« All Events

RITA

Become a Member
September 9 @ 8:15 pm - 10:00 pm

This event has passed.

Dir. Jayro Bustamante | Guatemala, 2024
Spanish with English subtitles | 106 mins | Narrative

Guatemalan Maestro Jayro Bustamante (IXCANUL, LA LLORONA) -to who the Festival dedicated a retrospective in 2022- returns with a grim fairy tale, another brilliant examination of his country’s tumultuous history told through a fantastical genre lens.

Based one of Guatemala’s most harrowing tragedies, an orphanage fire that claimed the lives of 41 girls, Rita, a 13-year-old girl who is placed at a government-run orphanage after escaping an abusive household. The girls inside share a prophecy that an angel-like being will rescue them from the orphanage’s abusive employees. As in his “La Llorona,” Bustamante uses horror and magical realist tropes to explore his country’s dark history.

 

The Cinematheque

1131 Howe Street Vancouver
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2L7 Canada

+ Google Map

RITA.

Jayro Bustamante

Jayro Bustamante (Guatemala, 1977) trained as a director in Guatemala, Paris, and Rome. His short film, When I am grown-up, debuted at Clermont-Ferrand where it won the CNC quality award, and was broadcast on French, Swedish, and Dutch television. His debut feature film, Ixcanul, won 16 international film awards, including the Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin Film Festival. Ixcanul (2015) and his most recent film, La Llorona (2019), are both screening at VLAFF this year.