Projects in development
HOLD TIME FOR ME
Synopsis
In post-oil Angola, amid a sinking Luanda, political chaos and energy scarcity, TwentyEight, a photographer in mourning, escapes his family’s grief when he eagerly accepts a dubious assignment from his boss: to locate the missing Cuban biologist Zoila, who disappeared in the late 1970s during a clandestine expedition aimed at finding a new capital city for Angola. At the time, Zoila was researching mycelium communication networks and fungus-based energy. As Luanda detaches from the continent, triggering demands for independence, TwentyEight manages to find Zoila without disclosing the true nature of his mission. They embark on a road trip together, during which Zoila is reunited with her old comrades. The journey unveils shared grief and fears. When TwentyEight reveals his true mission, however, Zoila decides to leave, prompting him to pursue her to a surreal hidden desert town.
SEERA Films (Germany)
Laura Kloeckner
laura@seerafilms.org
Uika Filmes (Angola)
Kamy Lara
larakamy@gmail.com
Migranta Films (Spain)
matheusphillip@gmail.com
Director’s statement
I write from dreams and memories. In Hold Time for Me, I imagine a not-so-distant future when the consequences of climate change are extreme and unavoidable. Hope for new paths may however emerge from unexpected places. The film springs from that almost utopian desire that only memory merged with poetry can achieve: the notion of “holding time” long enough to restore our ability to imagine the new. Despite the cataclysmic events that cause Luanda to stop sinking and become an island adrift in the Atlantic Ocean, high-budget special effects are not central to the film. Rather, it is a production whose locations are real and through which I intend to continue to explore, in a creative way, the practical effects of cinema from my previous film Air Conditioner. In this harsh landscape of open and profound memories, I explore personal and social bereavements in the hope of encountering what Werner Herzog calls “poetic, ecstatic truth”.
Biographies
Based in Berlin, Angolan filmmaker Fradique is known for his works Independência (2015) and Air Conditioner (2020). His films delve into dystopian worlds to explore themes of memory, mourning, and social justice. Air Conditioner, a Mubi debut, had its premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it won critical acclaim. Fradique has been a vocal advocate of Global South cinema on various panels, as well as at international film festivals and universities. He is a Science New Wave Member, an alum of Berlinale Talents and the Realness Institute, a Global Media Maker and a Film Independent fellow. He recently joined the Berlinale Panorama’s advisory committee for the 2024 edition.
Based in Berlin, Laura Kloeckner is a curator, researcher, and film producer. She is a creative producer and partner at Seera Films. She previously worked for Dox Box where she produced The Dream Continues and Do Flowers Bloom After the Spring? Kloeckner’s background includes work with film festivals like the Berlin International Film Festival and the Industry Department of DOK Leipzig. She is also involved with the Berlin-based art space Savvy Contemporary, where she recently co-curated shows for the Berlinale Forum Expanded programme. She holds an MA in politics and post-colonial studies from SOAS, University of London.
€1 200 065
€47 500
Global Media Makers, Film Independent, Science New Wave Fund
February 2025, Angola
January 2026
