Il fait nuit en Amérique

"A young anteater found dead by the side of a road, a boa constrictor wanders in the suburbs of Taguatinga, a maned wolf is found in a farm in Sobradinho II, a small owl is rescued in the Radio Center district, a capybara swims in the pools of the Itamaraty Palace. The question is: are animals invading our cities, or are we occupying their habitat?”
(Headline of Correio Braziliense)

"Shot entirely on day for night, this wildlife eco-horror follows the trajectories of endangered species fleeing to escape extinction, in a sombre plot in which the animals look back at us."
(Ana Vaz)

"The lines between documentary, horror and fantasy blur in Ana Vaz’s experimental feature debut, which eschews the human perspective in search of something more primal. Set at nighttime around the city of Brasília, in a rich palette of indigo and blue, wolves, owls, foxes and anteaters make tentative steps towards reclaiming a habitat that was once theirs. The significance of Brasília is clear, a capital city only been created in 1960 which irrevocably changed the native wildlife’s habitat. The juxtaposition of capybaras against the city’s towering blandness builds to an unnerving sense of occupation, with a native population ignored in favor of unchecked “growth”.
The relationship between nature and structure is cruel, with rare glimpses at humans that seem more in step with the cement blocks than the animals. The gentle melody of Chico Bororo’s score imparts a haunting melancholy, whereby the vulnerable are being slowly, but methodically crushed. The scale of the city dwarfs all its inhabitants and Vaz uses the camera to play with size, gazing down from above like a disinterested god before coming in close to each animal’s face, creating a sense of raw intimacy with an ignored underclass."
(Leila Latif - Viennale)