Jonathan Guilherme

Sergio travels to Guinea-Bissau to work for an NGO as an environmental engineer on a road project between the desert and the forest. There, he becomes entangled in an intimate yet unbalanced relationship with two inhabitants of the city, Diara and Gui. As neo-colonial dynamics among the expatriate community unravel, this fragile bond becomes his only refuge from an impending collapse into solitude or barbarism.

This is the complete, five-and-a-half-hour version of Pedro Pinho's film, which premiered at Doclisboa in October 2025. Sergio travels to a West African metropolis to work as an environmental engineer for an NGO on a road construction project connecting the desert and the forest. There, he becomes involved in an intimate yet unequal relationship with two local residents, Diara and Gui. As he investigates the mysterious disappearance of an Italian engineer who preceded him, Sergio confronts the neocolonial dynamics of the expatriate community, the contradictions of international development, and the fragile boundaries between desire, power and belonging.