Arco follows a 10-year-old boy named Arco Dorell from an idyllic future in the year 2932 where humans live on platforms in the clouds. Wanting to fly like his older family members, Arco sneaks out with his sister’s rainbow time-travel suit, but miscalculates and crash-lands in the year 2075 on an earth plagued by climate catastrophes.
Stranded on a technologically strained Earth protected by dome structures, Arco is discovered by a 10-year-old girl named Iris. Iris lives with her baby brother Peter under the care of a compassionate robot nanny named Mikki, while her human parents are mostly represented via holograms or absent due to societal routines.
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Iris decided to help the strange boy from the sky fix his malfunctioning, diamond-powered rainbow suit so he can return to his family. However, their mission draws unwanted attention from a trio of eccentric local conspiracy theorists who are determined to prove that rainbow-suited time travelers are real.
As environmental pressures mount and a dangerous wildfire threatens the surrounding region, Iris, Arco and Mikki are forced to flee. They are chased by the persistent local hunters into an industrial factory area, where the children manage to recover the crucial gen needed to reactivate Arco’s flight museum.
To save the children from the raging wildfire and encroaching danger, Mikki shelters them inside a secure cave, sustaining massive structural damage in the process that permanently deactivates the loyal robot. Before shutting down for good, Mikki leaves behind cave drawings detailing the children’s whereabouts.
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Mikki’s markings eventually lead Arco’s family to the correct timeline, though years of searching have caused his parents and sister to age significantly by the time they track him down. Arco shared a bittersweet emotional farewell with Iris before activating his rainbow suit and returning to his home in the clouds, carrying a profound new understanding of Earth’s history and the power of human connection.
Directed by: Ugo Bienvenu
Cast: Swann Arlaud, Alma Jodorowsky, Margot Ringard Oldra, Oscar Tresanini, Vincent Macaigne
Running time: 89 minutes
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