Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

A mãe (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Brésil

Director: 

Cristiano Burlan

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Maria, a 53-year-old woman living in the outskirts of São Paulo, returns home at night and does not find her 16-year-old son. She discovers that Vado was killed by the police and that his body is missing. It begins a dizzying journey of a mother struggling for the right to bury her son. The Brazilian dictatorship ended more than 30 years ago. But the military police are one of the last remnants of this black period of national history. Impunity, inequality, violence, social apartheid, prejudice are some of the issues that persist in our history, which ends up promoting a contemporary genocide of young people from the peripheries. And this hatred has only grown in recent times.

Après les armes (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Documentaire

Country: 

  • France

Director: 

María Isabel Ospina, Iñès Compan

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

In 1964, Colombian farmers took up arms and joined the resistance in the jungle, thus giving birth to the FARC. 50 years later, the guerillas surrendered and started a peace process in order to end a conflict that has caused 260 000 deaths and has displaced 6.9 million people.
We look at the transition from war to peace through the prism of reconstruction, based on three stories: that of former guerillas and paramilitaries who try to return to civil society; of a prosthetist who rebuilds faces that were destroyed in the war; and of displaced farmers who come back to their land, hoping to make a living out of lawful cultivation.
The film yearns for this era to be that of a new, more serene face for the country. But conservative political parties, important landowners, drug traffickers and multinational corporations are still present in the background…

Blanquita (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Chili

Director: 

Fernando Guzzoni

Synopsis: 

Blanca (18) comes back to the foster home from which she escaped when she was only 14 years old. She knocks at the door with her baby daughter in her arms. A middle-aged priest, Father Manuel, takes her back into the home. A public sex scandal involving an influent businessman named Pablo Kahn unexpectedly puts the foster home in the spotlight when Carlinga, a fourteen-year old boy addicted to crack, and the main witness to the case, is sent there by the government services to be taken care of for the duration of the investigation. The boy has been systematically abused and is therefore heavily traumatised. The case gets more and more complicated as details come to light, with Carlinga receiving intense attention from the press. One night, after listening to a testimony from the boy, Blanca reveals that she was also kidnapped and raped at Kahn’s parties.

Casa de Antiguidades (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Country: 

  • Brésil
  • France

Director: 

João Paulo Miranda Maria

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

A story about loneliness. A man displaced, living far from his origins, who left behind all the past to live in a hostile place, where nobody knows him. A story about lack of human contact, where the only way is to get close of animals. In attempting to better living conditions, the protagonist migrated to the south to work in a big dairy factory. The cold weather with its white and bucolic landscape, the rural silence is only broken by the sound of the industry. Cows are the dairy animals, only machines work with them and there is no human contact. The town is small, consisting from a European colony. The difficulty to adapt the life in a mechanical production system, a kind of alienation. The only way to endure is turning into an animal, in a desperate attempt to get some contact more "human".

Cómprame un revólver (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Mexique

Director: 

Julio Hernández Cordón

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

In a world overcome with violence, where women are prostituted and murdered, a girl wears a Hulk mask and a chain around her ankle to hide her gender and help her dad, a tormented addict, take care of an abandoned baseball field where drug dealers play. He has successfully kept her safe until the day when he, who is a bass drum musician addicted to crack, is asked to play at a drug lord’s party out in the desert. The father has no choice but to bring the girl along. The party is huge; there’s even a concert stage. Hulk explores around until the main artist goes on stage and congratulates the drug lord. In seconds, the place is flooded with the red lights from laser sights and a shootout begins. Hulk’s father hides her in a cooler. The next day, Hulk wakes up to find herself surrounded by chaos and death. In this stage, the girl fights for her freedom and tries desperately to escape.

Conte sous le solstice (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Court-métrage

Country: 

  • France

Director: 

Maruani Landa

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Milla, a young solitary and disillusioned girl, does temporary jobs and lives at her grandmother’s in a small French village in the South West. One day, a mysterious dog arrives in the village. Assaulted for all sides by everyday gossips, the narrow-minded requirements of a work counsellor, the degrading looks and remarks of the men surrounding her, Milla gets progressively closer and closer from the dog. This one seems to be carefully watching her; and will lead her to definitely leave this world in which she can’t find her place.

