Critics’ Week, the Cannes Film Festival parallel sidebar dedicated to first and second films, announced this morning the lineup of 11 features films that will premiere in its 61st edition, and that includes the Colombian film La Jauría by Andrés Ramírez Pulido, as the only Latin American selection.
The film tells the story of Eliú, a country boy, who is incarcerated́ in an experimental minors' centre in the heart of the Colombian tropical forest, for a crime he committed with his friend El Mono. Every day, the teenagers perform strenuous manual labour and intense group therapy. One day, El Mono is transferred to the same centre and brings with him a past that Eliú is trying to get away from.
Born in Bogota, Ramírez Pulido directed the short film El Edén in 2016, which was presented at the Berlinale and received the Best Short Film Award in Busan, Cairo and Viña del Mar, among other film festivals. In 2017, he directed Damiana that was selected in official competition in Cannes, as well as in Toronto, Oberhausen, and Zinebi. La Jauría marks his first feature film, supported by the CNC (Aide aux cinémas du monde), the GAN Foundation, the FDC Proimagenes and the Hubert Bals Fund.
Additionally, Critics’ Week also included the Chilean short Las criaturas que se derriten bajo el sol by Diego Céspedes, about Nataly, a trans woman who is visiting her ex lover León with her daughter Secreto. Leon is living in a mysterious community hiding from the sun: these reunions will remind Nataly the memory of a toxic and abusive relationship.
The 61st edition of Critics’ Week will take place May 18–26 in Cannes, France.
