HAMACA PARAGUAYA by Paz Encina

Un Certain Regard Cannes 2006 - Prix Fipresci

Synopsis :

June 14, 1935. And yet, much later. It's already autumn and it's still hot - the heat never goes away.  In a remote place in Paraguay, an elderly peasant couple Candida and Ramon are waiting for their son who left to fight the Chaco War.  They are also waiting for the rain to come, it keeps announcing its arrival but it doesn't come; and for the wind that never comes either; and for the heat to go away but it never does in spite of the season ; and for the dog to stop barking but it will never stop; and all in all, they are waiting for better times to come. The instant of the eternal waiting is found between the "before" and the "after" of time.  The couple faces these waiting moments with different attitudes : Ramon, a farmer, waits with optimism; Candida, a mother and a washerwoman, believes her son is already dead, therefore it makes no sense to keep waiting. These roles go back and forth while the couple sit, and after the death and in between, they wait eternally for the passing of time.

Title : HAMACA PARAGUAYA
Original title : HAMACA PARAGUAYA
Director : Paz Encina
Genre : Fiction
Length : 78min
Format : 35mm
Sound : Dolby SRD
Director of photography : Willy Behnisch    
Editor : Miguel Swerdfinger
Sound engineer : Guido Berenblum / Victor Tendler
Artitstic director : Carlo Spatuzza    
Country of Origin : France, Argentine, Hollande, Espagne, Paraguay
Year of production : 2006
Producers : Slot Machine, Lita Stantic Producciones, Fortuna Films, Wanda Vision, Silencio Cine
Coproducers : ARTE France Cinéma, New Crowned Hope, Festival Vienna 2006, Wanda Vision, CMW Film Company.
Executive producers : Illuminations Films for New Crowned Hope
With the participation of : Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication - CNC, Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, France, World Cinema Fund, Instituto Nacional de Ciné y Artes, Audiovisuales,  Argentina
This project was realised with the support of : Gôteborg Film festival Fund Sweden, Fundacion Typa, Argentina
Project selected by : L'Atelier du Festival, Cannes 2005, Fondec, Paraguaya, Fundacion Carolina, Spain, Cinemart, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, Holland

Principal cast :

Georgina Genes
Ramon del Rio

Price :

* Prix Prince Claus Fund at the Cinémart Market, Rotterdam 2005
* Cinéfondation Atelier at Cannes 2005  
* « Un certain regard » Cannes 2006
* FIPRESCI Award, Cannes 2006
* Prix "L'age D'or" / Golden Age Award, Festival Cinédécourvertes/ Filmvondsten 2006 - Belgique

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