{"id":31284,"date":"2026-05-22T10:41:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/?post_type=movies&p=31284"},"modified":"2026-05-22T10:41:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:41:44","slug":"california","status":"publish","type":"movies","link":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/movies\/california\/","title":{"rendered":"Calif\u00f3rnia"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re looking for a movie that takes you straight to the 80s\u2019 neon glow, its mix tapes and to the feeling that everything is happening for the first time, <\/span>Calif\u00f3rnia <\/span><\/i>is the right choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

The story, directed by Marina Person<\/a>, follows teenaged Estela, who is trying to survive friendships, school and her own body. At the same time she is balancing between two boys \u2013 sunny Xande and gloomy JM \u2013 while trying to understand who she is. Estela dreams about visiting her uncle in California, a place that symbolises freedom and everything that Brazil isn\u2019t \u2013 or wasn\u2019t at the time. But when her uncle returns to Brazil weak and sick, Estela\u2019s plans take a new, more poignant direction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Calif\u00f3rnia<\/span><\/i> is an exceptional depiction of youth: honest, warm and full of life\u2019s messy energy. It reminds us that adolescence contains dreams and meltdowns at the same and that sometimes the biggest journey happens when you\u2019re not traveling. Person<\/a> situates her debut to her home town of S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 it\u2019s a love letter to a city where her father Luiz S\u00e9rgio Person filmed the classic <\/span>cinema novo<\/span><\/i> film <\/span>S\u00e3o Paulo, Incorporated (S\u00e3o Paulo Sociedade An\u00f4nima, 1965)<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Soundtrack full of David Bowie, The Cure, Joy Division and Cocteau Twins completes the picture and functions both as Estela\u2019s inner compass and as a time capsule to another world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Otto<\/em> Kylm\u00e4l\u00e4<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re looking for a movie that takes you straight to the 80s\u2019 neon glow, its mix tapes and to the feeling that everything is happening for the first time, Calif\u00f3rnia is the right choice. The story, directed by Marina Person, follows teenaged Estela, who is trying to survive friendships, school and her own body…. View Article<\/a>","protected":false},"featured_media":31282,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-31284","movies","type-movies","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","filters-special-guests-films","filters-subtitles-in-english-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCalif\u00f3rnia — Midnight Sun Film Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you\u2019re looking for a movie that takes you straight to the 80s\u2019 neon glow, its mix tapes and to the feeling that everything is happening for the first time, Calif\u00f3rnia is the right choice.The story, directed by Marina Person, follows teenaged Estela, who is trying to survive friendships, school and her own body. At the same time she is balancing between two boys \u2013 sunny Xande and gloomy JM \u2013 while trying to understand who she is. Estela dreams about visiting her uncle in California, a place that symbolises freedom and everything that Brazil isn\u2019t \u2013 or wasn\u2019t at the time. 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