Tragic Jungle

Selva trágica

Director: Yulene Olaizola
Country: Mexico, France, Colombia

Regional Premiere
2020 | 96 min. | Spanish, English, Maya, Creole
Subtitles: German, English
FSK 18

Cast_ Indira Andrewin, Gilberto Bararaza, Mariano Tun Xool Screenplay_ Yulene Olaizola, Rubén Imaz Camera_ Sofía Oggioni Producer_ Pablo Zimbrón, Rubén Imaz, Yulene Olaizola Rights_ Varios Lobos

The rainforest as a place of refuge, entanglements and fantasies. A young woman is hunted by rich white men, rescued by workers, and everyone falls for her.

Director Yulene Olaizola has chosen 1920s Mexico as the setting for her meditation on desire, fear and possession. A British landowner goes hunting in the tropical rainforest – for the young woman Agnes (Indira Andrewin), whom he intends to marry against her will. His claims on her clash with her innocence. She reveals herself a virgin, envious of her friend’s sexual experiences. With luck, she manages to escape the British search party. Injured, she is found by Spanish-speaking workers and brought to their camp. A tactile feverish dream unfolds: from the young woman's fantasies to those of the men, who have sworn to celibacy. Cinematographer Sofia Oggioni draws our attention to the jungle’s sensuality, evoking the feeling of being lost and the feverish desire to get lost.

Director

Born in 1983, Yulene Olaizola studied at the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica in her home town of Mexico City until 2009. Her graduation film Shakespeare and Victor Hugo's Intimacies received prizes at various festivals. With Artificial Paradises (2011) she was invited to Rotterdam, with Fogo (2012) to Cannes. Epitaph premiered in Tallinn in 2015, Tragic Jungle in Venice this year.