Helena Solberg Cineclub presents BITTERSWEET RAIN

Pain, acceptance of a marked destiny, and the power of community are at the core of BITTERSWEET RAIN, Helena Solberg Cineclub’s August choice to warm this wintry summer. Portraying its main characters with understanding and kindness, the film follows 15-year-old Bruno as he faces a degenerative eye disease that will eventually lead to blindness amidst all the uncertainties of adolescence. How does he cope with these setbacks?

BITTERSWEET RAIN | SAUDADE FEZ MORADA AQUI DENTRO
Dir. Haroldo Borges | 2022 | Brazil | 107 min. | Portuguese with English subtitles
Doors open and screening starts at 6.30pm

Bruno, a 15-year-old growing up with his mother and brother in a small town in the Brazilian hinterland, doesn’t have it easy. As if adolescence was not hard enough, the fatherless teenager confronts a degenerative eye disease that will ultimately leave him blind. He is an excellent drawer, and the news knocks him hard – his whole existence is shaken to the core.

As his vision deteriorates and he prepares to face a distressing future, Bruno tries to deal with concerns typical of a kid his age: school is no piece of cake, and he goes through the pain and confusion of his unreciprocated first love. Eventually, he will have to learn first-hand how to see life with different eyes while his arduous fate is turned into a collective learning experience.

A powerful, sad but wonderful film, Haroldo Borges’ exploration of thorny adolescence in Bittersweet Rain took the Best Film and Audience awards at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, Best Film at the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival Novos Rumos Competition, and was the winner of the first edition of the coveted Netflix Prize. It has also been shown at dozens of festivals worldwide, such as Giffoni, Shanghai, Málaga, World Cinema Amsterdam, and BUFF – International Children and Young People’s Film Festival in Malmö, among others.