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Screening with short film Golden Bloom - "Searching for Sunlight"
Shy and withdrawn to a crippling degree, 11 year-old Alba (an astonishing debut performance by Macarena Arias) moves through life with a doe-eyed placidity that’s quietly taking it all in, wisely stepping around traps others her age fall headfirst into. Carrying the heavy burden of tending to her bedridden mother and unable to connect with her more affluent classmates, Alba takes refuge in jigsaw puzzles and quiet games of imagination with small inanimate objects. But when her mother is suddenly hospitalized, the girl is remanded to her long-absent father Igor (Pablo Aguirre), an awkward, unkempt swim instructor who’s fallen on hard times and whose near muteness makes apparent where Alba inherited her own incapacitating shyness. As each struggles to connect with the other, an unexpected invitation to a popular classmate’s party presents Alba with a chance to come out of her shell, leading to a series of loaded encounters with her classmates and the daunting task of balancing being a normal, happy pre-teen with the stark realities of her upbringing.
Winner of the Lions Film Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Horizontes Award-Special Mention at the San Sebastian Film Festival, the debut feature from writer/director Ana Cristina Barragán is already being heralded as a breakthrough for Ecuadorian cinema, and to experience the film is to leave little doubt of its importance: at once a gritty, unsentimental exploration of the casual cruelties of pre-adolescent life; and a hopeful, finely drawn portrait of a girl yet to realize her own quiet beauty.
Título: Alba
Anunciado como un enorme avance del cine Ecuatoriano, el film con el que debuta la escritora y directora Ana Cristina Barragán es al mismo tiempo una exploración impasible de la crueldad fortuita de la vida pre-adolescente, y un retrato exquisito y optimista de una niña que aun no conoce su propia belleza. Cuando su madre debe ser internada repentinamente en el hospital, Alba, la tímida y retraída niña de 11 años, queda al cuidado de Igor, su casi desconocido padre. Mientras ella y su padre bregan por conectarse, Alba tiene la oportunidad de salir de su caparazón cuando recibe una invitación inesperada.
Press
"An emotional truthfulness which is embodied in a fine, trembling central performance by Macarena Arias and in its sensitive, empathetic script." - The Hollywood Reporter
Screening with Short Film
Golden Bloom - "Searching for Sunlight"
2016 | 4 min | Music Video | USA | English
Official Music Video for Golden Blood, "Searching For Sunlight."
Director(s): Marylys Merida | School: Lynn Classical