Macondo

Eleven-year-old Ramasan has a lot of responsibility. In traditional Chechen society, he would be the man of the house, in charge of his mother and two younger sisters. Yet he now lives in Macondo, a multicultural neighborhood in gritty industrial Vienna. Ramasan speaks German better than his mother Aminat, and he interprets between her and welfare officials. The family fled Chechnya after the death of Ramasan’s father, and they’re trying to make do in this foreign society. Ramasan's world is disrupted anew when Isa, his father's war buddy, moves into their housing complex. Isa pays his respects to Aminat and gives Ramasan his dead father’s watch. While his interest in his father is revived, Ramasan rejects Isa’s influence on his mother. Meanwhile, he’s becoming involved with a band of older boys who lure him into trouble. A passionate film that rests on the slight shoulders of its protagonist, MACONDO shows us life through the eyes of a refugee boy. (In German and Chechen with subtitles) – B.B.