’statement

In Territory I am continuing on a path that I began with my short experimental film Rondo. Its main attempt was to describe a sensation of change: a perception of being in between events, of being unsure of what is going to happen next and yet knowing that something of major importance is at stake. Territory takes this sensation, but shows it within a plot and a different context: a Scandinavian woman robbed by homeless kids in Rio de Janeiro - a city divided into sections according to wealth and social status. Throughout the film the focus is on the main character, Laura, and her reactions to the situation she’s in. For Laura, the robbery is not only an accidental event: it appears as an enabling force, a chance to act differently. She just does not really know what she needs. The goal of the film is to gain a position where one can look at existence with the main character: to fear, to desire and to be unsure with her. And also, to be able to see hope within the uncertainties, in the very fact that life is uncontrollable.

TFL PROGRAMME:
ScriptLab 2009
Discover more details here:
Download
PDF
TFL Catalogue 2009

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