Palm Trees in the Snow 2015

Kilian is a young man from the mountains of Huesca who, in 1954, returns to the island of Fernando Pó (present Bioko), where he was born. He joins his father Antón and his brother Jacobo. They are one of many Spanish families harvesting cocoa in Spanish Guinea. The film opens in 1968 with [Kilian] and Bisila making love. Shortly after, Kilian departs, leaving behind a half-torn picture and his hat as a memento for Bisila.

Flash forward to 2003 in Pasolobino, Spain, where Clarence is attending the funeral of her estranged father Jacobo. After the funeral Clarence and her cousin Daniela discuss the possibility of selling the family land. They also talk about [Kilian], who is now suffering from dementia, and Clarence discovers a journal, a half-torn picture, and a torn note mentioning money sent to an unidentified woman. Clarence asks Julia, an old family friend, about the note. Julia admits that her deceased husband Manuel wrote the note but doesn’t know who the woman is. Clarence decides to travel to Bioko in Equatorial Guinea to uncover more about her father’s life and plans to bring any living relatives back to Spain. Julia tells Clarence to look for a man named Simón, Kilian’s houseboy and friend.

Back in 1954, a young Kilian and [Jacobo] bid farewell to their mother and sister Catalina as they depart for Guinea. Catalina entrusts Kilian with a journal and urges him to write in it. On the ship to Bioko, Kilian and Jacobo meet Manuel, the new resident doctor of the cocoa plantation estate. They are greeted by their father Antón and his friend Ose. On the plantation, Kilian meets the abusive overseer Gregorio. Kilian also encounters a mysterious singing in the forest and a waterfall where he first sees a woman crying, an encounter that will haunt him. Later, at a dinner party hosted by Julia, Jacobo’s behavior is exposed and Julia scolds him for his flirtations; he replies that they are not a couple and will do as they please. Kilian and Manuel quickly become attracted to Julia, and weeks later Anton takes Kilian to visit Ose’s village and the Bubi people, encouraging him to explore the land and its people. Kilian is invited to Bisila’s wedding, and there he discovers that Bisila—the same woman from the waterfall—has become the object of his growing affection. Anton’s health declines and he dies, and at his funeral Jacobo flees into the forest. Julia consoles him, but he forcibly kisses her, revealing his pursuit of what he wants. Grief-stricken, Kilian leaves Bioko and returns to Pasolobino for three years.

In 1957 Kilian returns to Bioko and reconnects with the local communities, meeting Ose again and the Bubi people. He visits Santa Isabel, where Gregorio’s intimidation is met with Kilian’s resolve, and he helps bring Jacobo back from Spain for a time. Bisila, a nurse, tends to Gustavo, a local politician who has been wounded, and Kilian and Bisila’s relationship deepens, though they try to keep it secret as tensions rise around the estate. The pair’s bond becomes a source of trouble as Jacobo and others become wary of the affair.

In 1964 Kilian’s mother asks him to return to Spain because Catalina’s health has worsened. He stays in Spain for a period after Catalina dies. Jacobo returns to Bioko and tells Julia that he has met a woman in Spain; he makes another advance toward Julia, who asks him to leave. Back on the estate, Bisila is cornered by a car full of inebriated men, including Jacobo, Dick, and Pao; Simón finds her, tends to her injuries, and asks for secrecy. Kilian, upon learning of Bisila’s assault, confronts Jacobo with the truth of Dick and Pao’s deaths and warns of Mosi’s revenge. Bisila hints that Mosi may strike again, and Kilian pleads for forgiveness. When Mosi later attacks Jacobo, Kilian intervenes, saving his cousin. Kilian sends Jacobo back to Spain and Bisila confesses that she must mourn for a year before they can be together. Kilian promises to wait.

In 1968 a new president is elected as Equatorial Guinea moves toward independence, and Spanish colonists begin to leave. The estate overseers vanish, including Gregorio, and Kilian is forced to face a brutal ritual in the forest, where laborers force him to dig his own grave. Simón convinces the workers to spare Kilian if he leaves Bioko and takes Bisila with him after her mourning ends. As Julia and Manuel prepare to depart, Bisila arrives with Iniko and her other son Laha, revealing that Kilian is Laha’s father. The next day, Julia, Manuel, Kilian, Bisila, and Nelson’s wife attempt to leave Bioko by ship. While Julia and Manuel escape, Bisila and the others face a crowd that pushes the gate down and comes under fire from guards; Nelson is killed in the chaos. Kilian and Bisila marry in a vigil by the Keeper of the Isle, but Kilian is ultimately forced to leave Bioko alone.

In the present, Clarence returns to Pasolobino and visits the aging Kilian, returning the hat he once gave Bisila and prompting him to remember her as Clarence begins to sing a song Kilian had once heard Bisila sing. In Bioko, Bisila receives word of Kilian’s death in Spain, and she walks into the sea at the shore, letting the tides carry away her memory. Iniko and Laha later come to Pasolobino to visit Clarence, who introduces them to Daniela, closing the circle between past and present.