A Short Film by Henrique Palma

LOGLINE

When Will’s parents go away on holiday, the young boy is forced to take care of his demented grandpa. Is the teenager’s unprocessed anger going to prevent him from making peace with the unavoidable future?

Director's Statement

Hi! My name is Henrique Palma and I’m an aspiring Writer and Director with a deep passion for storytelling. I believe that the goal of film is sharing; sharing a story, a message, a feeling, or even a visual. I also believe that filmmaking is a solitary process of self-discovery, ultimately achieved through love and collaboration. For this reason I am currently working on my new short-film called ‘saudade.’

Saudade is a Portuguese word, untranslatable, non-existent in any other language. It describes, in a subtle middle ground of grace and pain, the feeling of missing someone or some place, some time, that has passed. It’s not nostalgia; I don’t know why it isn’t, but when you feel it, you know the difference.

Saudade also describes a feeling that I’ve had to deal with since my grandpa’s death in 2018. My grandpa was and is one of the most important people in my life; he passed down to me values that I consider central to my living, he provided me with opportunities that I will forever cherish. He was a man of love and care, and I know I was never able to give back to him what he gave to me.

Five years before passing, he began to have recurrent lapses of memory. These eventually developed into getting lost in parking lots, forgetting his wallet in restaurants and even the name of his own children. All of these seemed to be normal to me, a young teenager that was learning about being young and dying at the same time. It began to really hurt when one day, for an acute moment of pain, he forgot my name, and who I was. My grandpa’s Alzheimer’s changed me and my intention with ‘saudade.’ is to honour that change, explore the relationship between a grandson and grandpa whose time and illness are pulling apart.

I believe this is a film no one can feel indifferent about, I believe it has an important message of love and ultimately it can be relatable to everyone as unfortunately loss is common to all. The main reason why I see this film to be important is because I believe society has evolved into a place where no second chances are given. Illness and time, unfortunately, rarely give second chances, as well. I believe this film can have the power to change that, to show that the power to connect with someone lies with us, and with our ability to forgive and see past one’s surface.