22/11/2024 - Misha Vallejo Prut unpacks intergenerational trauma as perpetuated by silence and absence, in the process making one of the most gorgeously lensed personal documentaries of the year

“I’ve come to understand that the other side of that maternal heroism is paternal absence,” reflects Misha Vallejo Prut in his first feature-length documentary, the stunningly lensed Light Memories, in which the photographer-turned-director also serves as cinematographer. The film, which world-premiered as yet another directorial debut in IDFA’s International Competition, brings to bear Vallejo Prut’s impressive photography background paired with an accomplished close look at what his family would rather keep buried. The work’s original Spanish title, Eco de Luz, speaks to the grander – but also different – gesture and motif of light in the life of his family: a reverberation or echo, kaleidoscopic in its many forms.

Through his uncle, Vallejo Prut comes into possession of a set of analogue photos, revealing a harsh family secret in the process: the puzzle pieces of the story about his mysterious paternal grandfather, Estuardo, whom the family never speaks about. Through the film, the director shows the gentle investigation via casual conversations with his nervous mother, Inna Prut, and somewhat distant father, Jorge Vinicio Vallejo, before encountering tremendous resistance. How Vallejo Prut engages with this resistance becomes the beautiful yet also heartbreaking basis for interrogating the impacts of intergenerational silence, violence and absence within his family.

While the grittier details about his grandfather are better left to be revealed through the film, what can easily suggest more about the larger story is that he was the much older next-door neighbour of Vallejo Prut’s precious grandmother, Luz (or “Mamita”, for the filmmaker), whom he met when Luz was only a teen. However, she speaks of him in a more matter-of-fact way despite the cloud that hangs low over any mention of the nature of their relationship. “Who were you in love with, Mamita?” asks Vallejo Prut. “With who was, and is, the father of my children,” replies Luz. The case is closed. There’s no reason to invalidate Mamita Luz’s experience, and Vallejo Prut never does.

“I inherited the silence, and breaking it seems almost violent,” admits the director in voice-over, with the film’s narration always pinpoint-precise and never turning to more clichéd philosophical statements. Light Memories becomes not about unpacking secrets, but instead about X-raying the contents of a long-buried metaphorical box to see what's left intact. Vallejo Prut further adds analogue photography of his family to show his own lens on a loving group of people who have decided never to speak of Estuardo. Fittingly, both his still- and moving-image work are rendered so warm and vivid by his grasp of how to play with light, making Light Memories one of the most expertly lensed personal documentaries of this year and a masterclass in gorgeous, yet never flashy, cinematography.

Eighty minutes seems like it should feel like a snapshot, but under Vallejo Prut’s watchful eye, it turns into a whole album; moments with the filmmaker’s parents are particularly tense and telling. In the first scene with Inna, all she can manage is a long, anxious laugh during the chat, while a sit-down conversation with Jorge leads to very averted eyes during a discussion about his frequent absence during Vallejo Prut’s childhood, an echo of Estuardo’s own absence from Jorge’s life.

In a later scene whose strained energy is palpable, Vallejo Prut asks his mother if she was ever afraid of his father – a nod to continually perpetuated trauma. Inna’s quick, solemn response? “I don’t want you to stick your nose in that.” Unpacking trauma may begin to eliminate the remnants caught in an intergenerational cycle, but in other cases, it’s better to leave some things buried, honour who and what needs to be honoured, and move on.

Light Memories is an Ecuadorian-German co-production by Caleidoscopio Cine and Tiempo Filmproduktion. Taskovski Films picked up the rights to the world sales ahead of the film’s premiere.