Mario Wendler

A few years ago a man appeared who claimed to speak an apparently lost language: Chaná. Soon dictionaries were published and the language could be completely recovered. This man also located the Chanás in the same place where the Volga Germans live today, in the province of Entre Ríos. Inspired by the book of poems of the same name, Big Shadow is the story of a group of friends who live in German villages while they prepare a film about the new language.

Three farmers work on a farm in Entre Ríos, a sparsely populated lowland region of Argentina traversed by rivers. Their crops are affected by ‘black frost’ which threatens to destroy their harvest. One day, a young woman appears at their door; blithely and self-assuredly she begins to influence their familiar routines. The bewildered farmers yield to Alejandra’s interventions: she dons Heribertos’ dead wife’s clothes, accompanies Benigno to a greyhound race and wins young Lucas’ friendship. Shortly afterwards, the frost disappears.