''The Swimming Pool'' ( es, La Piscina) is a 2012
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
n
art house film
An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...
directed by
Carlos M. Quintela and produced by Cuban-Canadian
filmmaker
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...
Sebastian Barriuso. The film premiered at the 2012
Havana Film Festival
The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Latin American filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as ''Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana,'' and in English as International Festiva ...
, and later showed at the 2013
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...
as part of the Panorama Special section.
Synopsis
The film follows a swimming instructor and his four differently-abled students – Diana, whose leg has been amputated; Oscar, who refuses to speak; Dani, who has Down Syndrome; and Rodrigo, who has a mobility issues – and the tense conflict that arises between them.
Cast
* Raúl Capote
* Mónica Molinet
* Felipe García
* Carlos Javier Martínez
* Marcos Costa
Critical reception
It was described as "contemplative and enigmatic" by Deborah Young of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
''.
Jaie Laplante
Jaie Laplante (born January 8, 1970) is a Canadian-American screenwriter, actor and curator.
Born in Alberta, Canada, Laplante's notable credits include co-screenwriter of ''Sugar'', for which he received a nomination in the Best Adapted Screenp ...
, Director of Programming of the Miami Film Festival gave the film a positive review:
In Carlos Machado Quintela's debut feature film, which held its North American premiere at the 2013 Miami Dade College's Miami Film Festival, a minimalist aesthetic and extraordinary control of frame and composition question traditional patterns of cinematic syntax. The boundaries of the swimming pool wash away into the endless horizon, which is at once loaded and ; the scarcity of dialogue or spoken communication simultaneously suggests scar, respite, and threat.
References
External links
*
2012 films
Cuban drama films
2010s Spanish-language films
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