Directed by Alicia Scherson
With Viviana Herrera, Andres Ulloa, Aline Küppenheim. Argentina/Chile , 2005, DCP, color, 104 min. Spanish and Mapudungun with English subtitles.
Filmed in a hybrid technological style, Alicia Scherson’s dramedy makes use of computers, headphones and video games to bring to life the story of Cristina, a young indigenous woman navigating early-aughts Santiago. A caretaker for an elderly white man, she becomes interested in Tristán, a young worker, but can they make their chemistry work given the social boundaries that separate them? As her journey of desire takes her through the construction sites, homes, malls, gardens and lush parks of Santiago, Cristina’s journey becomes a topographical, as well as an affective, odyssey. Tristán’s interest in an older, wealthier woman allows Cristina to express her own buried desire, and her emotions become aligned with the city’s texture and technology; midway through the film, an apartment complex transforms into a video game arena, with Cristina as the whip-smart protagonist battling her way through the digital world. The film’s tonal registers are wry and wistful in equal measure, and it also poses questions about indigeneity and class, as Cristina navigates racialization and labor issues alongside her hope of love. When sunset arrives at the end of the film, it is a resplendent moment that remakes the entire visual landscape, turning it from a three-dimensional skyline into a sight straight out of a painting, one filled with orange and blue hues. – Alejandro Eduarte. This film screening is part of the DRCLAS Initiative Remapping Latin American Cinema.
Presented in collaboration with Harvard Film Archive
LOCATION:Harvard Film Archive, 24 Quincy Street STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20230307T000000Z DTEND:20230307T020000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR