Betânia

The beautiful first feature from Marcelo Botta, a rising star in contemporary Brazilian cinema, follows Betânia, family matriarch and local 65-year-old midwife, who in the wake of her husband’s death, reluctantly leaves her remote village at the request of her family. Under the backdrop of the otherworldly sand dunes of the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in northern Brazil, the film navigates the clashing of tradition and modernity and a landscape threatened by an ever-changing climate and growing tourism. It offers a captivating and joyful insight into a family pulling together against the challenges of a new way of life.