Portugal/Russia/France/Italy 2006, Russian, German, Italian and Portuguese with English subtitles, 35mm, 126 min
Director: Teresa Villaverde
Screenplay : Teresa Villaverde
Cinematography: João Ribeiro
Cast: Ana Moreira, Vitor Rakov, Robinson Stéverin, Iaia Forte
Print Source: Clap Filmes
Teresa Villaverde's debut feature Os Mutante (The Mutants) was an idiosyncratic and detached look at the exploitation of children, which promised fine things from this bright young director. With Trance, her third film, she returns to the similarly bleak subject matter of sexual slavery.
Sonia, a girl from St Petersburg , decides to seek a better life in western Europe. She first gets a job at a car dealer in Germany . But she is suddenly kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery. She is then dragged from country to country, her resistance only increasing her misery and humiliation.
While her startling portrait of a young girl straddles to the dark underbelly of Europe , Villaverde has made a film that is as uncompromising as it is intense and poetic. Fuelled by a superb performance from Ana Moreira, this is a nightmare of degradation made all the more terrifying by the cinematic beauty at its centre.
The Cape Winelands will again at the 2012 edition of this festival present a series of Masterclasses and workshops. These events are sponsored by the City of Cape Town and Wesgro.
Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes festival, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s new film has the magic of a fairy tale and the simplicity of a folk tale. Wonderfully immersive, slow and dreamy, 
