Skip to main content
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint film image

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint

Crónicas de una Santa Errante

This event has passed

International Premiere

Dutiful and devout, Rita (Mónica Villa, an Argentine institution) keeps a clean church but yearns for something more: beatification. Embarking on an ill-advised scheme to stage a miracle and enshrine her reputation as a living saint, this god-fearing senior instead falls victim to a cruel twist of fate that leaves her, well, a living saint. In the wake of its protagonist’s rebirth, Chronicles of a Wandering Saint pulls back the veil on reality, revealing the angels, demons, and other wonders who loaf about this earthly plane.

Demonstrating a knack for both absurdist humour and graceful visual flourishes, Tomás Gómez Bustillo casts a magical realist spell that bewitches with its heady concoction of anarchic mischief and astute perceptions. Boasting one of the most audacious storytelling gambits you’ll see on screen this year (you honestly won’t believe Gómez Bustillo’s nerve), the film otherwise casually but compellingly builds its case that we coexist with wonders.

A celestial satire as sharp as the devil’s pitchfork, Chronicles is charming as hell.

 

October 6 & 8: Q&A with director Tomas Gomez Bustillo & crew

 

Series Media Partner

  

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Monica Villa, Ana Silvia Mackenzie, Noemi Susana Ron, Silvia Porro, Horacio Anibal Marassi

Credits
Country of Origin

Argentina/USA

Year

2023

Series

Altered States

Language

In Spanish with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
85 min
Comedy Drama

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Executive Producer

Gewan Brown, Doriane Desfaugeres, Samir Oliveros, RJ Glass, Ciro Apicell

Producer

Gewan Brown, Amanda Freedman

Screenwriter

Tomas Gomez Bustillo

Cinematography

Pablo Lozano

Editor

Benjamin Tolentino

Production Design

Doriane Desfaugere

Original Music

Felipe Delsar

Director

Tomas Gomez Bustillo headshot

Tomas Gomez Bustillo

Born in Buenos Aires, Tomás Gómez Bustillo was brought up across Argentina, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the US. After studying Political Science in Buenos Aires, he relocated to LA where he earned his MFA in Directing at the American Film Institute Conservatory. After graduating, he co-founded indie production company Plenty Good. His award winning shorts have screened at Tribeca, Slamdance, Mar del Plata, Flicker’s Rhode Island, Raindance, among others. Chronicles of a Wandering Spirit, his debut feature, starring Monica Villa was a 2021 Screen Craft Film Fund Finalist and will be premiering at SXSW. Breaking away from cliches in mainstream depictions of South America, Tomás tells stories that use religion, magic, folklore and myth to conjure up and celebrate the real human absurdity that lies underneath.

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

The Life of Chuck

Dir. Mike Flanagan
111 min

The winner of the coveted Audience Award at TIFF last year, The Life of Chuck keeps us guessing about what it's up to and where it's going... Trust us, it's a keeper.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Graduate

Dir. Mike Nichols
106 min

In The Graduate Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman, 30 playing 20 with masterly understatement) comes home from college and is surprised to be seduced by the wife of his father's business partner, Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft).

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

blur: To the End

Dir. Toby L.
108 min

Now in their late 50s, Britpopsters blur (of Song 2 fame) do a celebratory lap of Great Britain culminating in their first ever Wembley Stadium show in this appealing observational doc. A companion piece to the concert film Live at Wembley Stadium.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Midnight Cowboy

Dir. John Schlesinger
113 min

Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman are street hustlers on different ends of the innocence / experience spectrum who establish something more than a business partnership in the seedy world of late 60s New York City in John Schlesinger's New Hollywood classic.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Sinners

Dir. Ryan Coogler
137 min

This year's unexpected box office sleeper is that rare beast, a genre movie full of bold invention and surprise. We are in Mississippi in the early 1930s, and the opening of a new blues joint on the edge of town is the signal for all hell to break out.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Headless Woman

Dir. Lucrecia Martel
87 min

The pictures tell the story -- and you better not blink -- when Veronica (the superb Maria Onetto) hits something on the road home. But what? She is too traumatized, or panic-stricken, to go back and look, and her fears are too terrible to acknowledge.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre