The Cinematheque

“Delicate, intimate, and thoughtfully realized … Jerkovic is a gifted, intuitive storyteller.”

Norman Wilner, NOW Magazine

Montreal-based writer-director Katherine Jerkovic’s admirably understated debut, winner of Best Canadian First Feature Film at TIFF, heralds the arrival of a distinctive new voice in our national cinema—one versed in, ironically, the power of silence. Mourning the death of her father, twentysomething Montrealer Sara (Arlen Aguayo Stewart) decamps to Uruguay, her birthplace, to reconnect with her estranged paternal grandmother (Gloria Demassi), whom she hasn’t spoken to since emigrating to Canada. But Sara is received coolly, her father goes unmentioned, and the rural village she grew up in, once a site of childhood idyll, is now mundane and unfamiliar. Cut adrift from her familial and cultural bearings, Sara embarks on an unforeseen path towards self-discovery. Shot entirely in sun-dappled Uruguay by acclaimed Québécois DP Nicolas Canniccioni (Les démons, The Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches), Jerkovic’s freshman feature is a smart, subtle rumination on the unexpected ripples left by the loss of an immigrant parent.

Best Canadian First Feature, TIFF 2018

“Luminously shot and immaculately acted, Jerkovic’s debut proves refreshingly unsentimental yet undeniably moving.”

VIFF