Dernier Contact (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Documentaire

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • France

Director: 

Philippe Lespinasse, Pierre Carles

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

In 1970, film director Claude Massot first met André Cognat, a French former steelworker, who had been living in the forest of Guyana, for nearly 10 years. Massot went on to direct 8 films, including the documentary series “Chronique de Quelques Indiens Wayanas". With Vincent, Massot’s son, who had accompanied him as a teenager, we repeat this same journey, following in his deceased father’s footsteps, filming the Wayanas in this digital age and consumer society. The film alternates between a personal journey and an exploration, relying on images of the past which it confronts with the reality of these self-subsistent and anti-productivist Amazonian peoples. Are they trying to preserve tradition and the way of life of the Amazonian people? What remains in 2017 of those societies which, in the aftermath of May 1968, had so fascinated Westerners in search of utopia?

Dopamina (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Documentaire

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Argentine
  • Colombie
  • Uruguay

Director: 

Natalia Imery

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

In 2005, my parents decided to tell us one of the most important stories of their lives: during their youth, in the 70s, they participated in leftist political groups, first publicly and then, as these ideas became dangerous in a corrupt country, they decided to go clandestine. One day, without planning it, I kissed a girl. Then, I told my parents that I liked girls besides boys. The family crisis was imminent, and the following days were filled with questions left up in the air, my parents asking themselves if they had given us a good education, It was at that time that my father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a central nervous system disease that reduces the production of dopamine, the hormone that helps make neuronal connections which give the body satisfaction and mobility. This film portraits our struggles that share the idea of unconformity.

El agente topo (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Documentaire

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Chili

Director: 

Maite Alberdi

Synopsis: 

Romulo is a private investigator hired to study an elderly retirement home where residents might be victims of abuse. He hires Oscar, an 82-year-old Mole Agent, and trains him to become a spy. Inside the asylum, Oscar records what at first seems like irregular behavior. But his camera is always late to capture the denouncing material, which does not yield any concrete evidence other than normal life. As days go by, Oscar realizes the residents’ loneliness and identifies with it; he thinks his family forgot about him and starts to feel just like his companions.
From the absurd comedic humor of crime novels and the excuse of identifying alleged illicit behavior, The Mole Agent is an anthropological investigation that leads us to the question of exclusion of the elderly from daily life, portraying deep-rooted social behavior in regards to the way of life of Senior Adults in Latin America.

El escuerzo (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Argentine

Director: 

Augusto Sinay

Synopsis: 

1866, during the so called “war against Paraguay”, in an isolated mountain. A young boy named Venancio kills a horned frog. Her mother Antonia believes in an ancient folk legend that foresees the horned frog being resurrected if he was not cremated. In this deserted place the family’s only neighbours are Menseguez, a war veteran; and her young daughter Catalina. The rough winter begins to perturbate day by day. The loud and sharp croak of the frog threatens night by night. When food is scarce, Venancio goes out into a trip to a mournful and desolated place where he finds food and faith to face his fears. When he comes back, while Catalina deals with the abuses of her father, Venancio finds himself face to face with the horned frog.

El Rezador (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Colombie
  • Équateur
  • Espagne

Director: 

Tito Jara

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Two workers find a naked crucified man in the central yard of an old village in restoration located in the historic center of the city of Quito. Nearby a car is parked, and inside it is Antanacio crying in his blood-stained shirt: it’s the El Rezador. When he gets caught, crowds of angry devotees try to lynch him, while the police struggles to hold them back. El Rezador is the story of a small scammer who takes economic advantage of a little girl, who claims to have visions of the Virgin Mary and who thousands of congregations consider miraculous. The business gets so great and profitable that it will unavoidably get out of hand.

Eldorado (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Documentaire

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • France

Director: 

Grégory Lassalle

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

The conquest for Northern Patagonian oil has begun. Attracted by promises of work and prosperity, pioneer workers are gathering. Companies are moving in, dividing the steppe into sections, occupying the villages and the media. A hierarchy of power is rapidly being put in place. In this modern Far West, where tradition encounters industrial capitalism, the population is starting to develop a struggle for power with the oil world. The pioneers will only succeed in this Eldorado, if they are prepared to conform. For the Gaucho or Mapuche peasants, two horizons lie ahead: either they rent their land to oil giants, or they put up resistance. Five people are caught up in this march of history. In this strange Patagonian Eldorado, what can they hope for? Should they change, adapt or comply? It is precisely in these times of swaying uncertainty and choices to be made, that the film is set.

