Canadian Premiere
Marcelo Pena is a distinguished professor of philosophy at a university in Buenos Aires. His mentor, the beloved head professor Caselli, has suddenly died, leaving a coveted vacancy. On paper, Marcelo seems like the perfect man to take up the job and carry on Caselli’s legacy. The trouble is that with every passing day Marcelo’s life is becoming messy, humiliating, and tiresome. To make matters worse, there is a new philosopher in town, one trained in Europe who is younger, better-looking, wealthier, and Marcelo’s new arch-nemesis. Puan presents a compelling story of a man equipped with the answers to life’s greatest moral, ethical, and existential quandaries, who is helpless in the face of political, bureaucratic, and social chaos. Co-directed by Maria Alché and Benjamin Naishtat (Rojo), the film wittily questions the pertinence of philosophy in the life of a modern man in the modern world. Like Plato after the death of Socrates, lead actor Marcelo Subiotto convincingly portrays a man who has lost his guiding light.
Supported by
Marcelo Subiotto, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Julieta Zylberberg, Alejandra Flechner, Andrea Frigerio, Mara Bestelli
Argentina/Italy/France/
Germany/Brazil
2023
Panorama
In Spanish with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Bárbara Francisco Mendivil, Barbara Sarasola Day, Federico Eibuszyc
Screenwriter
María Alché, Benjamín Naishtat
Cinematography
Hélène Louvart
Editor
Livia Serpa
Directors
Maria Alché
María Alché is an Argentine director, script writer and actress. She studied Filmmaking at ENERC, where she currently teaches directing actors, and studied Philosophy at the University of Buenos Aires. She directed the short films Noelia, Gulliver, Invierno 3025 and Quién se metió con Mayra?, presented at several international film festivals. She wrote and directed the feature film Familia Sumergida, which won Best Film in Horizontes Latinos at the San Sebastián Film Festival and several other international prizes.
Filmography: A Family Submerged (2018)
Benjamin Naishtat
Benjamín Naishtat studied film in Universidad del Cine, Buenos Aires. He furthermore took part in the Contemporary Arts program of Le Fresnoy, France, and was granted a Radcliffe/Film Studies Center Fellowship from Harvard University. He wrote and directed Rojo (2018) which was selected in Official Competition at the San Sebastián Film Festival, awarded with the Concha de plata for best direction, best cinematography and best actor for Darío Grandinetti. Benjamín wrote and directed El movimiento (2015), Best Argentine film at the Festival de Mar del Plata and the Jury Award-winner at the Valdivia Festival.
Filmography: Historia Del Miedo (2014); El Movimiento / The Movement (2015); Rojo (2018)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Hockney
An engaging, insightful and inspiring film portrait of the late great British and California artist. He’s one of the most accessible figurative painters of the last half century, but look closer, there’s much more to David Hockney than meets the eye.
Peter Asher: Everywhere Man
A chart topping pop star as one half of Peter and Gordon, Peter Asher was brother to Jane, brother in law to Paul McCartney, ran the Beatles' Apple, produced and managed James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, and 10,000 Maniacs, to name just a few. He did it all.
Democracy Under Siege
As the USA turns 250, Oscar-nominated director Laura Nix considers the roots of the current political crisis with commentary from historian Heather Cox Richardson, progressive politician Jamie Raskin, and cartoonist Ann Telnaes, among others.
Malcolm X
In an indelible role, Denzel Washington give us a layered, compassionate, conflicted man who finds the strength in Islam to transcend his demons and confront the inequity and racism in America head-on. Along with Do the Right Thing, this is Spike Lee's greatest film.