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SAN SEBASTIÁN 2017 New Directors

Princesita: Full of grace

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- SAN SEBASTIÁN 2017: In her courageous second film, Marialy Rivas takes aim at paedophilia and religious sects by immersing us in one young girl’s living nightmare

Princesita: Full of grace

At the time of writing, Princesita [+see also:
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, a film of barely 78 minutes but packing a devastating punch, is the frontrunner for the Eroski Youth Award, with the highest number of votes from young audience members at the 65th San Sebastián International Film Festival. The competition is far from over, but don’t be surprised if this hard-hitting, stylish and generally outstanding indictment of manipulation and abuse goes home with a prize of some description — it would be amply deserved. Screening in the New Directors Section, San Sebastián marks the film’s European premiere following an excellent reception in the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival just days ago. Princesita is the sophomore feature from promising Chilean filmmaker Marialy Rivas, whose first film, Young and Wild, was selected here in San Sebastián for Films in Progress 20 in 2011 and for Horizontes Latinos the following year, and earned its director the World Cinema Screenwriting Award at the 2012 Sundance Festival.

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With a script written by Rivas herself in a further collaboration with Camila Gutiérrez, the film is based on real life events surrounding a religious sect that perpetrated acts of abuse against children terrorised by claims that the end of the world was nigh. Princesita feels at first like a charming, brightly coloured fairy tale, but it ends in a nightmare, murky and elusive. In between, we see events unfold through the eyes of 12-year-old Tamara, as the camera’s gaze, never once straying from her point of view, is reinforced by the use of voiceovers. Tamara has been chosen by the sect’s leader Miguel (portrayed by Marcelo Alonso, an actor whose power to disturb was amply demonstrated by Pablo Larraín’s The Club, which also addressed the dark side of religion) for a very special — and depraved —mission.

Thus, the manipulation and defilement of innocence become the central themes of a film that steers clear of sensationalism, refusing to indulging our morbid curiosity and instead subtly illustrating how, using a blend of fabrication, drugs, emotional blackmail, lies, seduction, terror and isolation from the external world, a twisted adult can ensnare a trusting innocent. The stupefying effects of this formula are also brilliantly captured by Princesita’s dazzling opening credits. Throughout, Rivas shows evidence of sound stylistic choices, adopting a range of techniques including blurring, extreme close-ups and a visual style that segues from sun-kissed, colour-drenched imagery to nebulous gloom, all suspended in a cocoon of sound. These effects enable her to sensitively convey the full horror of Tamara’s situation. The applause that met every one of the director’s responses in yesterday’s post-screening discussion, held in a packed Kursaal 2, suggests that her cautionary message has struck a chord — particularly among the youngest and most vulnerable.

Princesita was produced by Chilean company Fábula (led by Juan de Dios Larraín and Pablo Larraín), Argentina’s Sudestada Cine (Ignacio Rey) and Spain’s Setembro Cine (Fernanda del Nido). It’s the third time that del Nido and the Larraín brothers have joined forces, following Pablo Larraín’s Neruda [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(selected for Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2016) and Sebastián Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(winner of the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at this year’s Berlinale). International sales are being handled by Mexican company Mundial.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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