The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer (La ilusión de un verano sin fin)

Embraced by an open horizon, nine-year-old cousins Guillermina and Belinda tirelessly dream up dance steps while singing of a heartache still unknown to them. For decades, the renowned photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti has been photographing her young neighbours as they are their infectious, uninhibited selves (whether disguised or not). Faced with so much life, video footage joins the photographs. Seasons inevitably blend into one another, and houses, bodies, dreams and friendship take on other forms. Sanguinetti succeeds in capturing something of Guille and Beli's childlike freedom in her images, despite the distances that separate them, words that run dry and grown-up worries. This remarkable documentary, awarded at the Locarno Film Festival, shows the work that goes into a life's work – both in terms of art and the art of living – and the importance of friendship and imagination both in front of and behind the camera.