
This is the complete, five-and-a-half-hour version of Pedro Pinho's film, which premiered at Doclisboa in October 2025. Sergio travels to a West African metropolis to work as an environmental engineer for an NGO on a road construction project connecting the desert and the forest. There, he becomes involved in an intimate yet unequal relationship with two local residents, Diara and Gui. As he investigates the mysterious disappearance of an Italian engineer who preceded him, Sergio confronts the neocolonial dynamics of the expatriate community, the contradictions of international development, and the fragile boundaries between desire, power and belonging.