40 people forgotten in a cinema: this is the “unprecedented, absurd and surreal” session that these Brazilian spectators experienced in front of the film “Winter Break” by Alexander Payne.
Released in France on December 13, Winter Break is called “The Holdovers” in English. What can be translated as “The Left Behind”. And “Os Rejeitados”either “The Rejected” in Brazil. And that’s exactly what the forty local spectators who came to discover the new film by Alexander Payne, nominated for five Oscars, felt.
As the session ended, and some were still shedding a few tears, what was their surprise to discover that the lights in the room did not come back on, and that they were locked in the cinema. Alone, like the characters in the feature film which takes place in a private high school during the end of year holidays.
The employees had in fact left the premises and closed the doors of the building, forgetting that a session was in progress. Made aware of the situation while they were at another cinema in the area, they were able to return and free the spectators, who had tried to contact the police and firefighters.
All’s well that ends well then. Except for the employees in question, temporarily laid off after this incident, the cinema representatives, interviewed by O Globoqualify as“unprecedented, absurd and surreal”.