Patrick

When Patrick hosts a wild party in Thomas’ apartment, the police storm the place. Patrick is arrested, the police find countless child pornographic videos on his laptop, but Patrick denies all accusations. When the inspector, Bento Ribeiro (60), confronts him with a video in which he himself can be seen as an eight-year-old and even addresses him with his real name – Mário – the truth comes out. Patrick/Mário had been kidnapped twelve years ago from Portugal to Brussels, was released at the age of 18, and instead of going back to his family, he started into a new, unknown life in Paris.

Bento Ribeiro was an investigator in his case at the time and persuades Mário to return to his family in Portugal as a condition for a mitigation of punishment. But returning home is anything but easy. Assuming that he has been dead for 12 years and knowing what he is now being accused of, his mother Laura (50) does not know how to deal with someone like "him". In the circle of his family, he remains a stranger. It is only with his 22-year-old cousin Marta that he can hesitantly establish a personal relationship.

Source: 53. Internationale Hofer Filmtage 2019