“Families can be complicated,” is heard at the wedding party in Dao. The latest film by Alain Gomis, Silver Bear winner for Félicité (2017) and a Berlinale regular, intertwines a wedding in France with a memorial ceremony in Guinea-Bissau within the same Afro-French family. At the heart of it all is a woman named Gloria, as both a mother and a daughter. More than ever, the French-Senegalese director drew from his personal experiences, before – primarily through improvisation – allowing his ensemble to explore for themselves the love and sorrow united in rituals. Gomis blends experienced actors with non-professional performers and fiction with a (‘behind the scenes’) documentary approach.