It's a Bird Thing
2018 · 6m · Francia
Directed by Andrea Roncancio, Jeremy Souillet, Johanna Nizard, Justine Gautheret, Leo Pieri, Ludivine Vincent, Mathilde Le Gloahec, Maximilien Ly, Sylvain Bonnet
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, fantasy
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, whimsical
In the underworld of the favelas, Aaron, a little boy, lives a wretched and lonely life — until the day he sees a marvellous bird flying above him and a strong desire to escape stirs in his heart: he will do everything possible to fly.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Nine directors and a 6-minute runtime should be a recipe for committee-designed mediocrity, but instead it feels like a fever dream—the favela-to-flight narrative could've been treacly, except the film keeps slipping into something stranger and more unsettling than the premise promises.
A formally considered meditation on aspiration and escape that situates itself thoughtfully within the lineage of magical-realist coming-of-age cinema, where the bird functions as both symbol and visual leitmotif across a carefully composed visual field.
The film's entire weight rests on a single formal choice—treating the bird not as metaphor but as an almost tactile presence in the frame—and that decision, executed across multiple directorial hands without losing coherence, is what transforms a modest favela narrative into something luminous and earned.