The Red Suitcase (2023)
https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2023/orizzonti/red-suitcase
Synopsis
A pick-up truck driver leaves Kathmandu airport for a two-day drive with a delivery arriving from abroad to a remote mountain village. On the high road, a solitary figure slowly makes his way, wheeling a small red suitcase toward the same village.
Director's Statement
The film reflects the spirit of the youth in Nepal today, who live in growing political and economic uncertainty. Although it is a fictional film, the threads of the narrative are based on events that may be hard to believe, but are related as true in fables, myths, and allegories of the region.
I intend to bring my discipline as an anthropologist into the world of fiction and experiment with meticulous ethnographical details that can deepen emotions and drive the narrative forward.
We also worked at exploring and representing the visual cultures of Nepal. There are numerous aspects of the film that stem from local culture, such as the offerings of incense and mirrors on the sides of the highway to appease the deity of the area that the driver often passes through.
We spent a lot of time scouting for locations that suited my particular vision of the film. I was looking for surreal landscapes that communicated melancholy, representing the loneliness of each character. We adopted a classical cinematography, strongly influenced by the works of masters such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Hou Hsiao-hsien. The use of long takes and static shots came naturally to me, but also seemed to fit perfectly with the narrative.
