CONTRACORRIENTE (Undertow)
Synopsis
Miguel, a village fisherman, married and about to become a father, has a secret romance with an artist and outsider, Santiago. Miguel is faced with a tremendous dilemma when Santiago drowns suddenly, coming back from the dead to ask him to find his body in the sea and bury it according to the village rituals so that his soul can rest in peace. To fulfil Santiago’s wishes would mean revealing his affair, ruining his marriage and his reputation. But failing to do so would sentence him to eternal limbo.
Javier Fuentes-Leon was born in Lima, 1968. Moved to Los Angeles after having graduated as a doctor in Lima to take a master’s degree in Film Directing at the California Institute of the Arts. His short, Espacios, was awarded a prize by Peru’s Consejo Nacional de Cinematografía. Since 1998, he has worked in film and TV in the USA, while dedicating time to his own projects, writing and directing his latest short, Géminis and writing two feature screenplays: La mujer que le temía el sol and Contracorriente. Contracorriente won the audience award at the Sundance and Miami film festivals.
- Peru/ 2009/ 100 min
- Spanish with English subtitles
- Director: Javier Fuentes-Leon
- Producers: Rodrigo Guerrero, Javier Fuentes-Leon
- Editor: Roberto Benavides, Javier Fuentes-Leon Screenplay: Javier Fuentes-Leon Cinematographer: Mauricio Vidal Cast: Cristian Mercado, Tatiana Astengo, Manolo Cardona, Jose Chacaltana
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