Olivia & the Clouds explores love’s complexities through a Rashomon effect. Olivia, haunted by a past love, hides it under her bed. She trades flowers with this ghost in exchange for comforting rain clouds. Barbara, rejected by Mauricio, escapes reality through fantastical stories. Mauricio, full of regrets, is swallowed by the earth. Ramon, smitten by Olivia, witnesses the growth of a strange plant mirroring her. With surreal elements, the film delves into the enduring power of love’s memory.

Curator's Note

Taking a page from Akira Kurosawa’s RASHOMON, Dominican filmmaker Tomás Pichardo Espaillat concocts a spellbinding exploration of love, trauma and memory using a wild combination of stop-motion animation, live-action footage and graphic sketches to tell the story of Olivia, a woman haunted by her past relationship with a man named Ramón. From this simple and universal starting point, Pichardo takes viewers on a surreal journey through time and space that emphasizes how our personal recollections are shaped by the narratives we tell. This is a bold, beautiful feature debut that ushers in a new talent. –Javier Chavez

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