Portuguese director and photographer João Marques shares a visual poem chronicling a young woman’s journey with solitude. While carrying out an ancient ritual on the Portuguese archipelago of Berlengas, she comes across a mythical goddess who helps her reconnect with her true self through nature.

“This project was the opportunity to share a sort of manifesto with the world about the importance of nature preservation and inspire reflection on our relationship with it,” says Marques, whose film is a meditative response to how nature has helped many cope during the Covid lockdown.

Je Suis is filled with arresting imagery and movement direction that transports the audience into a dreamscape of Marques and creative director Joana de Cuyper’s making. The film’s lone sojourner is played by Climax and Lux Aeterna actor Claude Emmanuelle, while multidisciplinary artist Gaïa Lamarre takes the form of her namesake, Mother Earth.

The film’s burnt pastels and faded neon tones stir up the nostalgia of lost summer evenings on a paradisiacal isle cut from Portugal’s Atlantic coast. For the film's protagonists, however, the archipelago is much more than an island escape, but a source of healing and empowerment.

The Covid lockdown added many obstacles to the lives of trans women like Lamarre and Emmanuelle, who had transition procedures and surgeries postponed or completely canceled. Je Suis was conceived after Cuyper heard Emmanuelle’s story and was inspired by how she used plants and the natural world to manage depression and navigate a life in limbo.

“The emotions and ideas expressed are very real for Claude and Gaïa. They have a genuine bond of sisterhood,” says Marques. “This is an ode to nature, to friendship, to femininity, to love, to acceptance. I fell in love with this project and I hope it can open room for thought and discussion.”