Oscurana

Bluesky

Oscurana – a colloquial Latin American term for darkness – begins in the heat of the day with the sun beating down. As it slowly slips towards the bottom of the screen, Violeta Mora, who directed, shot and edited the film as well as providing the narration, talks about both the oncoming night and journey that will be made by many migrants during it.

It’s a poetic and focused start to a documentary short that invites us to walk in the shoes of some of those who attempt to cross borders in search of a better life – borders that have seen at least 5487 people declared dead or missing in the past decade.

As darkness encroaches – “like smoke it expands” – Mora switches from the fixed camerawork to handheld, so that we join the movement of the migrants. The contrast between the stillness and movement adds a sense of dislocation and disorientation as Mora draws us into the emotional space of those on the move. The slowness is part of the film’s intent, this is not a quick journey, while sound design adds to a growing sense of threat.

It’s not just Mora’s voice we hear, but a kaleidoscope of others, in desperate phone messages calling for help. As with features like the recent Spare My Bones, Coyote!, Mora doesn’t just show us the situation but to immerse us within it.

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