The Ecuadorian film La Mala Noche (The Longest Night), the debut feature by Gabriela Calvache, was the winner of the award for Best International Feature at the 2019 edition of the New York Latino Film Festival. Calvache’s film, which had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival, and has played at the Guadalajara and Edinburgh film festivals, is a bold thriller drama and a poignant femme-power Indictment of human trafficking.
A co-production between Calvache’s Cineatica Films and Geminiano Pineda’s Cine Canibal of Mexico, the film follows Dana, played by Colombian actress Nöelle Schönwald (Love in the Time of Cholera), who is a smart and beautiful woman who resorts to prostitution to make a living. She must deliver most of her income to Nelson (Jaime Tamariz), the mafia boss, who protects and exploits her. She's good at what she does, a job she landed by mistake, out of love.
Perhaps, if she behaves well enough, she might get her freedom, but her daughter's illness and addiction to a pharmaceutical drug will prevent her from reaching her goals. An unexpected incident will give her the opportunity to break free from her captor and seek justice with her own hands.
The 2019 edition of the New York Latino Film Festival took place August 12 - 18.
