Every year at the Berlinale, talk turns mainly around bears – of the Gold and Silver variety. This year, however, filmgoers’ attention was drawn to a different animal. Pepe, one of Pablo Escobar’s cocaine hippos, knows only two things for certain: that he is no longer among the living and that his home is a place called Africa. But his death does not prevent him from telling his story with many playful twists and turns. A mischievously meandering fable about homesickness, colonialism, unrelenting violence, and the fear of the unknown, Pepe avoids all the temptations of conventional filmmaking. An unforgettable cinematic experience and winner of a Silver Bear for best director, the film is one of the brightest stars in this year’s festival firmament.
Vojtěch Kočárník
122 min / Color, Black & White, DCP
Director Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
/ Screenplay Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
/ Dir. of Photography Camilo Sorrati, Roman Lechapelier, Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
/ Music Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
/ Sound Nahuel Palenque, Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
/ Editor Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
/ Art Director Daniel Rincon, Melania Freire
/ Producer Tanya Valette, Pablo Lozano, Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
/ Production Monte & Culebra
/ Coproduction Pandora Films, 4 a 4 Productions, Joe Vision's Production
/ Contact Monte & Culebra
Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias (1985, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic). Selected filmography: Santa Teresa y otras historias (2015), Cocote (2017), Pepe (2024).
Monte & Culebra
, , Santo Domingo
Dominican Republic
E-mail: [email protected]
Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
Film Director
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