The Bella Vista
Spanish with English subtitles
Director: Alicia Cano Menoni Producers: Alicia Cano Menoni & Mario Jacob (Uruguay), Thomas Mauch (Germany) Screenplay: Alicia Cano Menoni Cinematographer: Arauco Hernández Holz Editor: Fernando Epstein Music: Maximiliano Silveira
A football club, a transvestite brothel, and finally, the Jesus of Mercy Catholic chapel. Director Alicia Cano Menoni restages the happenings that led rather distinct tenants to occupy the same building at different points in time in the small Uruguayan village of Garbanzo. The Bella Vista blurs the boundaries between documentary and fiction, truth and acting, offering the audience a candid and good-humoured story. The film carries a compelling metaphor, diving into the lives of a few specific characters while at the same time, playing with the medium of documentary filmmaking. -Vitor Borba
The Bella Vista is a film rich in nostalgia, capable of seeing, following and understanding its characters, without judging them.
Juan Pablo Cinelli, Página 12
Un club de fútbol, un prostíbulo de travestis y, finalmente, una capilla católica. Directora Alicia Cano Menoni filma la recreación de los acontecimientos que condujeron inquilinos bastante distintos a ocupar el mismo edificio, en diferentes momentos, en un pequeño pueblo uruguayo. En El Bella Vista, el documental y la ficción, la verdad y la actuación se confunden en una historia franca y bien humorada. La película desarrolla una metáfora convincente, y se sumerge en la vida de personajes curiosos, jugando, al mismo tiempo, con las limitaciones del medio documental.
Alicia Cano Menoni was born in Uruguay in 1982. She completed a Master’s degree in Documentary Cinema in Italy and subsequently worked for several years making documentaries for Italian television. Her first feature, The Bella Vista, screened at San Sebastián and was nominated for Best Documentary at the Chicago International Film Festival.