THE SWAMP
Film - Homage | Retrospective Lucrecia Martel Filmfest 2018

THE SWAMP

Directed by Lucrecia Martel

Info

Director: Lucrecia Martel
Section: Homage | Retrospective Lucrecia Martel
Country: Argentina
Year: 2000
PT: DER MORAST
OT: LA CIÉNAGA
Language: Spanish
Version: Original version with German subtitles
Cast: Mercedes Morán, Graciela Borges, Martín Adjemián, Leonora Balcarce
12+

Also in this program

Logline

THE SWAMP

Scorching heat in a small town in Argentina. A tropical morass of blood, sweat and alcohol pervades the estate on which two families spend a vacation characterized by boredom, desolation, and lethargy. The filthy pool in the back yard symbolizes the moral swamp of the title ("la ciénaga") into which the protagonists are drawn and which makes their summer a living hell. Lucrecia Martel tells the story of Argentinian middle-class life gone awry with such tension that even the audience is sucked into the vortex.

Meet the director

THE SWAMP

Lucrecia Martel

Lucrecia Martel was born in Salta, northern Argentina, in 1966. As a teenager, she often made home movies of her large family. In 1986, Martel moved to Buenos Aires in order to study journalism and later film at the Avellaneda Experimental (AVEX) and the Escuela Nacional de Experimentación y Realización Cinematográfica (ENERC). Following a number of short films, including REY MUERTO (1995), which received awards at numerous international festivals, she began to make documentaries for television. For LA CIÉNAGA (2001), she received the Sundance Filmmakers' Award for her screenplay as well as the Alfred Bauer Award for best debut film at the Berlinale in 2001. Her works also include LA NIÑA SANTA (2004), LA MUJER SIN CABEZA (2008), and ZAMA (2017), all of which she not only directed but also wrote the screenplay for. Her films have been shown at festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto, New York, Rotterdam, and at Sundance. Film festivals as well as such institutions as Harvard University, UCLA Berkeley, London's Tate Museum, and the Lincoln Center in New York have shown retrospectives of her work. Martel is one of the most important female filmmakers in Latin America.

Credits

Screenplay: Lucrecia Martel
Director of Photography: Hugo Colace
Film Editor: Santiago Ricci
Production Designer: Graciela Oderigo
Sound: Herve Guyader
Producer: Diego Guebel
Production Company: Lita Stantic Producciones
World Sales: Rei Cine SRL