Forum of Independents - Competition 2013 / Marea baja / Argentina 2013
The rotting head of an animal bobs up and down in a river delta somewhere in the jungle, and it augurs nothing good. Especially when it becomes clear that a man who has turned up on the doorstep of a secluded house inhabited by two women is running away from something. This dark, bewitching film with its ambiguous narrative looks to the major works of Latin-American minimalism.
"I need to know what surrounds me,” says the strange man who, fleeing through the jungle, turns up on the doorstep of a secluded house inhabited by two women. Right now he is surrounded by the constraints of his own vulnerability, and by nature, revealing itself as a considerably disquieting element which ultimately consumes everything in its path – like the rotting head of an animal bobbing about in a river delta. The action is shredded to the bare minimum, although it’s clear that, with a weapon and cash stashed away, evil is sure to follow. As in other films from the powerhouse of Latin-American minimalism, here, too, the light artistic stylisation feeds the mysterious tenor of the work, its austerity only deepening the inner tension. The director, willing to incorporate scenes of unexpected violence, gradually uncovers secrets and imprints of the past that can’t simply be wiped away. One of the film’s principal motifs is the loss of our rational perception of the world – because sometimes it’s good to admit that a fortune-teller’s cards will betray more about a person than a rifle through their luggage.
73 min / Color, DCP
International premiere
Director Paulo Pécora
/ Screenplay Paulo Pécora
/ Dir. of Photography Emiliano Cativa
/ Editor Mariano Juarez
/ Producer Paulo Pécora
/ Production Riobajo
/ Cast Germán De Silva, Susana Varela, Mónica Lairana
/ Contact Riobajo
Paulo Pécora (b. 1970, Buenos Aires) is a film producer and director, and also a journalist and member of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), of whose juries he is a member. He studied both journalism (Universidad del Salvador) and film directing (Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires). He has created more than thirty feature and documentary films and clips (such as Tomacorriente, 1998; Siemprenunca, 2006; Champaquí, 2011), screened at festivals in both Latin America and Europe. In 2008 he debuted with the feature film A Dog’s Dream (El sueño del perro), which was shown in competition at Locarno and subsequently awarded at other international festivals. Low Tide is his second feature.
Riobajo
Aranguren 561 1°A., CP 1405, Buenos Aires
Argentina
E-mail: [email protected]
Paulo Pécora
Film Director
Monica Navas
Actress
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