A morgue scheduled for closure – does a more poetic image of ruin exist? One day the caretaker at a state-run cemetery finds a dead girl hidden in the morgue; she was killed during a demonstration and stashed in one of the pullout cabinets. Although he too is in danger, he decides to bury her properly. Despite intimidation by gangster politicians. The director chose Chile as the unnamed setting for his debut, a work of magical realism. The protagonist’s journey is a concatenation of poetic encounters. Élan vital, a desire to live and to remain open to the poetry of the world, to remember those that have departed, and carry on – these claim victory over the ubiquitous reminders of death and destruction. The picture premiered in the Orizzonti section at Venice and took home the prize for best script.