Official Selection – Berlin International Film Festival

"Sensitive, delicate and involving..."
- Deborah Young, VARIETY
 
"Seductive."
- A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES

In 1970, Brazil and the world seem to have been turned upside-down. Twelve year-old Mauro’s worries have nothing to do with the military regime which controls the country – he’s more interested in Pele and the upcoming World Cup. He is a young middle-class boy from Minas Gerais as well as ardent soccer fan, born to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother who one day sees his whole world change dramatically. His parents leave on “vacation” without giving him any feasible explanation and without taking him along. Instead, he is handed over to his grandfather, who lives in the Bom Retiro district of São Paulo, a strange and fun-filled community home to large Jewish and Italian communities. By some coincidence, Mauro soon finds himself alone in a completely new world. The Year my Parents Went on Vacation is a moving story about overcoming your limits, friendship and solidarity.