Chocobar

A historical short film, which was a job for the university. It is a summary of the cinema of Lucrecia Martel, in just 2 minutes.

Eleven award winning directors explore why nearly one out of every two students in Latin America never graduates high school.

Chekhov in contemporary Argentina. Mecha and Gregorio are at their rundown country place near La Ciénaga with their teen children. It's hot. The adults drink constantly; Mecha cuts herself, engendering a trip to the hospital and a visit from her son José. A cousin, Tali, brings her children. The kids are on their own, sunbathing by the filthy pool, dancing in town, running in the hills with shotguns, driving cars without licenses. One of the teen girls loves Isabel, a family servant constantly accused of stealing. Mother and son, son and sisters, teen and Isabel are in each other's beds and bathrooms with a creepy intimacy. With no adults paying attention, who's at risk?

In a remote South American colony in the late 18th century, officer Zama of the Spanish crown waits in vain for a transfer to a more prestigious location. He suffers small humiliations and petty politicking as he increasingly succumbs to lust and paranoia.

Amalia is an adolescent girl who is caught in the throes of her emerging sexuality and her deeply held passion for her Catholic faith. These two drives mingle when the visiting Dr. Jano takes advantage of a crowd to get inappropriately close to the girl. Repulsed by him but inspired by an inner burning, Amalia decides it is her God-given mission to save the doctor from his behavior, and she begins to stalk Dr. Jano, becoming a most unusual voyeur.

In the almost two-minute film AI, which Lucrecia Martel created at the Viennale’s invitation, a single shifty eye looks out from a heavily pixelated image; a mouth is vaguely visible and declares: “I am not completely like other people.” Is AI coming to life here, entering a world that’s still foreign to it and that crackles, scratches and echoes? And how does our view of this eerie image change, knowing that the pixels are superimposed on a historical recording from 1961 that documents the anamnesis of a catatonic schizophrenic?

Documentary about the joys and sorrows of being a transvestite.