PERRO BOMBA
Chile, 2019

Director: Juan Cáceres
Haitian Creole and Spanish with English subtitles | 80 min
New Directors

Friday, August 30 | 9:15 PM | Cinematheque
Saturday, August 31 | 2:45 PM | Cinematheque


Steevens (Steevens Benjamin) is a young Haitian immigrant living a challenging but somewhat stable life in Santiago de Chile: he has a construction job, a home, friends, and fun. This precariously balanced life is disrupted when Junior, a childhood friend from Haiti, arrives in Chile seeking assistance from Steevens to establish himself. Junior has entered Chile without papers and doesn’t speak any Spanish, and Steevens does everything he can to support his friend and even manages to get him a job. But when the racist comments of the construction site foreman Frederico (Alfredo Castro) just don’t stop coming, Steevens decides he’s had enough. But his efforts to defend himself are met with an intense backlash of anti-immigration sentiment, which  sends him reeling.

Steevens nació en Haití pero ahora vive en Chile, donde su cultura, su lengua y su piel lo hacen distinto en un país indiferente. Tras sacrificar su permiso de residencia por el mal amor, Steevens se vuelve un ilegal. A pesar de sus esfuerzos, ni la ley, ni las instituciones, ni la sociedad civil lo toman en cuenta. Parece que Steevens sólo puede ser alguien a la fuerza, en los márgenes de la sociedad.



A riveting film that weaves between docudrama and fiction in a fresh, youthful style, while offering a searing critique of the underlying racism in Chilean society. – VLAFF


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