If Pigeons Turned to Gold

Pepa, the film’s author and narrator, meets their cousin David after many years lying in hospital where his legs were amputated. Pepa’s older Brother has lived on the street for over a decade. He sleeps in a concrete shed in the middle of a housing development where Brother and Pepa grew up. Their cousin Marco, David’s brother, houses in a garage and makes do collecting electronic waste. Pepa was unable to save their father but is resolved to save their Brother and cousins.

If Pigeons Turned to Gold follows three years in the lives of four relatives, contrasting a common childhood with a present fundamentally at odds. A mosaic-structured documentary, it charts the story of a quest for balance between love and hate, care and self-destruction, exploring the roots of addiction and the possibility of breaking with generational trauma. How does one let those whom one loves most live (and perhaps die)? How do we stop tolerating and begin to respect?