Between Dust and Silence – A Childhood Memory in the Shadow of Crisis
A young boy embarks on a quiet, almost mystical journey through Madrid’s arid outskirts, searching for meaning between life and death.
In Niño, the evocative short film by director Alberto Allica for NOWNESS, personal memory merges with collective history to form a poetic parable about mortality and identity.
Set against the backdrop of Spain’s 2008 financial crisis, the film follows a boy who, after witnessing his grandfather on his deathbed, ventures alone into the unknown. The abandoned structures and visible decay surrounding his grandparents’ rural home mirror his inner uncertainty and emotional disorientation.
Yet beyond the crumbling buildings and sun-scorched earth, another world reveals itself. In weeds, insects, and lizards, he encounters an intensified sense of life. Nature becomes both companion and quiet teacher — a subtle reminder of continuity within impermanence.
“When I was a child, my parents would drive to a country house shared by my grandmother’s family on Madrid’s southern outskirts. Under the relentless sun, the outside world felt alien — filled with secret enclaves, at times magical, at others menacing.”
Co-produced by Black Dog Films and Corte A Films, Niño revisits Allica’s childhood through the lens of Spanish mysticism and magical realism. Drawing on the symbols and codes of his homeland, the filmmaker reconciles personal identity with that of a country emerging from economic turmoil.
The result is a layered meditation on belonging — and on how the concept of home is redefined when familiarity dissolves.
