The Days Off: Trailer for Lucila Mariani’s Locarno Film

In The Days Off, the first step towards another reality does not require a laboratory: Bego uses her mother’s phone. Around her, in a near-future Buenos Aires, summer brings inflation, power cuts and the anticipation of a solar eclipse. While her family is preoccupied with the worsening economy, the young girl meets REN__ online, a friend who introduces her to reality shifting.

The trailer released by The Hollywood Reporter offers a first look at Argentine director Lucila Mariani’s debut feature. The 84-minute film will have its world premiere on August 7 in the Filmmakers of the Present Competition at Locarno. Antonia Robolini plays Bego, alongside Laura Paredes, Luiza Quinteiro and Guillermo Berthold.

Reality shifting before the eclipse

Through lucid dreams and sleep paralysis, those who practise reality shifting believe they can reach a “desired reality.” According to the director’s synopsis, Bego eventually becomes convinced that she has acquired the means to alter the people around her.

The eclipse does not remain a date on the calendar. The adults surrounding the girl slip into an emotional stupor described as “eclipsed”; according to the synopsis, even animals appear to be affected. Victoria Pereda’s cinematography alternates extended observations with images captured through phones, webcams and security cameras, according to production details released ahead of Locarno. The film can therefore move between the city and its devices without deciding in advance where Bego’s imagination ends.

The Internet that expanded the world

Mariani has described the film as a love letter to an earlier Internet, one that offered young people—particularly those in the Global South—friendships and access to cultures absent from the places where they lived. In her account, the Internet retains a practical function: REN__ teaches Bego a way to reach a place of her own choosing, while the adults struggle to keep the family finances together.

The film’s production journey has been equally international. The Argentina-Brazil-Mexico-France co-production passed through La Fabrique Cinéma, EAVE Puentes, the Locarno Filmmakers Academy and the San Sebastián Forum, where it won the ArteKino International Prize. Ahead of its premiere, Inwave Films acquired its worldwide sales rights.

Blackouts and rising prices restrict Bego’s summer; her mother’s phone, by contrast, connects her with someone promising a place she can choose for herself. The trailer does not establish whether the passage is real. It does, however, record what makes the promise believable: REN__ answers, the family is consumed by the crisis, and a desired reality appears to be accessible simply by closing one’s eyes.