The 2024 Berlinale kicks off next month on February 15 with “Small Things Like These,” starring Cillian Murphy. But right before then, a winner from last year’s festival hits theaters in NYC. And it’s been a long wait for Bas Devos‘ “Here,” since it won Best Film in the Berlinale’s Encounters section last year, along with a handful of other awards since its world premiere.
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Here’s a synopsis for “Here,” courtesy of the Berlinale’s program last year:
“Here” follows Stefan, a Romanian construction worker living in Brussels who is about to return home to visit his mother, and perhaps stay for good. Using the leftovers from his fridge, he cooks up a big pot of soup and begins handing it out as farewell gifts to friends and family. But while waiting for his car to be fixed, he meets Shuxiu, a Belgian-Chinese woman preparing a doctorate on mosses. Her attention to the near-invisible stops him in his tracks.
On the heels of Ghost Tropic (2019), Bas Devos offers another Brussels city symphony. With a quiet grace that’s becoming a trademark, he and his team capture both the longing of contemporary urban life and the potential for enchantment that still exists in spaces shared by strangers from different worlds.
“Here” stars Stefan Gota and Liyo Gong. Devos writes and directs the film, as he did on “Ghost Tropic” and his previous films. Marc Goyen directs. Cinema Guild handles distribution for “Here” stateside.
Devos’ latest starts its US theatrical run at Film At Lincoln Center on Friday, February 9. Watch a trailer for the film below.
