Ofrenda

Ofrenda depicts two women who, at various stages in their lives, happen to be in the same place. Being and time. That might sound vague, but this is nonetheless what it is. The young teens spend time in summery fields, in desolate, abandoned warehouses and other buildings on the outskirts of a small provincial town in the Argentinian pampas. The same spaces reoccur a few years later when the young women meet again when one of them returns with a backpack symbolising the knowledge acquired. The script by the young Juan Mónaco Cagni provides no dramatic narrative elements. It is clear that he knows the place and what it is like to grow up there. That he shot his debut with the help of friends and family for about €1,000 is basically irrelevant. The existential meanings his film elicits are universally recognisable, relatable and moving. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)