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El norte sobre el vacío

Northern Skies Over Empty Space
Panorama 2022
© Claudia Becerril / Agencia Bengala
When Rosa is expected to hand her boss the suntan lotion on a deer hunt, this feels like a sign. Don Reynaldo’s ranch is about to celebrate its farm anniversary, but this passionate hunter’s image is built on a lie. And so, here in the countryside, where men are men, employees are grateful subjects and women diligently and docilely hold it all together, cracks begin to appear in the social life of this microcosm. Ordered around day in and day out, unnoticed by those in her class-conscious surroundings, the menial Rosa gradually becomes an agent of change. While Don Reynaldo’s extended family contorts itself in a bid to save the old order, men begin to arrive at the farm in pickup trucks. Their appearance at the feast and a threat are enough to make the ageing patriarch fear for his life and his family – and force him to act. All that passes is observed by the animals who, either as trophies on the wall or as livestock out to pasture, seem to sense the end of an old hegemony.
With a keen sense of how to deploy omens that herald change, Alejandra Márquez Abella portrays an epochal shift in rural Mexico – as seen by characters who are usually relegated to passive supporting roles.
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by Alejandra Márquez Abella
with Gerardo Trejoluna, Paloma Petra, Dolores Heredia, Juan Daniel García Treviño, Mayra Hermosillo, Francisco Barreiro, Mariana Villegas, Fernando Bonilla, Raúl Briones, Marco García Mexico 2022 Spanish 114’ Colour World premiere

With

  • Gerardo Trejoluna (Reynaldo)
  • Paloma Petra (Rosa)
  • Dolores Heredia (Sofía)
  • Juan Daniel García Treviño (Tello)
  • Mayra Hermosillo (Lily)
  • Francisco Barreiro (Elías)
  • Mariana Villegas (Laura)
  • Fernando Bonilla (Raúl)
  • Raúl Briones (Guzmán)
  • Marco García (Arnulfo)

Crew

Director Alejandra Márquez Abella
Screenplay Gabriel Nuncio, Alejandra Márquez Abella
Cinematography Claudia Becerril Bulos
Editing Miguel Schverdfinger
Music Tomás Barreiro
Sound Design Zulu González, Pablo Bettancourt
Sound Yuri Laguna, Gerardo Villarreal
Production Design Sandra Cabriada
Costumes Amanda Cárcamo
Make-Up Pedro Guijarro
Assistant Director Male Gil
Production Manager Karla Hernández
Producers Gabriel Nuncio, Alejandro Duran, Adán Pérez, Alejandra Márquez Abella

Produced by

Bengala

http://agenciabengala.com http://agenciabengala.com

La Tuna

https://latuna.mx https://latuna.mx

Amacinema

Gavilán Cine

Photos

Berlinale Meets | Interview

Alejandra Márquez Abella

© Jacobo Parra

Born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico in 1982, she studied filmmaking at the Centre d’Estudis Cinematogràfics de Catalunya in Barcelona. Her debut feature film, Semana Santa, and her second film, The Good Girls, both premiered at Toronto, the latter going on to screen at several festivals around the world and being nominated for 14 Mexican Academy of Film Awards. She has been working for television for more than a decade, including directing two episodes of the Narcos: Mexico series. El norte sobre el vacío is her third feature-length film.

Filmography

2015 Semana Santa 2018 Las niñas bien (The Good Girls) 2019 The Performers, Act III, Daniela Vega; short film 2021 Narcos: Mexico; 2 episodes 2022 El norte sobre el vacío (Northern Skies Over Empty Space)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2022