Monte Tropic

Synopsis

Agadiri has just been released from prison and is spending a few days with his friend Oussama, who is taking care of him while trying to help him find a future. Neither of these two young Moroccans has been in Spain for very long, but they are both being forced to shape their life plans within the straitjacket of their apparently inescapable status as immigrants while the country is in lockdown at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Their drowsy, claustrophobic lockdown existence leads them to create new landscapes while exploring their memories and physicality. Monte Tropic is the first film by the Transgang project, led by Universitat Pompeu Fabra, which seeks to tell the stories of “problematic” young people from a fresh perspective.

Bio/Filmo

Venezuelan-born, Spanish-based director Andrés Duque (Caracas, 1972) often uses his work to question what it means to be a migrant and explore the cultural frameworks, identities, prejudices and aesthetics entailed by this worldwide phenomenon. Many of his fifteen nonfiction film essays have been exhibited at cultural centres, and he has won plaudits and prizes at festivals across the world (Punto de Vista, Cinéma du Réel, Dokufest, FIDMarseille, Goya Award, Ciutat de Barcelona Award). Several of his films have been screened at l’Alternativa, including his debut, Ivan Z (2004), and Color perro que huye (2011), and he sat on the festival jury in 2016. This year he is back here as one of our Satellites to give the masterclass Immigrant Aesthetics and programme a film by another director that left an indelible mark on him.