Habi, The Foreigner
Spanish with English subtitles.
Director: María Florencia Álvarez Producers: Lita Stantic, Hugo Sigman, Walter Salles Writer: María Florencia Álvarez Cinematographer: Julián Apezteguía Editor: Eliane D. Katz Music: Santiago Pedroncini Cast: Martina Juncadella, Martín Slipak, Lucía Alfonsín, María Luisa Mendonça
Analía is a 20-year-old girl from a small town in Argentina who travels to Buenos Aires to deliver some handicrafts for her mother. By chance, an address mix-up leads her to a Muslim neighbourhood where she finds herself taking part in a ritual completely unknown to her. She is given several objects that seem to harbour a mysterious message: these include a tunic, a map and a recipe in Farsi. Enthralled by the new world she has entered, Analía decides to change her identity, and she begins to dress, speak and act like a young Muslim woman. She takes on the name Habiba Rafat, a decision that will have consequences beyond anything she could have imagined.
Álvarez sensibly eschews the penchant for exoticism prevalent in Western cinema, which so often results in simplistic representations of Islam as either threatening or misunderstood. Giovanni Marchini, Film Comment
Analía es una chica de provincia de 20 años que viaja a Buenos Aires por primera vez con el fin de repartir unos trabajos de artesanía. Mientras está cumpliendo su trabajo se topa por error con un funeral musulmán. Desconcertada y fascinada participa en el rito y recibe algunas de las pertenencias de la difunta. Para no volver a su pueblo Analía retrasa el final de su trabajo. La ciudad la hace sentir extranjera y despierta en ella una sensación de libertad que creía adormecida. Guíada por la curiosidad, la joven empieza a frecuentar una Mezquita e incluso se cambia el nombre por Habiba Rafat y consigue un trabajo en un supermercado árabe. Gracias a la ayuda de su amiga Yasmín conseguirá integrase dentro del mundo musulmán y hasta llegará a enamorarse, pero ¿pero cuándo dejas de ser tú mismo bajo una identidad inventada?
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María Florencia Álvarez (b. 1977, Buenos Aires, Argentina) has directed several short films including Sobre la tierra (2003), which had its premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival, and won 14 international awards. Habi, la extranjera, her first feature film, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2013.
Community Partner: Women in Film & Television Vancouver (WIFTV)