Levante

For Sofia, volleyball is her joy and her life. She is the star of the volleyball team at her high school and a bright future lies ahead, until she discovers just before an all-important match that she is pregnant. In a country where abortion is illegal, her choices seem limited. Her search for the option to terminate the pregnancy becomes especially difficult when she becomes the target of right-wing activists who try to dissuade her from getting an abortion.

Levante is the debut feature by Brazilian filmmaker Lillah Halla and premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The film is a celebration of the strength Sofia and her teammates find in their friendship and their refusal to condemn each other's lives. The delicate balancing act between acceptance of reality and the desire to change it makes Levante a powerful film and a call for inclusion rather than intolerance.