The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
presents at Paragon Ridge | Davie
Thursday, September 18th @ ?pm
FLIFF Red Carpet Members contact Hal@fliff.com to reserve your seat
Venezuela | Spanish w/English subtitles | Drama | 110 minutes
SYNOPSIS: In crisis-stricken Venezuela, abandoned by millions, two former schoolmates are at a crossroads. Roberto, a rigid idealist, works for the ministry of transportation convinced he will never abandon his home country. Selina, a careless brat, works illegally in Italy and considers marrying for papers as long as she never has to return to her natal Venezuela. When Roberto gets a job offer abroad and Selina gets trapped in Venezuela, they face a difficult question: stay behind or migrate?
SYNOPSIS: Un diciembre, en una Venezuela en crisis, la identidad de dos jóvenes se pone a prueba. Roberto, un inflexible idealista que trabaja para el Ministerio de Transporte, lucha para poder subsistir pero promete nunca abandonar su patria. Selina, una expatriada desarraigada que trabaja ilegalmente en Italia, se plantea casarse por los papeles, ocultando su fracaso laboral a su familia en Venezuela. Cuando Roberto recibe una oferta de trabajo en el extranjero y Selina se queda atrapada en Venezuela durante una visita, enfrentan una difícil decisión: ¿quedarse a reconstruir su país o abandonar su tierra una vez por todas?
SPECIAL GUEST
Director: Joanna Cristina Nelson
ABOUT: Joanna is a writer, producer, director from Venezuela. Since 2017 she runs her production company VANNEL PRODUCTIONS in Caracas, writing, producing and directing projects including her fifteen minute social film Harina (2018), a fictionalized portrayal of the food shortages in her home country. Harina was screened at +60 film festivals in over 20 countries (Tampere, Cartagena, Guadalajara, Japan) and received numerous awards, such as first prize at acclaimed 44th Iberoamerican Film Festival of Huelva and jury mention at 34th Interfilm Berlin. Harina was then distributed by HBO. Her first feature film Hunger (2024), an international coproduction, participated in development labs in Portugal, Mexico and Greece and received grants from Ibermedia, Chilean Corfo, and Italian MIC. She is currently distributing Hunger and working in production in the Venezuelan film industry in fiction series as she navigates into her second feature. Joanna has also worked with innovative film-industry companies, like Paris-based OLFFI (2017–2018) and FilmarketHub in Barcelona (2018–2021).