The programming of the next edition of the Sundance Film Festival was announced and the Chilean presence is coming in with double representation. The Cow who sang a song about the Future, Francisca Alegria’s debut feature, will have its world premiere at the World Cinema Drama Competition, while Beast, Hugo Covarrubias’s award-winning animated short is at Sundance Shorts.
Sundance is the most important American event in independent cinema and the first big film event of the year, which will be held between 20 and 30 January in a face-to-face and virtual manner.
Francisca Alegría returns to Sundance
“I’m very happy for the selection at the Sundance Film Festival, it is a film that we have made with a lot of effort and a lot of affection from the south of Chile” - Francisca Alegría.
In 2017, Francisca Alegría made her mark at Sundance with her short film, And the whole sky fit in the dead Cow’s Eye that won the Short Film Jury Award. Announcing the award, filmmaker Shirley Kurata, a member of the jury, said "There is so much to say about this film, that we decide to take the easy route, and say nothing. For audiences, please go watch the short, and for the filmmaker, we ask you to please make a feature film, we look forward to seeing it".
Alegría clearly heard the message and her first feature, a co-production between Chile (Wood Producciones), Germany (Match Factory Production), Cinema De Facto (France) and Persona (United States), arrives to calm our anxieties. Starring Leonera Varela, Mía Maestro, Alfredo Castro and Marcel Tagle, the film is an opportunity for global audiences to continue to discover her bold authorial voice.
The film is framed within the same aesthetic and narrative universe as the short film: it portrays the life of Cecilia (Leonor Varela) and her children, who travel to her elderly father’s dairy farm after he almost died of a heart attack. Back in her childhood home, the past comes to life and Cecilia must face the pain of her mother’s suicide and the mysterious circumstances surrounding her family’s land. It was written along with playwright Manuela Infante and actress Fernanda Urrejola.
"I’m very proud to have worked with Francisca Alegría, a talented director and a great woman. We hope this will be the beginning of a long life for 'La Vaca' " says Alejandra García, producer of the film (Wood Producciones).
Hugo Covarrubias enchants Sundance Shorts with Beast
"The choice of animation is natural and organic, it’s a personal approach. There are certain decisions that when searching in the human mind, generates images that are difficult to make with live-action" Hugo Covarrubias
Directed by Hugo Covarruvias and produced by Tevo Díaz, Beast is one of the most outstanding Chilean short films of the year, and without a doubt the most awarded one internationally.
It premiered in Annecy, where it received the Prix Festivals Connexion, and it has won other awards in Tallinn - (Best International Short Film and Best Short Film Young Jury), Guadalajara (Rigo Mora Award Best Animated Short film) and Bucheon (Grand Prize Best Shortfilm), among 15 other awards.
Inspired by real events, the short film penetrates the life of a secret police officer of the military dictatorship in Chile. The relationship with her dog, her body, her fears and frustrations, reveal a macabre fracture in her mind and of a country. The premiere at Sundance crowns this journey that has resonated with international audiences, where the search around the source of evil makes it a universal story.
