Glass

Illustrator Fatinha Ramos was born with brittle bone disease – her body is as fragile as glass. She spent her childhood in hospitals, far from her family and learned to say goodbye before she learned how to walk. But she drew. First out of loneliness, then out of a desire to survive, and ultimately used it as a language to hold on to the world.

In this film, a graphic novel comes to life. Panel by panel, Fatinha draws her own lifeline – from the hospital bed in Aveiro Portugal to the bustling streets of New York. Her work is not an illustration of her life, it is her life. What begins as a necessity becomes her voice. She parties, rebels, dances with crutches in mosh pits, travels the world. Until her body breaks again. In New York, at the height of her career, she breaks her neck. Suddenly: silence, paralysis, the fear of never being able to draw again.

And then something universal happens: the moment when you can no longer be the same, and you have to hand over the baton of your own life – to a new version of yourself. You continue with what is still there.

Glass is a universal story about what it means to be human, to be fragile and yet choose color. It’s about taking it step by step. For one more step, one more day. Because even when the body falters, the desire to live endures.

Length: 75 minutes — Phase: script phase — Language: Dutch, Portuguese, English — Director: Steven Crombez — Writers: Fatinha Ramos, Steven Crombez - Partner: Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF)