Shelter – Farewell to Eden (2019)

Links to watch:

DESCRIPTION

A dark and mythological fable about a transgender person’s life in the urban underground where she has to constantly change shape to survive.

A portrait of European boundaries: While food and goods are able to travel across all frontiers, there are severe restrictions for human beings. Pepsi plays, in this documentary, the role of a 21st Century transgender version of Joan d’Arc, putting her journey on a different scale, even beyond survival: standing for human rights, request and asylum of the most marginalized communities. She escaped the Muslim military camp she grew up in because of her homosexuality, worked as a nurse for over 10 years in Gaddafi’s Libya. Because of gender discrimination, she was forced to join the flow of refugees and has now stranded in Paris. Passing through an Undefined International Landscape she finds the strength to tell her intimate story which recalls the ancient myth of Europa. According to the myth, Jupiter seduced a young woman Europa and sent her to an island in the Mediterranean. Shelter – Farewell to Eden is a triple leave from childhood, virginity and former colonial identity.

‘Shelter’ is a postcolonial fable, which – much like its anonymous protagonist – constantly changes shape between identities. 16mm film, analogue video and iPhone footage contribute to a phantom image of life in the urban underground.

GALLERY

REVIEWS

“An Italian surprise at spring film festivals” 

– Cinecitta News

“The LGBTQ documentaries you need to see this year. It’s an extraordinary story that’s beautifully shot.” 

– HuckMag, Thomas Curry

“A stirring documentary, Shelter: Farewell to Eden, relays the constant fears of harm and persecution many gay and trans individuals face in some of the most turbulent places in the world.”

 Gay Essential Review

“The final chapter of a trilogy dedicated to resistance and resilience!” 

 Queer News Review

Links to watch:
DIRECTED BY
Enrico Masi, Italy & France, 2019, 81´ & 58´
Festivals and distribution
CPH:DOX – DOX: Award Competition, Cinema du Reel Paris, BFI Flare, Sheffield Doc Fest, Etats Generaux Lussas, Nuremberg IHRFF, Docs Lisboa, Corsica Docs, Cine Migrante Buenos Aires, L´ Alternativa, Queer & Migrant FF Amsterdam, Miradas Doc, Zinegoak, Albania IHRFF, Broadcasters: RAI; VOD: True Story, Guide Doc, TENK; EDU: Kanopy
TERRITORIES
World except of Italy
EXCLUSIVE SUBJECT
Festival & sales
DIRECTOR BIO

Enrico Masi is an Italian film-director and Phd at Alma Mater Studiorum. He’s founder of Caucaso in 2004. After working at the University of Bologna as a filmmaker for scientific essays, his debut feature documentary The Golden Temple premiered in Venice Film Festival in 2012. Focused on post-modern and post-colonial dynamics, the main field of his interest is connected to urban phenomenology, hybrid cinema and sound. Shelter is his second feature film.