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El Father Plays Himself

see also

official site

original title:

El Father Plays Himself

directed by:

Mo Scarpelli

cast:

Jorge Roque Thielen, Jorge Thielen Armand

screenplay:

Mo Scarpelli

cinematography:

Mo Scarpelli

editing:

Juan Soto Taborda

producer:

Manon Ardisson, Rodrigo Michelangeli

production:

Rake Films, Ardimages UK, La Faena Films

country:

Venezuela/Italy/UK

year:

2020

film run:

105'

format:

colour

status:

Ready (01/03/2020)

festivals & awards:

  • Atlanta Film Festival 2020: International Documentary Feature Competition
  • Cairo International Film Festival 2020: Special Screenings
  • Durban International Film Festival 2020: International Documentary Feature Competition
  • IDFA - Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2020: Best of Festivals
  • Krakow Film Festival 2020: International Documentary Feature Competition
  • St. Louis International Film Festival 2020: International Documentary Feature Competition
  • Visions du Reel 2020: International Feature Film Competition - Special Mention for Best International Film
  • Festival del Cine Venezolano 2021: Best Cinematography Award
  • Festival de Málaga 2021: Silver Biznaga Prize for Best Direction
  • Santa Fe Independent Film Festival 2021: International Documentary Feature Competition
  • Mammoth Lakes Film Festival 2021: Official Selection
  • Cinéfest Sudbury 2021: Official Selection
  • Detroit FREEP Film Festival 2021: Official Selection
  • Garden Route International Film Festival 2021: Official Selection
  • Transcinema Peru 2021: TransAndes Competition
  • Festival de Cine de Bogotá 2020: Best Documentary about Art Award
  • Perso Perugia Social Film Festival: 2020: Special Mention for Perso Award
  • Lucania Film Festival2021: Honorary Mention for Best Film
  • DOC NYC2020
  • Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital 2020: Official Selection
  • Dokufest Kosovo 2020
  • Santiago Intl Film Festival-2020: Directors in Focus Section
  • Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival 2020: International Feature Competition
  • Cucalorus Film Festival 2020: Opening Night Film
  • Festival Biarritz Amérique Latine 2020: Avante Premieres section
  • Maryland Film Festival 2020: Official Selection
  • Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec 2020: Official Selection
  • San Francisco IndieFest 2020 International Documentary Feature Competition

A young film director returns to Venezuela, inspired to make a film based on his father's life in the Amazon jungle. He casts Father to play himself. What starts as an act of love and ambition — filmmaking to more deeply understand the self, and the other — spirals into a process which confronts Father’s struggles with addiction and his life devoid of his son. EL FATHER PLAYS HIMSELF holds a steady lens to the way the act of cinema unearths, binds, heals and destroys.