Subscribe to The Curb podcast via RSS feed, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or iHeart Radio. Download the episode directly here.
Dreams, imagination and sobering realities meld in this absolutely magical debut, in which a young girl must decide whether to leave her volcanic island home.
The island of Fogo, Cape Verde is singular in its beauty. Drylands give way to black-sand beaches, while villagers gather in intimately cluttered homes. Director Denise Fernandes’ attention to lyrical detail highlights the profound love that young Nana (Dailma Mendes as a child, Sanaya Andrade as a teen) has for her home. But for all its visual poetry, many residents seek to escape the island’s hard living. When her mother returns after decades away, Nana is faced with an impossible decision. Seamlessly moving between realism and the surreal – including a journey to a reality-warping volcano – Fernandes entwines myth and hard truths to tell a unique coming-of-age tale about what it means to belong to a place.
Nadine Whitney interview director Denise Fernandes about her film Hanami. Hanami screens at the Melbourne International Film Festival on 14 & 21 August. Tickets are available here.
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.
We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience.