The Costa Rican film “Memories of a Burning Body,” directed by Antonella Sudasassi Furniss, will have its world debut at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival.
The premiere will be in the Panorama section, of great importance and a favorite of the public that takes the pulse of contemporary cinema and invites people to see films from a different perspective. The film will compete for the audience award, one of the festival’s most important awards.
The work portrays the story of Ana, Patricia and Mayela, who, educated in a repressive era where sexuality was taboo, found the meaning of femininity through unspoken rules and implicit impositions.
Now, their brave voices are embodied in a single 65-year-old woman, played by actress Sol Carballo, who revisits a kaleidoscopic life that intertwines memories, secrets and hidden desires.
A personal history
“This film is the conversation I never had with my grandmothers. For me, understanding the history of these women is understanding my present, understanding my place in the world, how and why we got here. It is an ode to the women creators of the universe, who gave birth to us, who took care of us, who invited us to question so that today things are different for us,” Sudasassi explained.
In addition to Carballo, the film features the participation of actresses Paulina Bernini and Juliana Filloy in the leading roles. Liliana Biamonte, Juan Luis Araya, Leonardo Perucci, Cecilia García, Teo Yuja, among others, also participate.
The Berlinale, as the competition is also known, will take place from February 15 to 25 in Berlin, Germany. This is the second time that a Sudasassi film premieres at this festival. Her previous film “The Wake of the Ants” premiered there in 2019.
The work later became the first Central American film to be nominated for the Goya Awards and the first Costa Rican film to win at the Platinum Awards. The feature film “Memories of a Burning Body” was filmed in a single location in Barrio Vasconia in San José.
It is a co-production between the Costa Rican production company Substance Films and the Spanish PlayLab Films. It received the national fund El Fauno, Ibermedia and had funds from the Catalan Institute of Cultural Companies (ICEC).
A great recognition
“Premiering the film at the Berlinale is a great recognition of the work of the entire team. Likewise, it elevates our country and makes visible our culture and audiovisual industry, which thanks to the work of committed people, as well as continuous state support, has grown exponentially in recent years,” commented Manrique Cortés, the producer of the feature film. Its release in theaters in Costa Rica is scheduled between June and August 2024.
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