World Cinema Amsterdam | Internationaal filmfestival | 18 – 27 Augustus 2016

Alejandro Landes | Colombia, Uruguay, Spain | 2011 | 90’ | Spanish spoken, Dutch subtitles | Distribution: Eye Film

With Porfirio filmmaker Alejandro Landes offers a tight, physical portrait of a man trapped in his own body who wishes to escape. Porfirio Ramirez Aldana, paralyzed by a stray police bullet, lives in a city on the outskirts of the Colombian Amazon. His world has been reduced to the tiny rooms of his home and his wheelchair. With his lawsuit against the government going badly, he plots his revenge.
Landes was inspired by the true and spectacular story of Porfirio Ramirez Aldana. He visited Porfirio, a man who tried to hijack a plane to Bogotá in 2005, in prison and then spent five years developing a film that would eventually star Porfirio himself as well as his son. Porfirio doesn’t focus on the hijacking, but on the daily existence of the badly damaged protagonist: his ablutions, exercise, the care for his lazy son, his meagre income from selling call time on his cell phone and the sexual activities with his neighbour. Porfirio is continually frustrated by the limitations of his physical freedom, but refuses to give up... and he makes plans.
A minimalist and subtle film that explores the seemingly banal and while doing that depicts the tragicomedy that is life.

Thursday 11 August, 5.30 pm, Rialto
Wednesday 17 August, 7.30 pm, Rialto (director present)
Thursday 18 August, 5.30 pm, Rialto (director present)