Los Hongos
Directed by
Argentina, Colombia, France, Germany
2014
103 min
- Spanish
Drama
Every night after construction work, Ras, son of Maria, who migrated to the city from the Pacific Jungle makes graffiti on different walls of his neighborhood in the east of Cali. Ras hasn't slept and is starting to daydream. Maria worries that someone has bewitched him and he will end up insane. One day Ras loses his job because he stole cans of paint with which he has been doing a huge mural on the lot next to his house. He crosses the city looking for Calvin, another young graffiti artist and together they go aimlessly through the city, like those who want to get lost and never return.
Awards
- Special Prize from Ciné+ Jury (Filmmakers of the Present) - Locarno FF
- Special Mention - Seville European FF
- Opera Prima ExAequo - REC Tarragona IFF
Festivals
Labels & Line Ups
Credits
- Cast
- Jovan Alexis Marquinez
- Calvin Buenaventura
- Atala Estrada
- Gustavo Ruiz Montoya
- María Elvira Solis
- Dominique Tonnelier
- Ángela García
- Ángela García
- Screenplay
- Oscar Ruiz Navia
- César Augusto Acevedo
- Cinematography
- Sofía Oggioni Hatty
- Editing
- Felipe Guerrero
- Music
- Sebastián Escofet
- La Llegada Del Dios Rata
- Zalama Crew
Director's Statement
LOS HONGOS is linked to my life in Cali, the mid-sized city in southwestern Colombia where I was born, grew up, studied and fell in love with film. I spent some time away, but following the illness and subsequent death of my grandmother, I decided to return. I tried to make a film that mixes my memories with new experiences, places I’m familiar with and those unknown to me, people who have been with me throughout my life and those I met for the first time during this experience. Working in that limbo between what I can control and something I have absolutely no control over, with all the difficulty this implies, all of which I find deeply fascinating. This is not a hedonistic film. On the contrary, the project arose out of pain.
- Production
- CONTRAVIA FILMS
Press
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A sure-handedly executed drama that tackles numerous human and social issues in an unpretentious and sincerely touching way.
Oscar Ruiz Navia
Colombia
"I like films apparently simple but complex at the same time. Films loaded with epiphanies"
Oscar Ruíz Navia was born on June 22, 1982, in Cali, Colombia. After studying communication and journalism, he founded his production company Contravia Films in 2006. In 2010, he received the FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlinale for his first film, CRAB TRAP (El vuelco del cangrejo). He was present at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes as the producer of William Vega's LA SIRGA. His second feature, LOS HONGOS (2014), premiered at Locarno FF, where it won a Special Prize from the Ciné+ Jury.