Instrucciones para una búsqueda (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Mexique

Director: 

Claudia Sainte-Luce

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Diana is a forty-year-old woman, insecure and introverted. The only source of happiness in her life is her son Christian, a six-yearold boy. She and Jaime, the father, have just separated. One night, egged on by Christian, she honks her car until everyone in Jaime’s building wakes up. After having dodged her for several months, he finally agrees to talk about child support. Christian is playing outside the car. Diana hears the sound of screeching tires and gets a glimpse of a black van taking her son away.
From that moment, both of them embark on a frenzied search. Diana starts losing her mind and reveals her more aggressive side. She wants to plaster the city with missing posters, finds strange ways of making money to keep the investigation going, and does the unthinkable to find Christian. In a surge of panic, she tries to end her life by crashing her car, but the hope of finding her son will keep her afloat until the end.

La erección de Torbibio Bardelli (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Pérou

Director: 

Adrián Saba

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Toribio will turn 70-years-old soon and has 4 adult kids; Eugenia, a failed politician and a lousy mother. Silvester, a struggling actor with a recent heart transplant. Sara, a scatter-brained blind woman addicted to slot machines and Luz, a transsexual with an impossible love. Amidst this broken family, Toribio will fight for his sole objective: to have an erection again no matter what it takes.

La Imagen Latente (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Argentine

Director: 

Antonio Borduque

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Helen (23), a young student from Switzerland, has been living in Argentina for a few years. For her surprise, her girlfriend Noelia (25) is suddenly unhappy and breaks up with her, leaving Helen to deal with separation and loneliness in a foreign country. Helen draws upon Marcelo, a Brazilian friend, making plans with him to avoid thinking about her ex. However, she can’t get over Noelia and develops an obsession. Her roomate, Fernanda, notices the sadness that looms over Helen and advises her to get rid of everything that reminds her of the interrupted relationship. Helen receives a tarot card reading that tells her that things will get better and that her future depends entirely on herself. Weighed down by her memories, Helen decides to gather Noelia’s belongings still present on her life and confront her.

La picada (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Documentaire

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Costa Rica

Director: 

Felipe Zúñiga

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Ros Meri, her son and the three Ulloa brothers are the only inhabitants of the Turrialba National Park. There, in the foothills of the most active volcano of Costa Rica, their lives are in danger. Today they struggle against abandonment, the impotence of having to leave the only place where they have lived, and the history of a whole town that today falls apart. Since 2007, the Turrialba Volcano became active with the expulsion of ash and toxic gases.
Although for the rest of the country the volcanic activity went unnoticed, the towns located at the slope of the volcano suffered fatal consequences. La Silvia, La Picada and La Central have irreparable damage in their infrastructure, and its territory is considered incompatible with human life. From those lands: ideal for livestock, with dozens of houses, with a school, church and active social dynamics: only the memory remains.

La Roya (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Country: 

  • Colombie

Director: 

Juan Sebastián Mesa

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Jorge is the only one who decided not to leave his coffee farm. Nobody in town is interested in working as a coffee picker anymore and the few coffee crops not affected by the rust, are in risk of getting ruined in a matter of days. The proximity of the town festival brings along the imminent reunion with his school friends living in the city. During the celebration Jorge faces memories from the past and the yearning for recovering his childhood sweetheart vanishes when he discovers that everything they had in common has faded away, just like his coffee plantation.

Lázaro (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Chili

Director: 

Niles Atallah

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Elias, a photographer in Santiago, is known for taking pictures of the dead and the terminally ill. He is known as the “photographer of death” and he cannot shake this morbid reputation. A chronic somnabulist, he realizes that during his nightly sleepwalks he has gained a new skill. He can photograph figures from his dreams. In this somnabulist state he communicates with a particular patient in a coma he has photographed. She begs him to kill her and he is driven to this act out of compassion. A mother and her seven year old son, Marta and Julian, live in a small house in Santiago. Julian’s father is away on a trip. One day as Marta and Julian dig in their garden they find a body, it is a partially mummified corpse that has been there for decades. Communication with the traveling father becomes harder and soon they can no longer contact him. The father disappears. The two stories intertwine as the boy Julian starts talking to an imaginary friend that lives in the garden. It seems he can communicate with his lost father and can predict his mother’s dreams.

