Novena - Houdini 2011

Juan de Dios (55) is a Guarani poet and craftsman. The harshness and deprivations of life in the countryside, endured throughout the years, have hardened his smile and stiffened the look in his eyes. Alongside the road, the symphony of nature vanishes and paradise seems to exist no more. However, within a few men, tenderness and desire do not vanish, wishes and dreams are well alive and keep beating in the depth of their souls. Novena lets us witness in a documentary, fiction and pictorial style how those few men, genuinely incarnated in Juan, push their dreams forward. Juans mother dies and this event offers him the last chance to travel to Buenos Aires and reunite with his sister, and perhaps, to start a smoothed, brand new life. Nine days of prayers and rosaries for the departed mother seem to catalyze years of waiting and disenchantment. There is only one thing to achieve before the Novena is ended: for once in his life to think of himself.