‘A Vanishing Fog’ creates an emotionally deep mystical portrait of life’s end and beginning which are both born in the middle of life. The ancient sacred place Sumapaz Páramo in Colombia is the world’s largest Alpine tundra ecosystem and a source of drinking water for the capital’s 11 million residents who have to admire the protected mountain range with its mercilessly harsh climate from a respectful distance. Sumapaz, left outside human activities and the boundaries of law, has become a criminal backroad, the last barricades of which mountain guard F defends with his father and other natives.

At once sublime and deep, ‘A Vanishing Fog’ is for all the connoisseurs who can appreciate the tender robustness of a film that has been polished to perfection. For those who love cinematography in its wildest forms of expression and deepest existential layers. Director, screenwriter, producer and editor Augusto Sandino uses a unique style in binding the poetry of his thoughts into the visual language of ‘A Vanishing Fog’.

Sandino has enchanted the audience at PÖFF also before. In 2016, Sandino won the title of Best Film from both PÖFF’s jury and FIPRESCI in the debut film competition programme with his ‘Gentle Breath’. This year’s main competition is promising to be equally successful for Sandino, as his vision of the manifestation and continuation of life bound together by the primeval and the magical will establish itself among the pearls of cinematography with this world premiere.

Elise Eimre