In striking black-and-white images, this film tells the story of a separation and the painful absence of a partner, a lover, a parent. We see a man and father navigating this absence during his daily tasks. The only connection to his wife, who left their homeland in search of a better life in the US, are cassette tapes that partially tell of the horrors of the journey and, at other times, lull their little daughter to sleep. The film tells this story without providing much explanation, conveying all the pain in small gestures and brief sentences. Courageous storytelling of a man trying to retain agency over his life in the aftermath of colonialism and capitalist upheavals.
Winterthur International Short Film Festival – Promotional Award ’24
We live in a time when images govern the world. This selectivity – mostly Western – constructs a history marked by asymmetries: it commodifies identities, aestheticizes violence, and perpetuates absences. To think about cinema today is to acknowledge its political potential, but also its repetitions. Cinematic language is not neutral; it carries cultural, economic, and historical frameworks, and all the films we have seen throughout the festival illustrate this.
Des rêves en bateaux papiers is, in essence, the story of the present, one that unfolds among many of us, or near us, when we think of wars, genocides, diasporas, and exoduses. This short film portrays a fragment of a nation wounded by colonization – a nation that, though the first in the world to gain independence through a Black uprising, continues to bear the consequences of that violence.
To think in black and white – the origin of cinema -, is to witness the refinement of audiovisual language at its technological peak, with a strong aesthetic and narrative force, sophisticated even in ruin: the ruin of losing everything, where the absence of economic means leads to the erosion of affections and culture.
All of this is conveyed through the intimate drama of a family unit that subverts the gender norms imposed upon us, within a narrative marked by forced migration. From the perspective of those who remain, the film establishes a temporal marker: the present absence of those who left in search of opportunity keeps the past alive. Meanwhile, the child grows – but the economic reality remains unchanged.
FestCurtasBH ’25 – Best Film in International Competition
This post-colonial migration story is told through the perspective of a man left behind to care for his daughter. With unique storytelling and excellent black-and-white cinematography, the film gives a platform to voices that have remained unheard until now.
Cyprus International Short Film Festival- Best International Short Film
“For its depiction of how a populace strives in a society filled with brutal violence, economic uncertainty, and political instability. For the poetic imagery that evokes both the harshness of reality and the hopefulness of dreams. For the clarity and sweetness one can find in the film’s moments of stillness and family. And for its complex portrayal of a love that both haunts us and beckons us to endure. For these reasons, this year’s jury has awarded “Dreams Like Paper Boats” as the “Best International Film””
Chaktomuk Short Film Festival – Best International Film
