Cannes 2024: OUR OWN SHADOW by Agustina Sánchez Gavier

Agustina Sánchez Gavier’s Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) graduation film “Nuestra Sombra” (“Our Own Shadow”, 2024, 19 min) has been invited to the Quinzaine des Cinéastes section of the 77th Cannes International Film Festival. The independent selection, which was inaugurated in 1969 by the Société des Réalisatrices et Réalisateurs de Films (SRF), is dedicated to showcasing the most singular forms of contemporary cinema.

Set in the province of Misiones in northeast Argentina against the backdrop of an imminent solar eclipse, “Nuestra Sombra” portrays the unsettling transformations it appears to trigger in some of the inhabitants of an over-logged forest. The main protagonist Maria, an embodiment of existential uncertainty within the looming darkness, reflects on the hidden powers that shape our world. “The more humankind destroys nature, the more it destroys us”, Agustina Sánchez Gavier writes. “‘Nuestra Sombra’ is about the destructive relationship between humankind and nature.”

Director's Statement

The film “Nuestra Sombra” dives into the unsettling transformations within individuals adminst environmental exploitation, in the context of a solar eclipse enveloping Misiones, Argentina. The main character, an embodiment of existential uncertainty admist darkness, reflects on unseen forces shaping our world. Blurring boundaries between reality and fantasy, the film echoes themes of worldly decadence prevalent in Misiones. Through one ominous day in an ambivalent reality, time is stopped by fear and a sense of foreboding permeates the air. A little boy's search for his missing sister reveals that the visible might not be the only reality, highlighting the interplay between knowledge and ignorance. “Nuestra Sombra” offers a personal insight into the abyss, a collision between what remains unseen, and what we see but refuse to acknowledge.