Blind Spot

Bluesky

Marta (Ana Luiza Rios) works in Brazil’s Fortaleza dockyards, fixing the electrics and generally patrolling the place. Brazilian filmmaker Luciana Veira – co-writing and directing with Marcel Beltrán as part of Cannes’ Directors’ Factory – introduces this naturalistic character study via Marta’s voiceover, which returns at intervals throughout the short.

“One always needs to watch,” she says, but Blind Spot makes the point that witnessing something is not sufficient and can lead to passivity and problems if you don’t speak out. A case in point is Ramiro (an actor sadly not named in the credits). He comes armed with the sort of sexism that many women experience every day. Using words like “sweetheart” as a diminutive and making observations including, “You went to college to learn that?”. The women who he bosses about are seen to have a great camaraderie but they’re still wary of being heard mocking him.

Veira and Beltrán follow Marta over the course of a day, using the wide open backdrops of the port to create a strong sense of place and, occasionally, swapping to the point-of-view of the security cameras, which adds some elegant variation to the film’s feel. Rios, who appeared in drama Benfica's Girls, which was co-written by Veira, is a name to look out for. While self-contained to a point, this short feels as though it could well be part of a longer project.

This film is part of the 2025 Directors' Factory initiative

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