Agnes and Otto live far from the world in the old hamlet of their father. Halls, rooms, and corridors seem empty to them … since their mother does not walk them. They don’t know it, but she passed away when they were children. Determined to combat the yearning for their children, each birthday the father pretends to receive postcards of his late wife, in which she tells him that she’s traveling here and there. It makes children happy with a pious lie that lasts for years. But just before turning 60, he begins to receive real postcards of a woman who can no longer write anything.

Around how a pious lie can become a ruthless truth, Facundo Veiga Scalerandi signs in ‘Goldfische’: a reflection on the reasons of falsehood and deception, pure material of the cinema, of magic and great part of our lives.

Born in Córdoba (Argentina), Scalerandi has been working in German industry for many years, where he has directed and successfully premiered short films such as ‘Reina’ (2015) or ‘Alpha’ (2014), both dramas with dozens of participations in festivals around the world. The first one tells the story of a couple living in a country house, sheltered from a global epidemic. The second is the portrait of a struggle of egos: two men sharing a past and present lover. Narratives, all of them, that shake hands in a great way in the medium-length film that concerns us.

‘Goldfische’ is a film written by the Spanish author Álvaro Parrilla, a director’s friend, who offered him a script in which Scalerandi saw “the opportunity to create an allegory about how some governments treat their citizens, making them believe that there are truths that they do not need to know”.

‘Goldfische’ will be part of the official section at the X edition of the International Festival of Mediometrajes La Cabina, which will take place from 16 to 25 November at the Filmoteca de València.

GOLDFISCHE | Facundo Veiga Scalerandi · Germany · 2017 · 30 min