- This Costa Rican film introduces a country and its customs through the eyes of a teenage girl.
- Brazilian director Sofia Quirós Ubeda plunges into a wilderness with her heroine, offering a fascinating journey through the story of a social fable.
It is not every day that a film from Costa Rica is distributed in theaters! The Dance of the Serpent by Sofia Quirós Ubeda, a fable about an orphan torn between the death of her loved ones and the wishes of adolescence, seduces with her timeless charm and her original approach to the fantastic genre.
For this film discovered at the Cannes Film Festival's Critics' Week 2019, the Brazilian director brilliantly develops her short film Selva which she had presented at the same place two years earlier. The luminous Smachleen Gutiérrez, who takes up her role there, passed from childhood to adolescence between the two films. Sofia Quirós Ubeda built her story around her. “It was like a return to childhood for all of us. With non-professional actors, we favored improvisation, they could make us their proposals: it is in the unexpected that the magic operates! », She confides to 20 Minutes.
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[Theatrical release February 26, 2020]. . . 🎬 THE SNAKE DANCE by Sofia Quiros Ubeda (2020) Selva, 13, lives in a coastal town in the Caribbean. After the sudden disappearance of her only maternal figure, Selva is the only one left to take care of her grandfather, who no longer wants to live. Between mysterious shadows and wild games, she wonders if she will help her grandfather to achieve his desire, even if it may involve going through his last moments of childhood. . . . #cenizanegra #ladanseduserpent # sofíaquirósubeda #film #pelicula #cinelatino # cinelatino2020 #festival #filmfestival #festivalcinema #cinema #cinemalatinoamericain #latinoamericanmovies #occitanie #toulouse #eurozoom
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Learn to grow
The little girl must learn to grow after the death of the grandmother who was her only female model. Its painful evolution is enriching, as it provides information both on its country today and on its ancestral customs. The director masters social chronicle as well as the tale in the wilderness of Tortuguero where she evolves her heroine. Each stage of its moult leads into dance on a very successful score by Wissam Hojeij. The magic of the Caribbean is mesmerizing because it carefully avoids the trap of easy exoticism. Everything is a sensation in the subtle universe that Sofia Quirós Ubeda offers.
Far and strong
Very quickly, you get carried away in a magical world where humans transform into animals according to fascinating rituals and where ghosts communicate with the living. "Our working method was flexible, in keeping with nature and its unpredictability such as rain and thunderstorms," recalls Sofia Quirós Ubeda. The process was fun: the whole technical team and the players were linked ”. His talent allows them to share their experience through a screen. We leave the room with the impression of having traveled. Far and strong. It feels good !
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