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Q&A with the Directors Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada: 26/10 h.18 (UK) Book a place
SYNOPSIS
The quiet world of a petty bourgeois family begins to unravel from the moment that 14-year-old Miriam meets her boyfriend from the Internet. While her friends enthusiastically prepare the traditional quinceañera party, Miriam does not know how to explain to her family that her boyfriend is black.
Original Title: Miriam miente
English Title: Miriam Lies
Duration: 90 min / color /
Country: Dominican Republic
Year: 2018
Website: https://www.facebook.com/MiriamMiente
Coproduction: Rep. Dominicana-España; Faula Films, Mallerich Films Paco Poch
CREW
Direction: Natalia Cabral, Oriol Estrada
Script: Natalia Cabral, Oriol Estrada
Picture: Israel Cárdenas
Music: Ernesto paredano
Coproduced by: Rep. Dominicana-España; Faula Films, Mallerich Films Paco Poch
CAST
Dulce Rodríguez
Carolina Rohana
Pachy Méndez
Frank Perozo
Georgina Duluc
Vicente Santos
Ana Maria Arias
ABOUT THE FILM (DIRECTOR'S NOTES)
We perceive the story through the eyes of Miriam, the protagonist of the film, a girl that watches curiously the world around her. Miriam comes from a white family but her father is black; she is of mixed race, in a country where a large number of the population is also mixed, like her; but “fixing the race” (getting racially mixed with a white person) is highly encouraged. In the film, Miriam’s family and friends know about her having a boyfriend, but they’re expecting a white boy from a family from their own social class. As the date of the party gets closer, Miriam will have to decide if she should take Jean-Louis to the party and face her family and friends or if she should forget about him, remaining within the social class that she belongs. It seems we are living in a time where identity is a common concern everywhere. Different borders are being created between nations when it is easier than ever to travel and stay connected through the Internet. But what happens to her can happen to us all, when we look at ourselves in the mirror of “the other” and what we get is fear. “Miriam Lies” is a film set in the Dominican Republic, the fastest growing economy in Latin America, still stuck in time with racism and social class conflicts. Through “Miriam Lies” we want to confront the audience with the conflict that can emerge when individual desire for love is faced with the social desire to be part of a community in which we can feel accepted and loved. Set in an aristocratic kitsch celebration, the intention of “Miriam Lies” is to share a point of view about the conflicts of race and class that still remain in the Caribbean and the world.
DIRECTORs
Natalia Cabral (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) and Oriol Estrada (Capellades, Catalonia, Spain) are award-winning filmmakers whose work live on the borderlines of fiction and nonfiction. Graduates of the prestigious EICTV Cuban Film School, Natalia and Oriol found Faula Films in 2012 in order to provide a creative platform for the development and co-production of independent filmmaking in the Caribbean. Their debut documentary feature film “You and Me” premiered at Visions du Réel and won several awards at festivals like Cartagena, Trinidad & Tobago, Havana, Márgenes, Cine Las Américas and Santo Domingo, among others. Their second documentary film “Site of Sites”, supported by DOCTV Latinoamérica, premiered at IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, was part of the Neighbouring Scenes Showcase of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, was official selection at Biarritz, Cartagena and Lima, and was listed as one of the 35 best Latin American films of 2017 by Cinema Tropical. “Miriam Lies” is the couple’s first fiction feature, co-produced by the Catalan auteur film production company Mallerich Films Paco Poch. Supported by FONPROCINE, IBERMEDIA and the Tribeca Latin America Fund, “Miriam Lies” was also selected at Ventana Sur’s First Cut platform and Guadalajara Construye. “Miriam Lies” celebrated its world premiere on July 2018 at the official competition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
DISCUSSANT INTRODUCING THE Q&A SESSION
twelve30 collective
The Twelve30 Collective showcases classic and contemporary films from the Caribbean and its diaspora. Our aim is to change the way Caribbean cinema is viewed within the global film landscape. We partner with cinemas, festivals, academic institutions and community groups in the UK to programme and screen films, both in-person and online.
Our name is inspired by the past days of watching movies at the old Caribbean cinema palaces—12.30pm was the time each day the first feature screened in most cinemas across the region. The name is also a nod to Caribbean cinema's relationship to both the Hollywood industry and the Third Cinema tradition.
"All Port-of-Spain is a 12.30 show/Some playing Kojak, some Fidel Castro"
- Derek Walcott, The Spoiler's Return
CONTACT US: dmissero@brookes.ac.uk