Audience Choice Winner Documentary Feature
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Live Q&A Saturday, October 17 at 1:30pm.
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About Once Upon a Time in Venezuela
Time is running out for the tiny fishing village of Congo Mirador. Perched entirely on stilts in Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo--known for being the largest lake in South America, for its legendary lightning storms, and for sitting atop the nation’s largest oil reserve—the impoverished community finds itself caught in a life or death battle being waged across the nation for its very future. On one end is middle-aged Tamara, an unabashed Chavista, her obsession with the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez bordering on fanatical. An official community representative of the Party, Tamara wields her power openly, buying influence and votes in a region where it’s not only expected but a tradition. Yet she sees her influence waning, a rare holdout representing a government quickly sliding into authoritarianism. On the other side is young school teacher Natalie, who unwittingly finds herself on the wrong side of power—and Tamara’s wrath—as she tries to save a school falling into disrepair. All the while, residents flee as rising sediment from nearby oil drilling is brings disease; a desperate village waits for help to recover its way of living; and two women wage a quiet war, each determined to save her community from being forgotten in this powerful new documentary from director Anabel Rodríguez Ríos.
El tiempo se acaba para el pequeño pueblo pesquero de Congo Mirador. Encaramado completamente sobre pilotes en el lago de Maracaibo de Venezuela, conocido por ser el lago más grande de América del Sur, por sus legendarias tormentas eléctricas y por ubicarse sobre la reserva de petróleo más grande del país, Congo Mirador se encuentra atrapada en una batalla de vida o muerte por su futuro. En un extremo está Tamara, de mediana edad, una chavista descarada, cuya obsesión por el fallecido presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez roza el fanatismo. Representante oficial en la comunidad del Partido gobernante, Tamara ejerce su poder abiertamente, comprando influencias y votos en una región donde no solo se espera esta conducta sino que es una tradición. Sin embargo, ve que su influencia disminuye, un raro obstáculo que representa a un gobierno que se desliza rápidamente hacia el autoritarismo. En el otro lado está la joven maestra de escuela Natalie, quien sin saberlo se encuentra en el lado equivocado del poder y enciende la ira de Tamara, mientras intenta salvar su escuela que está en muy mal estado. Mientras tanto, los residentes huyen a medida que aumentan los sedimentos de las perforaciones petrolíferas cercanas; un pueblo desesperado que espera ayuda para recuperar su forma de vida; y dos mujeres que libran una guerra silenciosa, cada una determinada a salvar a su comunidad del olvido en este nuevo y poderoso documental de la directora Anabel Rodríguez Ríos.
Director Biography
Venezuelan filmmaker, Anabel Rodríguez Ríos, based in Vienna, Austria, gained a Masters in Filmmaking at the London Film School, which was sponsored by British Council and the Venezuelan Foundation ‘El gran Mariscal de Ayacucho’. Her latest short The Barrel, part of the Why Poverty series, went to over 50 International Film Festivals, including HotDocs, IDFA and was awarded with a TFI Latin Grant.
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In this year when we cannot gather in person, and when you, our valued audience, cannot come to Cine Latino, Cine Latino will come to you - as CINE LATINO AT HOME / EN CASA! Cine Latino, the region’s only showcase of Latin American and Ibero cinema, features a rich tapestry of narrative and documentary films from across the globe from some of the world’s most acclaimed and up-and-coming Spanish- and Portuguese-language filmmakers.