REPEAT SCREENING: El Ardor
Spanish with English subtitles.
Described by writer-director Pablo Fendrik as a “Mesopotamian Western,” El Ardor stars Gael García Bernal as Kaí, a mysterious shaman who emerges from the Río Paraná to defend a clan of tobacco farmers against a band of cold-blooded land-grabbers. But this is no ordinary Western. Filmed on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, near the border of Brazil and Argentina, the lush, claustrophobic jungle with its birds, insects and prowling animals becomes as much a part of the story as the misfortunes of its characters. With minimal dialogue and yet plenty of drama, including a few good old-fashioned gun battles, El Ardor is absolutely spellbinding.
“...a quasi-mystical supernatural twist on a popular genre.” Rayvenn Shaleigha D’Clark, Close-Up Film
Descrita por su escritor y director como un “western mesopotámico,” El Ardor presenta a Gael García Bernal interpretando a Kaí, un chamán misterioso que emerge de la región del Río Paraná en Argentina para defender a un clan de cultivadores de tabaco frente a sangrientos ladrones de tierras.
Pablo Fendrik (b. 1973, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is the director and writer of the award-winning films El asaltante (The Mugger) (2007) and La sangre brota (Blood Appears) (2008). His third feature, El Ardor, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014.
Credits:
Director/Writer: Pablo Fendrik
Producers: Gael García Bernal, Juan Pablo Gugliota, Oriana Castro
Cinematographer: Julian Apezteguía
Editor: Leandro Aste
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Alice Braga, Chico Díaz, Claudio Tolcachir, Jorge Sesán