Ecuador has announced La Mala Noche (The Longest Night) as its Oscar candidate in the foreign language competition for the 92nd edition of the Academy Awards. The debut feature by Gabriela Calvache, had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival last March, and since then has played in numerous film festivals including Guadalajara and Edinburgh. Last week it received the award for Best International Feature at the New York Latino Film Festival and it opens in Ecuadorian cinemas today.
A bold thriller drama and a poignant femme-power Indictment of human trafficking, La Mala Noche is a co-production between Calvache’s Cineatica Films and Geminiano Pineda’s Cine Caníbal 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.
