With a title borrowed from a quote by famed Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, Kopal Joshy’s We Are Two Abysses is a vibes-forward film that captures its weightiness through spoken words laden with longing and a desire for comfort. Directed and lensed by Lisbon-based Indian director Joshy, the documentary is also a very personal one as she seeks to capture her story as intertwined with that of another person caught up in a form of emotional grief of his own. We Are Two Abysses has just had its world premiere in IndieLisboa’s National Competition.

We first learn that Joshy seeks to reach Covão dos Conchos in Portugal’s Serra da Estrela mountains, an artificial lake with a certain special mythos around it – that is, it carries with it ideas rooted in conspiracies and tales. But instead of encountering this physical “abyss”, she stumbles upon something different – and perhaps something more sentimentally convincing. In a way, she meets an emotional abyss: an older man living alone, by the name of Carlos Tavares, with whom the young filmmaker forms a striking bond.

A short stay turns into an open-ended one as they grow closer, each enjoying the intimate, quiet company of the other; in some ways, this is also the filmmaker’s personal diary. Joshy highlights Tavares’ years of letter-writing to his late wife – the man is caught in a state of grief as he perpetually suspends the process of moving on. However, we must use Joshy’s responses to Carlos’s sorrow and coping mechanism in order to determine her own eponymous “abysshood”, so to speak; much less is revealed from the personal perspective.

There's a serenity in hearing Carlos’s letters being read out loud to her, as if every moment caught on camera reinforces his dedication to preserving his wife’s memory. Joshy punctuates the intimate personal landscape with shots of the literal one, the lush greenery high up in the mountains and the fog low on the ground, further contributing to the feeling that both subjects are temporarily caught in a kingdom of their own making. Their stay together is formed from the combined mould of a happy accident and fate.

By the end of the film, it's clear that Joshy, whether consciously or unconsciously, was working towards something much greater than simply just the making of a documentary product for exhibition. This act of remembrance evolves into an on-screen archive created through a profound act between two people who were once strangers: one rooted in trust and love that transcends time and space.

We Are Two Abysses is a Portuguese production by Terratreme Filmes. Its world sales are up for grabs.