An iconoclastic approach to history, art, and cinema runs through the films of Gabriel Abrantes, which subvert elements of Hollywood genres -rom-com, sci-fi, action - to address the effects of globalization, gender issues, and the fall of utopian ideals. Through characters that are very often driven by sexual desire, he explores the friction between teh traditional axes of power and the emerging postcolonial players. Drawn to places where, he says, "the contemporary forms of life are still being invented," he has filmed in Angola, Haiti, Sri Lanka, and Brazil.