The Martins are optimistic dreamers, quietly leading their lives on the margins of a major Brazilian city following the election of Bolsonaro, a far-right extremist, as president in 2018. A lower-middle-class Black family, they feel the strain of their new reality as the political dust settles. Tércia, the mother, reinterprets her world after an unexpected encounter leaves her wondering if she’s cursed. Her husband, Wellington, puts all of his hopes into the soccer career of their son, Deivinho, who reluctantly follows his father’s ambitions despite secretly aspiring to study astrophysics and colonize Mars. Meanwhile, their older daughter, Eunice, falls in love with a free-spirited young woman and ponders whether it’s time to leave home.

After having premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, this touching narrative from Gabriel Martins has traveled to many queer film festivals worldwide. Moreover, the Brazilian Academy of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts has chosen Mars One as the country’s official contender for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Do the film and its nomination foreshadow better times to come? While the future remains unknown, one thing is certain: Mars One is a beautiful story that offers solace and support in difficult times.

The film will be shown with English subtitles and German closed captions.