Many years after a viral zombie outbreak, three brothers are forced to fend for themselves, living off the land in a cabin in the woods. With their parents long gone, the eldest, Salvador is tasked with feeding and protecting his brothers, but his amputated leg means he needs assistance from the younger Oliver and Benjamin. Together they hunt wild animals and fortify their base. Still, how long until outside dangers invade their safety? The infected roam the outskirts of the woods, a murderous cult of bandits called The Trumpets are roving the land, and what to make of the monstrous sounds emanating from the basement?
Director Isaac Ezban returns to the fest (his films The Incident, The Similars, and Parallel all screened at VIFF) with a gory coming-of-age fable about an unconventional family unit finding ways to survive the end of the world. Thanks to Ezban’s careful world-building and pitch-black humour, Párvulos strikes a miraculous balance between heartwarming and darkly cynical.
Sept 29 & 30: Q&A with director Isaac Ezban
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Felix Farid Escalante, Leonardo Cervantes, Mateo Ortega, Norma Flores, Horacio Lazo, Carla Adell
Mexico
2024
In Spanish with English subtitles
Animal cruelty
At International Village
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Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Carolina Franco, Francisco Aguilera, Francisco Sánchez Solís, Franz Alvarez Novotny
Producer
Natalia Contreras, Javier Sepulveda, Eduardo Lecuona, Isaac Ezban
Screenwriter
Isaac Ezban
Cinematography
Rodrigo Sandoval, Vega Gil
Editor
Oscar Figueroa
Production Design
Adelle Achar
Original Music
Camilla Uboldi, Edy Lan
Isaac Ezban
Isaac Ezban’s first film The Incident (2014) premiered at Cannes and 50 more festivals, gaining support from Del Toro. His second film The Similars (2015) won Best Latin American Film at Sitges, making him the first Mexican with two films in two straight years in Fantastic Fest and Sitges. He then was hired by BRON Studios to direct his first English-language film Parallel (2018), broke box office records with Mal De Ojo (2022), and premiered his new movie Párvulos (2024) at Fantasia and Fantastic Fest.
Filmography: The Incident (2014); The Similars (2015); Parallel (2018); Mal De Ojo (2022)
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Image: © Eddy Cinema, Beside Productions, Regular Production, France 3 Cinema, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, RTBF