Akin's Desert

(O deserto de Akin)
Bernard Lessa | Drama

2024 | 78 minutes | Brazil

Akin is a Cuban doctor working in Brazil in 2018. With the election of Jair Bolsonaro, doctors are demanded to return. Akin is at a crossroads. Return to Cuba, or settle in Brazil?

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Synopsis

Akin, a Cuban doctor in the Mais Médicos program posted to a remote Indigenous community in Espírito Santo, discovers in Brazil a complex landscape of affection, belonging, and political contradiction. As his daily work in primary care exposes him to the solitude, precariousness, and quiet solidarity of Brazil’s deep interior, Akin gradually becomes part of the community, even as he struggles with his own sense of displacement.

As the presidential election approaches and political tensions rise, the future of the Mais Médicos program grows uncertain. With Jair Bolsonaro’s victory and the abrupt end of cooperation between Brazil and Cuba, Akin suddenly loses the framework that legally sustains his presence and his work in the country. He is forced to choose between returning to Cuba or staying in a Brazil where he can no longer formally practice medicine.

Directed by Bernard Lessa, Akin’s Desert pays homage to the Cuban doctors who provided basic healthcare in Brazil’s most remote regions, while offering an intimate reflection on migration, racism, class, and the search for home in a country marked by deep historical inequality.

Reviews

“Lead actor Reynier Morales gives a humane and passionate depth to Akin and is matched by the chemistry Ana Flávia Cavalcanti and Guga Patriota bring to the triangle.” – Callum McLennan, Variety

“Akin's Desert is an excellent work crafted by its director and cast, a film that will sharpen the audience’s reflections from a perspective that, for some, will be moving and, for others, an impactful confrontation with a contemporary political moment.” – Matheus Araujo, Terra Nérdica

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Festivals

Rio International Film Festival - Best Actor; Vancouver Latin American Film Festival; Newark Black Film Festival

DIRECTOR: Bernard Lessa

NATIONALITY: Brazil

YEAR: 2024

GENRE: Drama

LANGUAGE: Portuguese; Spanish

COLOR / B&W: Color

GRADE LEVEL: High School, College, Adult

SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE

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