In Ivan Dimitrov’s short film, Paradiso, we follow Irina (Lucía Zamora) and Georgi (Jorge Cañas) as they endure the bleak aftermath of a nuclear holocaust and find safety in a cold bomb shelter. What begins with a fleeting memory of Irina playing guitar in an open field gives way to the desperate reality of survival. There, Irina cares for Georgi, whose body is severely burned from radiation and whose spirit is broken. Overcome by pain and hopeless despair, Georgi cries that he is no longer a man. He pleads with Irina to let him out of the shelter so he can breathe his last moments under the open sky rather than suffocate in darkness. Faced with Georgi’s death, Irina performs one final act of love.
“Overcome by pain and hopeless despair, Georgi cries that he is no longer a man.”
Paradiso paints a bleak tale of the end of the world using gray and sepia tones. Through Irina, we dive into her memories of a world she once knew and her ultimate embrace of the present reality. Filmmaker Dimitrov captures all of Irina’s thoughts and feelings without ever having to say a word, and Lucía Zamora effortlessly brings the story to life. In the end, Paradiso feels like a piece of art about sadness and new life.
In the end, Paradiso is both a love story and a requiem, where even in the face of death, Irina’s devotion shines through. Ivan Dimitrov leaves us with a haunting reminder that in a hopeless world, love remains the final act of humanity.
"…a piece of art about sadness and new life..."