Loba (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Bolivie

Director: 

Kiro Russo

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Community Justice is very common in rural areas throughout Bolivia. Many times, dangerous criminals were put to justice; some other times, innocent people were set on fire by mistake. MAX is a vagrant, a real life Tramp that spends his time at the Marketplace, making the saleswomen laugh to survive. One day he breaks into a house to steal and finds himself locked in. He ends up having a relationship with ANGELA, a blind woman.
FANNY and GERARD a couple that are in love with American culture, haven’t been dating for long. Once on a trip, after having a fight, FANNY walks into the Woods and has a bizarre encounter with a beast. When Gerard finds her, they wind up getting lost and find shelter in a big colonial manor. Everything seems to be in its right place, but when the full moon comes up she becomes a she‐wolf and attacks Gerard.

Los días según ellos (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Argentine
  • Espagne
  • France

Director: 

Juan Pablo Felix

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Cabra is a rebellious teenager who lives with his sister in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, North of Argentina, near the Bolivian border. He has a dream, to become a professional dancer of malambo – the gauchos folkloric tap-dance, where the tapping of the feet imitate the trot of the horse.
While preparing for a very important dance contest, Cabra receives the unexpected visit of his father El Corto, a con who gained a permit to leave jail for a few days to visit his children.
El Corto takes Cabra and his sister on a journey along the roads of northern Argentina, where father and children meet again.
But El Corto hides a secret: he got out of jail to commit a robbery and buy his remission. While trying to discover what their father hides, Cabra and his sister find themselves involved in a violent hold-up and discover their father’s true nature.

Motín (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Chili

Director: 

Claudia Huaiquimilla

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Sunday, Visit’s Day in a Chilean youth detention center. This day changes the mood of the place, except for ANGEL (16) and FRANCO (14), brothers who, with their section mates, are planning a riot inside the institution to demand better conditions. During the day, the planning itself will reveal all the dreams they have once they’re out, and also the strong differences between them. At night, while they’re all reunited watching the National super-classic soccer game, the authorities interrupts their activity finding out that this 10 teenagers have planed a riot. In the extremely confusing intensity of the moment, the protest, and one runaway attempt, their plan will be frustrated when, by the fire they’ve started, everyone begins to suffocate. The negligent procedure of the authorities, plus the uncontrollable fire, causes the death of all the teenagers, burying their hopes and dreams.

Revolución a la Cubana (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Documentaire

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • France

Director: 

Kathy Sebbah, Javier Ruiz Gómez

Synopsis: 

In June 1959, 6 months after the beginning of the revolution, Edith Depestre (born Gombos), lands in Cuba. A speaker of 8 languages, she becomes Fidel Castro’ interpreter. Attracted by the enthusiasm generated by the revolution, Sagan, Sartre, de Beauvoir; the French "intelligentsia," flock to Havana. The young Hungarian translates, listens, learns; a privileged witness in the eye of the revolutionary storm.
Today, after the death of Fidel Castro, Cuba is about to enter a new and different kind of revolution. Retrace the footsteps of Edith Gombos, to facilitate meetings with Cubans who knew this era, listen to their version of a time when the world awaited the next phase of the "revolution’s honeymoon."

Sábado Morto (en)

Selection: 

  • Cinéma en développement 12 / 2017

Type: 

Fiction

Format: 

Long-métrage

Country: 

  • Brésil

Director: 

Leonardo Lacca

Production company: 

Synopsis: 

Aline and Diogo are living a troubled marriage ending. He is a doctor on call and won’t accept the separation. She is an oncologist and struggles, secretly, to accept a miscarriage. She knows that Diogo's brother was murdered because of an old family bad blood on the countryside. It is her responsibility to tell him this news. This leads them on a trip to Diogo's hometown, a place in his past he denied for years. At the funeral, Terezinha, Diogo’s mother and family’s matriarch, places on him the duty of revenge, a demand to return to his origins. From there, we see the power struggle between Aline and Terezinha for Diogo’s destiny. On one hand, a mother wants her estranged child to take his rightful place. On the other, a woman tries to avoid her ex-partner from committing an act that is against his nature. The two women want revenge from nature.