The national film “Domingo y la Niebla”, by filmmaker Ariel Escalante, has been chosen to represent Costa Rica and compete for a nomination in the category of Best International Film at the next Oscars. The ceremony will be next March in Los Angeles.
This was announced by the production of this feature film, headed by its director Ariel Escalante. Additionally, the film will be released in Costa Rica starting on November 3rd at the Magaly cinema and the Novacinemas and Cinépolis movie theaters.
In the words of the filmmaker “this is a feature film that touches on different themes. The world of privileged men, male fragility, broken family relationships and guilt mix with magic and the supernatural through the mist”. He added: “The film allows us to enter an experience that deals with life after death, an artistic opportunity to imagine the path that the ‘revenants‘ take.”
“Domingo y la Niebla” was produced by Incendio Cine and directed by Escalante himself. In addition, it stars Carlos Ureña (Domingo) along with Sylvia Sosa (Sylvia), Esteban Brenes (Yendrick) and Aris Vindas (Paco).
The film recently participated in the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. The feature film became the only Ibero-American film to be nominated for two of the main sections of this event and the first in Costa Rica to be selected for Un Certain Regard.
It is a section of the Festival and whose screenings are held in the Debussy room, parallel to the competition for the Palme d’Or. Additionally, next November, it will be part of the group of independent films that will be presented at the Cali International Film Festival in Colombia. Twelve years ago, the Costa Rican figured in the credits of the short film The minutes, the hours, by Janaína Marques Ribeiro, as editor.
Synopsis
Shot in the rural area of Cascajal de Coronado, the feature film tells the story of Domingo. He is a widowed countryman, owner of a piece of land in a mountain that is about to be expropriated for the construction of a highway.
When the development company sends thugs to threaten the community, the neighbors begin to leave one by one. Still, Domingo refuses to abandon his life in that place, since he hides a mystical secret.
His expectation with the premiere
About what he expects from the public when watching the film, the director said previously: “I would like them to realize that to make authentic cinema, inspiration must come from rebellion. This is the same as with any other form of art. You have to swim against the current, be able to take risks, accept chaos. And you also have to be prepared to fail. As a means of communication, a film has a very strong and irrepressible potential for social transformation.”
