The wandering journey of lost souls, the Gen Z epidemic, inheriting a world where capitalism has reached its apex and human life has been reduced to the rubble of the crumbles of the wallet. We follow Nicolau, rebellious yet timid, a Lisbon native looking for meaning in a world where transaction and productivity have reduced him to the shell of his potential. So he wanders, from place to place, from meaningless job to meaningless job, from nights to forget the mornings he dreads. The title – for me – reflects trying to find a bit of sun in a world in which darkness is masquerading as normalcy. So, he himself has to masquerade, to go incognito, to cut off his uniqueness to fit in with the world around him.  But that compromise is not one that every human can make. Lost souls need whole soles to find footsteps towards meaning, Where to find meaning? Where to find connection when all seems lost? Perhaps in fleeting encounters, perhaps by clinging on to the past or perhaps by finding the antidote in the shape of a carefree luminous girl, who doesn’t seem to care about the minute past or about the minute forward, but just about the now. What is there besides the now after all?A luminous Life is a film that reflects a generational malaise with subtlety; melancholic in tone, existential in essence but open to light as it reminds us that in whatever state one might be, tomorrow can always bring hope. Whether through love or by simply wandering inwards towards oneself to illuminate ourselves into a better path, into a better life. Mouwafak Chourbagui