A family on the move is searching for a fragile bubble of tenderness where love can still take root. That is the story, which sounds like it could be taken from the headlines, of The Garden We Dreamed (El jardín que soñamos), the poetic third feature from Mexican writer-director Joaquín del Paso (The Hole in the Fence, Panamerican Machinery).
The movie, following a Haitian couple and the woman’s two kids who move to a remote forest in Mexico and try to create a fleeting place of love and resilience, world premieres on Feb. 13 in the Panorama program of the Berlin International Film Festival.
The Garden We Dreamed, produced by Amondo Cine and Cárcava Cine, features Nehemie Bastien (Freda, Kidnapping Inc.), Faustin Pierre, Kimaëlle Holly Preville, Ruth Aicha Pierre Nelson, and Carlos Esquivel. Gökhan Tiryaki (One Upon a Time in Anatolia) handled the cinematography in a fir forest in central Mexico where millions of migratory Monarch butterflies find their home, with editing by
Raul Barreras. Roma producer Nicolás Celis’ Pimienta Films will distribute the film in Mexico. m-appeal is handling world sales.
The Garden We Dreamed tells the story of Esther and Junior and Esther’s daughters, Flor and Aisha. “They are in pursuit of a better future,” explains a plot description. “In central Mexico, they settle in a remote forest where illegal logging shapes both the lives of its inhabitants and the fragile forest that shelters them.” There, they are surrounded by Monarch butterflies.
Adds the synopsis: “As Junior grapples with the weight of his past and the family searches for their place in this unfamiliar environment, Esther becomes their anchor, cultivating moments of peace and care even as the world around them begins to fracture.”
del Paso has also produced Natalia López’s Robe of Gems, which won the Silver Bear at Berlin in 2022, and two Locarno winners, Bianca Lucas’ Love Dog and Hilal Baydarov’s Sermon to the Fish.
“This film is a study on two migrations: the delicate flight of the Monarch butterfly, which travels each year from the north of the American continent south to Mexico in search of warmth, and the human journey north from Central America and through Mexico in search of stability and possibility,” he says in a director’s statement. “They meet in a forest increasingly dismantled by illegal logging and the forces that profit from it. The relationship between the two creates a mirror and a metaphor – a landscape defined by both danger and fragile hope.”
And he shares: “Living in central Mexico, I have witnessed the quiet disappearance of ancient trees alongside the arrival of Haitian families seeking to rebuild their lives. This reality led me to shift my creative direction, moving away from the satirical tone of my previous films toward a more intimate and human approach. Through the journey of Junior and Esther, I explore the tension between past wounds and the search for stability. While the narrative touches on social invisibility, it remains rooted in the warmth of the family unit.”
Concludes del Paso: “I believe that even in the most precarious conditions, the human spirit seeks brightness. Beyond the thematic problems of our time, I wanted to capture the moments of play, the tenderness between parents and children, and the small acts of resilience that constitute a life. I want the film to serve as a vehicle for empathy, an invitation to see ourselves in the ‘other.’ By focusing on the light that persists in the shadows of the forest, I hope to show that humanity’s greatest strength is our capacity to care for one another when the world around us feels like it is falling apart.”
THR can now premiere an exclusive clip from The Garden We Dreamed. Since the quiet images speak so loudly, we’ll just shut up and let you watch.
