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Octopus Skin film image

Octopus Skin

La Piel Pulpo

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Ana Cristina Barragán crafts an achingly tender drama about three teenage siblings living with an emotionally stunted mother on a remote island off the coast of Ecuador. Attuned to the rhythms and creatures of the sea, they live by their own rules and conventions, cocooned and deeply mistrustful of the world outside their bubble. But dark secrets loom over the fragile clan and the pull of city life soon becomes impossible to ignore for the eldest, Iris, threatening the particularly close bond with her twin brother Ariel. Octopus Skin unfolds like an ode to a forgotten way of life, luring one into its ethereal depths like a siren. The follow-up to Alba, Ana Cristina’s feature debut and Ecuador’s 2016 Oscar submission, stuns with its soft, lyrical touch and distinct sense of visual texture. However, cushioned in its impeccable mise-en-scène is an emotionally raw and piercing meditation on life on the margins of society, with an especially nuanced take on familial codependency and forms of intimacy.

…astoundingly thought-provoking voyage into the heart of the human condition.
International Cinephile Society

 

Presented by

Director
Cast

Isadora Chávez, Juan Francisco Vinueza, Hazel Powell, Cristina Marchán, Paulet Arévalo

Credits
Country of Origin

Ecuador

Year

2022

Series

Vanguard

Language

In Spanish with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
Content Warning

Self Harm

18+
99 min
Drama LGBTQIA2S+ Women Directors

Book Tickets

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Credits

Executive Producer

Oderay Game

Producer

Isabella Parra

Screenwriter

Ana Cristina Barragán

Cinematography

Simón Brauer, Tomás Astudillo

Editor

Mayra Morán, Myrto Karra, Ana Cristina Barragán

Original Music

Pablo Mondragón

Art Director

Alisarine Ducolomb

Director

Ana Cristina Barragán headshot

Ana Cristina Barragán

Ana Cristina Barragan is a screenwriter and director. Alba, her first film, premiered at IFF Rotterdam, won 35 international awards in over 100 festivals. Alba was Ecuador’s representative for the Oscars and Goya and screened at the Moma in NY. Ana directed several short films, including Domingo Violeta, released in Locarno IFF 2010. She is currently in post production on a new feature, Sopor and Bird (2023) part of Locarno´s Open Doors 2022.

Filmography: Alba (2016); Octopus Skin (2022); Sopor and Bird (2023)

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