Skip to main content
Carajita film image, co-directors Silvina Schnicer and Ulises Porra Guardiola

Carajita

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

Yarisa and Sara may be closer than most mothers and daughters, though they exist in totally different spheres of society. Yarisa is the maid for Sara’s wealthy family in the Dominican Republic—a family that, besides Sara, doesn’t see Yarisa as anything more than someone to clean the floors, polish the glassware, and take out the trash. Co-directors Silvina Schnicer and Ulises Porra Guardiola first introduce audiences to this story as one of innocence, dependence, and a deep love much stronger than any blood-relation can ever guarantee.

Things take a dark turn, however, when Yarisa makes an effort to reconnect with her own daughter, a girl around Sara’s age. When tragedy strikes, Yarisa must reevaluate her relationship with the family to whom she has given her heart and soul, and the girl she loves as much as her own child. With striking performances from the two outstanding leads, Carajita presents an unwavering consideration of class relations, unconditional love, and forgiveness.

Directors
Cast

Cecile Van Welie, Magnolia Núñez, Adelanny Padilla, Genesis Buret, Richard Douglas, Javier Hermida

Credits
Country of Origin

Dominican Republic/Argentina

Year

2021

Language

In Spanish with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
89 min
Award Winners Drama Women Directors

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

The Wizard of the Kremlin

Dir. Olivier Assayas
156 min

This sleekly speculative political drama traces the inexorable rise to power of Vladimir Putin (Jude Law) through his unerring grasp of modern propaganda tech.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Steal This Story, Please!

Dir. Carl Deal & Tia Lessin
101 min

Urgent, provocative and unexpectedly funny, Steal This Story, Please! is a portrait of Amy Goodman, the host of the long-running progressive news show, Democracy Now!

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

How Deep Is Your Love

Dir. Eleanor Mortimer
100 min

Filmmaker Eleanor Mortimer tags along with a team of oceanographers and marine biologists as they survey the Clarion-Clipperton fracture, one of the most remote spots on Earth, home to a dazzling array of unknown creatures.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Amrum

Dir. Fatih Akin
93 min

Twelve-year-old Nanning (Jasper Billerbeck) sets himself a mission to secure bread and honey for his mother to snap her out of her depression. It is 1945. The war is all but lost, and such luxuries are not easy to find on the remote island of Amrum...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Omaha

Dir. Cole Webley
84 min

Cole Webley's road movie about a single dad taking off with his two young kids is really just a fragment of a story, yet it unfolds with such authentic lyricism it lands with a heartbreaking emotional wallop.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Blue Heron

Dir. Sophy Romvari
90 min

In the late 1990s, eight-year-old Sasha and her Hungarian immigrant family relocate to a new home on Vancouver Island. Their fresh start is interrupted by increasingly dangerous behaviour from Jeremy, the family’s oldest child.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Executive Producer

Ulla Prida

Producer

Alexandra Guerrero, Ulla Prida

Screenwriter

Ulla Prida, Silvina Schnicer, Ulises Porra

Cinematography

Ivan Gierasinchuk, Sergio Armstrong

Editor

Delfina Castagnino

Production Design

Claudia Madera

Original Music

Andrés Rodríguez

Directors

Silvina Schnicer headshot, Carajita co-director

Photo by Juan Naharro

Silvina Schnicer

Silvina Schnicer (Argentina) and Ulises Porra Guardiola (Spain) are both scriptwriters and directors. Together, they directed Tigre (2017), which premiered at TIFF and screened at San Sebastian Film Festival’s New Directors. Carajita, their second feature film, premiered at the 2021 San Sebastian Film Festival’s New Directors.

Filmography: Tigre (2017)

Ulises Porra Guardiola headshot, Carajita co-director

Photo by Juan Naharro

Ulises Porra Guardiola

Silvina Schnicer (Argentina) and Ulises Porra Guardiola (Spain) are both scriptwriters and directors. Together, they directed Tigre (2017), which premiered at TIFF and screened at San Sebastian Film Festival’s New Directors. Carajita, their second feature film, premiered at the 2021 San Sebastian Film Festival’s New Directors.

Filmography: Tigre (2017)