film

Here's an intimate and lovely tale of a Catalan photographer, Júlia, who escapes Barcelona for Glasgow but some years later finds herself adrift in Scotland's largest city, pursuing photography by day and washing dishes in a restaurant by night. One afternoon, while photographing pedestrians, her eyes begin to fail. As illness spreads, Júlia delves into her past and, fascinatingly, that of the city, recalling a mysterious group of people who retrieved objects from the River Clyde, and an Indian boy who, like her, came to the city in search of a new beginning.

Downriver a Tiger fits the description of "a fable about migration" far better than it does any conventional film genre, and uses a blend of fiction, documentary style and archival materials from the National Library of Scotland to evoke memories, displacement and the invisible lives of migrants and workers who helped build post-industrial cities like Glasgow. Director Victor Diago's sister Júlia excels in the lead role.