When boundaries blur between friends and lovers, the emotions passed between them take on infinite formations; a bond without labels, but with the collective intensity of each of the dynamics it encompasses.

In short film Les Sentinelles, Swiss director Patrick Muroni explores the intimacy between friends – sometimes, more than friends – and the emotional response to the imminent departure of one of their inner circle. Considering the feelings that arise from leaving people behind, and being left behind, the film depicts the conflicting reactions to news that their core unit will soon be fractured, the promise of adventure and new beginnings at odds with a sense of abandonment, fear, and longing.

Shot on Super 16mm film, Muroni and cinematographer Augustin Losserand capture the landscape of Lausanne, Switzerland through these four friends, connecting and disconnecting as they process the bittersweet emotions of their final hours together. Vulnerable from the sleepless night that preluded the announcement, and the uncertainty that lies ahead, Les Sentinelles presents a raw snapshot of emotions lived in real time, and the utopian world created by a close unit in denial of the everyday reality that moves around them.