Heirs to an arid plot of land, two men from the coast traverse the barren expanse they now call home when they collide with the chanting, colourful lights and chaos of the Virgin of Rocío pilgrimage. Engulfed by a fervent crowd of pilgrims, horses, and carts, they vanish into the night. SEFF 2025 welcomes the World Premiere of Ouro e Oásis, the debut feature of budding contemporary artist and Lisbon-based producer Sebastião Borges. This spectral Western employs the mirage-studded desert landscapes of Tabernas to great cinematic effect: flawless use of both image and sound accompanies a fragmented narrative (punctuated by powerful silences) of the two men’s journey, a pair of ahistorical and asymptomatic characters searching for something akin to roots against a poignantly desolate backdrop. A lifeline to the outside world, or perhaps a way to disappear without a trace.