EL FATHER PLAYS HIMSELF
A film by Mo Scarpelli
2020, 105 minutes
2020, 105 minutes
No. 297
Documentary
Documentary
Description
A young film director returns to Venezuela, inspired to make a film based on his father's life in the Amazon jungle. He casts Father to play himself.
What starts as an act of love and ambition — filmmaking to more deeply understand the self, and the other — spirals into a process which confronts Father’s struggles with addiction and his life devoid of his son. EL FATHER PLAYS HIMSELF holds a steady lens to the way the act of cinema unearths, binds, heals and destroys.
Festivals
Official Selection, DOC NYC
Official Selection, Visions du Réel
Official Selection, Krakow Film Festival
Official Selection, Visions du Réel
Official Selection, Krakow Film Festival
Reviews
"Riveting intensity... a tantalizing house of mirrors." - The Hollywood Reporter
"A deeply human portrayal" - Variety
"Scarpelli... is a gentle, observational presence, quietly gathering this remarkable footage of dysfunctional family dynamic with both sensitivity and confidence, always where she needs to be when the good stuff happens....delivering this gripping saga of creative fervor as one uniquely compelling documentary." - Hammer to Nail
