In Paraguay’s impoverished Caazapá, the “city of magic and legends”, two students search for happiness, gold and a mythical bird. Beyond the fences of a gated enclave, European dropouts chase freedom, healing and salvation – for themselves and their savings. Between them stretch 12 kilometres of red-earth road, turning to mud each rainy season, under humid heat and chorusing cicadas. Moving through building sites, schools, treatment rooms and shooting ranges, the film observes settlers and locals side by side. As newcomers face turf wars and disillusion, residents cling to myths rooted in missionary and colonial pasts. Each holds a different vision of paradise.

This the premise of Yulia Lokshina’s documentary Around Paradise [+lee también:
tráiler
ficha de la película], set to world-premiere in the Panorama sidebar of this year’s Berlinale (12-22 February).

Around Paradise was produced by Germany’s Trimafilm together with ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel. Hungary’s Filmotor is selling it internationally.

Check out our exclusive trailer and poster below: