Matadero

Synopsis

An American filmmaker travels to La Pampa in Argentina to film Matadero, a founding narrative of class struggle in which a group of workers slaughter their bosses like cattle. Argentina, 1974: the violent persecution of the left has just begun in earnest, and the young actors in the film are on the verge of becoming active members of the underground resistance.
In his first film as solo director, Santiago Fillol turns a short story from the first half of the 19th century into a tragic, metafictional fable set in early-1970s Argentina under the looming shadow of dictatorship

Bio/Filmo

Santiago Fillol (Córdoba, 1977) did a PhD in film at UPF in Barcelona, where he lectures and carries out research on film and literature. In 2009 he directed his debut feature, Ich bin Enric Marco, which was screened at festivals in Locarno, San Sebastián and Rotterdam, among others. His book Historias de la desaparición (2016) explores disappearance and off-camera action in the history of filmmaking. He penned Oliver Laxe’s Mimosas (2016) and the award-winning O que arde (2019). He joined us at l’Alternativa 2016 to share his insight into tough shoots and diaries that leave scars, and he served on the Official Feature Film jury at l’Alternativa 2018.