North American Premiere
Approaching the end of her childbearing years, Milagro (Julia de Castro) starts to question her impetus to conceive and impulsively embarks on a road trip to shake the sudden onset of existential dread. She is joined by her best friend Jonathan, who is working through his own unfinished business with a former flame, and a mysterious mermaid they pick up on a visit to the aquarium. Their journey becomes a whirlwind of roadside drama, song, dance, steamy trysts, and unexpected self-discoveries. Rooted in Spanish surrealist and absurdist cinema, On the Go is a cinephile’s joyride full of deceptively random plot twists that ultimately fall into place in the most delightful and insightful ways. Its chaos is skillfully contained, lyrically paced and the directors’ storytelling wit is entirely disarming. With their finger firmly on the millennial pulse, they playfully tap into generational angst and turn it into a celebration of life and sensual pleasures. A thrill ride from start to end, this has the makings of a new cult favourite.
Special Mention, Cineasti del presente, Locarno 2023
September 30: Q&A with director María Gisèle Royo
October 2: Q&A with directors María Gisèle Royo & Julia de Castro
Presented by
Omar Ayuso, Julia De Castro, Chacha Huang, Manuel De Blas, Gonzalo García Pelayo
Spain
2023
Vanguard
In Spanish and English with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
María Gisèle Royo, Julia De Castro
Screenwriter
María Gisèle Royo, Julia de Castro
Cinematography
Ilton K. Do Rosario
Editor
Paola Álvarez, Sergio Jiménez
Directors
María Gisèle Royo
María Gisèle Royo has been awarded an Oscar and an Emmy in their student categories. María has presented her work at a public hearing in the European Parliament, and at the UNHCR Global Refugee Forum in Geneva. She is a born collaborator : among other movies, she has worked in El Silencio de Otros, winner of two Emmys and the Peace and Audience awards at Berlinale. She also participated in H. as Art Director, winner of an Independent Spirit Award. She is currently also teaching in Berlin at the BA and Master of Film at the Catalyst Institute for Creative Arts and Technology.
Julia de Castro
Julia de Castro created and directed De La Puissima, a stage project that toured the world for a decade with 70 musicians and for which she was nominated as best actress for the prestigious Valle Inclán Awards. She has released two albums and written a book on prostitution, La Retorica Delle Puttane. It doesn’t matter which expression she chooses; music, literature, theatre or cinema, everything that comes from Julia has interest.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Executioner
Regularly cited as the greatest Spanish film ever made, Berlanga's masterpiece is a pitch black comedy about an undertaker lined up by the state executioner to marry his beautiful daughter -- but he'll also have to inherit the old man's job.
The Mother and the Bear
Johnny Ma’s film stars Kim Ho-jung as a Korean woman who flies to Winnipeg when her immigrant daughter is hospitalized there. This crowd-pleaser plays up cultural differences to hilarious effect and offers a touching take on mother-daughter tension.
The Plague
At a water polo camp, Ben is plunged into the deep end of toxic peer pressure. Terrified of incurring his campmates’ wrath, he joins them in tormenting a kid whose skin rash has been branded “the plague”. But then he experiences a breakout of his own...
The Flamenco Guitar of Yerai Cortés + Por Derecho (For the Right) Live
Winner of the Goya Award for Best Documentary, this is an exquisite and surprisingly intimate portrait of the brilliant young guitarist Yerai Cortés, preceded by an hour of passionate flamenco music, song and dance performed by Flamenco Rosario.