La Boîte à Images

A French director in Berlin creates a film letter to his lover, while reminiscing over their relationship.

Salif, an 18-year-old Mauritanian, lands clandestinely in France. His parents gave him a mission: find his older brother who lives in Paris and send him news. A search that will prove to be especially complicated and dangerous.

In this avant-garde exercise in self-reflection, director Joseph Morder reminisces about his youth in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where his Jewish parents settled after they left Poland. The heat of August in Paris brings forth memories and at the same time the adult Morder is involved in a love affair. There are no scenes from Ecuador here, and none of the images in the film are used to carry the narration; instead they vaguely illustrate what Morder happens to be saying at the moment.