A film by Shahaf Peled

A Different Life is a film about human Transformation and Rebirth. Three different approaches to life, held by each of the main characters, to show a struggle to look inside and investigate, set in an era when every mental issue gets a magic pill. The three lives and personal stories of the heroes reveal a story about an alternative village living by different codes in the tropical forest of Costa Rica. Each character carries a flag to show us a certain angle of the village through her personal life story. A specific style of cinematography and direction was chosen for each story, all three intertwined in the editing and held together by voice over. The narrator represents Silence, a significant aspect of daily life in the village, seeking the philosophical question, “Who Am I” which is the question of the film.

 

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Daily Life
Every village in their daily life reveals the rawest cinematic life. Choosing Irama battling for the custody of her child, and her search for a partner is a struggle that happens all over the world. In this chapter I would like to say that in fact A Different Life is finally the same life. This reflection of another’s life allows the viewers an opportunity to look on his/her own life.

 

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The native Indian rituals
Rituals from 1000s of years ago are rising again in Central America. Practices that point how to live with nature and its elements. The film reveals these elements by observing Chandani as a silent humble warrior that learns new ways, and shows us how the white man and the native can also go hand-in-hand together.

 

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Transformation
Kate came for a visit in the village of PachaMama to take a break from life and look at herself. She goes all the way during emotional workshops and we can see by this experience how a subject of human mental healing appears on screen. A Different Life is an intimate film going raw with the lead characters and creates a fragile intimacy, inviting the viewer to relate and feel them close. The cinematography is steady, combined with the nature of Costa Rica makes this film an aesthetic piece that resonates with the human existence.