Power Ally Dir: Lillah Halla
Lillah Halla’s film has a dynamic energy and opens to the pulse of an electronic beat as a volleyball team comprised of energetic, gender-diverse teenagers win against their opposition. It is obvious that teamwork and sisterhood is going to be a theme throughout the film.
Seventeen-year-old Sophia (Ayomi Domenica Dias) is a key member of the youth volleyball team and has even been scouted for a possible scholarship to play for Chile in the next season.
As the regional championship draws closer, Sophia finds out that she is pregnant. Not only does she not want the result of a drunken fling, but she doesn’t want to let her team down.
Her girlfriend Bel (Loro Bardot), who is also on the team, is understanding but, unlike some of its neighbours, Brazil has outlawed abortion. There is no mother in the picture and Sophia finds it difficult telling anyone about her situation.
Sophia finds an abortion clinic online but when she sees one of the staff rifling through her bag, she realises that she is in danger. The clinic is actually a front for a fundamentalist group whose vigilante tactics not only make it impossible for Sophia to get a termination but attempt to ruin the rest of her life as well.
This debut film for the Brazilian film director is engaging, and sometimes plays like a horror story. The steamy scenes between Sophia and Bel contrast with the rest of the film, and the personal dramas are sidelined by the activities of the anti-abortion brigade.
Filmed in Brazil, France and Uruguay, Power Ally screens as part of the Revelation Perth International Film Festival coming to Luna Cinema on 3 – 14 July.
The 27th outing Revelation brings independent and emerging films that might not be seen otherwise to the big screen.
Power Ally screens at Luna Cinema on 4th and 11th July. Tickets are on sale now.
Lezly Herbert
