Olivia
Sofía Petersen, 2025, 127 min
UK Premiere

Presented by Elizabeth Dexter and followed by Q&A with the filmmaker (26/04 only)

“As if in a fairy tale, the ethereal heroine of the first feature by Sofía Petersen exists in a dream-like world in a permanent dream-like state, suspended in time. Like a small child in the body of a young woman, the eponymous Olivia (Tina Sconochini) lives alone with her father in a tiny house in the Argentinean Patagonia, in the middle of nowhere. She is bound by a peculiar condition: if struck by sunlight, she cannot stay awake. So she spends her nights collecting bugs, comforting them before pinning them in her insect box – a project of utmost importance – and then returns home as her father (Dario del Carmen Haro Santana) is readying himself for work. But one day, he doesn’t come back, and so she sets out to find him. This means leaving that magic house and going out into the world of others, knowing only that “father” works at the “slaughterhouse” – which, he’d told her, he’d recently seen burning down in a dream. As she explores new territories and has new encounters different realms meet. While the music by Utsav Lal envelops Olivia in an enchanted atmosphere, cinematographer Owain Wilshaw, working on 16mm Ektachrome, captures the light of Tierra del Fuego in Petersen’s mesmerizing debut with the attention and delicacy of an old master.” – Pamela Biénzobas