X Quinientos (en)

X Quinientos

Selection: 

Réalisateur: 

Juan Andrés Arango

Pays: 

  • Colombie

Format: 

Long-métrage

Type: 

Fiction

Film présenté à Toulouse: 

La Playa D.C.
Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2012, Un Certain Regard Section
Official Selection San Sebastian International Festival, Horizontes Latinos Section
Official Selection Rotterdam Film Festival,  Bright Future Section
Best Director Award, Santiago International Film Festival.
Best First Film Award, Lima International Film Festival.
Lions Film Award, Rotterdam Film Festival.
Special Jury Award, Guadalupe Film Festival.
 

Casting prévu: 

Non Profesional actors.
 

Scénariste: 

Juan Andrés Arango

Synopsis: 

When taking a look at the map of America, X Quinientos, a small village in the Yucatán state, in Mexico, appears just in the middle of the continent. From this imaginary point of reference, the movie tells the story of characters who live in radically different contexts, but who are related to each other due to their singular relationship with death and to their need of changing in order not to be consumed by their mourning.
Alex, an afro-Colombian teenager, who lives in Buenaventura, the most important yet most dangerous port in Colombia, has to create and imaginary version of his life as a stowaway in the North in order to justify the death of his brother and travelling companion.  David, a Mazahua youngster who migrates from his town to Mexico City because he is incapable of dealing with his father’s death, realizes that the only way to face the discrimination indigenous people are subject to in the F.D. is by adopting a Punk personality as a protective armor.  Aurora, a mature woman of a Filipino origin who has lived in Montreal for 35 years, finds herself in the obligation of taking care of her teen grandchild, who comes to live with her after the death of her daughter. Aurora has to then try to adapt her life in the city to the image that Peter has of North America, image which was created from the stories in her letters, distorted by the longing and the distance, now incompatible with her current life.
The stories of Alex, David and Aurora get close and engage in a dialogue in which they never come across each other. This group of stories explores three different ways in which as inhabitants of America we create a self-representation of ourselves to protect us from death, and to get closer to how we think the others want to see us. The invisible conversation of desire and mourning with which people from America relate to each other, is the underlying theme and unifying thread of X Quinientos.

 

Concept visuel: 

The movie will explore the visual specificity of each one of the places in which it will be filmed.  From the tropical humidity of Buenaventura, to the post industrial coldness of Montreal, going through the baroque chaos of Mexico City, X Quinientos will show a wide range of contrasted realities from the continent. The unifying topic will be the presentation of these places from the perception of the main characters. A shoulder camera will closely accompany the characters and will react to how they feel in various moments of the story.
The cinematography and art direction will work hand in hand to create a natural but expressive visual style. The objective will be to emphasize the intrinsic aesthetic aspects of the real places in which the movie will be filmed, in order to produce the dramatic intensity of each story.