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La Piel Pulpo

63rd TIFF: Greek Premiere

Seventeen-year-old twins Iris and Ariel live with their mother and older sister Lía on a rocky island full of mollusks and reptiles. The adolescents have grown up isolated from the continent, in a fraternal relationship exceeding the limits of normal intimacy between siblings and in transcendental connection with nature. Following months caught up in a love-hate relationship with her children, their mother commits suicide. Her sudden death deeply affects the siblings and Iris, driven by a strong need to get away from her brother, decides to go to the city alone for the first time. A film that seems made by the four elements of matter invites us to a secluded psychological and natural landscape, reminding us (in the words of John Dunne) that “no man is an island.”

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Available at the Agora Market TIFF63.

Direction: Ana Cristina Barragán

Script: Ana Cristina Barragán

Cinematography: Simón Brauer, Tomás Astudillo

Editing: Mayra Morán, Myrto Karra, Ana Cristina Barragán

Sound: Ricardo Arteaga, Adriana Santiago, Pablo Mondragón

Music: Pablo Mondragón

Actors: Isadora Chávez, Juan Francisco Vinueza, Hazel Powell, Cristina Marchán, Paulet Arévalo, Carlos Quinto

Production: Caleidoscopio Cine, Graal Films, Desenlace Films, Unalm, Promenades Films

Producers: Isabela Parra, Kostantina Stavrianou, Santiago Ortiz-Monasterio, Titus Kreyenberg, Samuel Chauvin

Production Design: Alisarine Ducolomb

Format: DCP

Color: Color

Production Country: Ecuador, Greece, Germany, Mexico, France, Italy

Production Year: 2022

Duration: 100΄

Contact: Patra Spanou Film

Τhessaloniki Goes To Cannes 2022

Ana Cristina Barragán

Ana Cristina Barragán (Quito, 1987) is an Ecuadorian screenwriter and film director. Alba, her debut feature, premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it won the Lions Award between the Hubert Bals supported films, and was part of the Horizontes Latinos selection at the San Sebastian Festival where it received a Special Jury Mention. The film has won more than 35 international awards during its run at international festivals (Best film, Best Director, FIPRESCI award, best actress, among others), was Ecuador’s representative for the 2018 Oscar and Goyas, and was also part of the Latinamerican Cinema showcase at the MoMA in New York. Her second fiction feature film, La Piel Pulpo, premiered at San Sebastián Film Festival in 2022 and was made with the support of Cinema du Monde, World Cinema Fund, Hubert Blas + Europe; it was also part of Sundance Morelia Lab and won five awards at Guadalajara IFF Works in Progress. She is currently working on two feature films: Sopor y Ave, as part of Locarno’s Open Doors 2022, and The Ivy.