Just like the title of this review, BALANE 3 (Ico Costa, 2025) invites us to experience Balane 3, a settlement in Inhambane, a town in southern Mozambique. Watching this film is like wandering through the town from dusk till dawn, emphasizing the sensory experience of a day spent among its people.
Through his observational method, director Costa positions the audience as travelers who come to life, watching closely, yet often remain silent. There’s no narrator to dictate nor interviews to inform; everything happens naturally as breath itself. The absence of a “big story” or dramatic resolution for a protagonist somehow let us enjoy this film fully. Costa crafts fragments, conversations, and soft chuckles, allowing them to shape its story gently.
Through fragments of daily life–a fisherman coming home from the sea, a roadside car wash, a butcher, schools, salons, markets, and night dances–life unfolds before us, bound by resilience and human connection. A sentence, “our survival stopped us from living,” appears on the wall, illustrating that we don’t really enjoy our life and the small things we see and experience just because we are too busy surviving. A calm and uninterrupted rhythm narrates this film, inviting us to pause and experience life in Balane 3 throughout the day. (FadliAwan) (Ed. Vanis/Trans. Shafira Rahmasari)
Film Details
BALANE 3
Ico Costa | 98 min | 2025 | France, Portugal
In Competition for International Feature-Length Documentary
Festival Film Dokumenter 2025
