Baby by Marcelo Caetano
Critics’ Week, the competitive parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival, announced this morning the lineup for its 63rd edition, taking place May 15-23. Ava Cahen, Artistic Director of the section, presented the selection of 11 first and second features, which includes the world premiere of two Latin American titles: Simon of the Mountain / Simon de la montaña by Federico Luis from Argentina, and Baby by Marcelo Caetano from Brazil.
The debut feature by Argentine director Federico Luis—a co-production between Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay—follows Simon, a 21-year-old young man who introduces himself as a mover's helper. He claims not to know how to cook or clean the bathroom, but he does know how to make a bed. However, he seems to have become a different person recently.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1990, Luis studied Social Communication Sciences at the UBA (University of Buenos Aires). His short film La siesta had its international premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival in the Official Short Film Competition and received an Honorable Mention at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Shortcuts program. It also won Best Short Film at the 2019 Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (BAFICI). In 2023, he received the award for Best Short at IDFA.
Caetano’s sophomore film Baby tells the story of Wellington, who after being released from a juvenile detention center, finds himself alone and adrift on the streets of São Paulo, without any contact from his parents and lacking the resources to rebuild his life. During a visit to a porn theater, he encounters Ronaldo, a mature man, who teaches him new ways of surviving. Gradually, their relationship turns into a conflicting passion, oscillating between exploitation and protection, jealousy, and complicity.
Born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in 1982, and based in São Paulo since 2004, Caetano studied Anthropology, as well as Film and Literature at São Paulo University. He directed his first feature, Body Electric / Corpo Eléctrico, in 2017, which played in numerous film festivals including Rotterdam, San Sebastián, Guadalajara, and Outfest.
"This delightfully romantic queer drama is a tough, tender depiction of a stifling social reality and a modern love story," said Cahen in her presentation of this year’s Critics’ Week lineup."
