“I have a name, but I still can’t explain it. Actually, I’ll be able to explain very few things.” Thus narrates Pepe, the first and only hippopotamus to be killed in the Americas, his name given to him by the Colombian press. One of four hippos kept by notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar in his private zoo, Pepe and his companions took to wandering the Magdalena River, eventually becoming a dangerous nuisance to the locals. In this unclassifiable feature, Pepe tells us his side of the story.
Directed by Dominican director Nelson Carlos de Los Santos Arias, winner of this year’s Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival, Pepe is a wild, unpredictable foray into this unlikely history. Formally audacious, it mixes multiple formats and celluloid stocks, archival audio, and news footage, as well as an extended, almost Jaws-like drama of a small village gearing up to face the threat of the hippos. It’s a wry, humorous look at what history would be like if everyone were given a voice.
Silver Bear for Best Director, Berlin 2024
Community Partner
Jhon Narváez, Sor María Ríos, Fareed Matjila, Harmony Ahalwa, Jorge Puntillón García, Shifafure Faustinus
Dominican Republic/Namibia/
Germany/France
2024
In Spanish, Mbukushu, Afrikaans and German with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits & Director
Producer
Pablo Lozano, Tanya Valette, Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias
Screenwriter
Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias
Cinematography
Camilo Soratti, Roman Lechapelier, Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias
ANIM
Manuel Barenboim
Editor
Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias
Original Music
Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias
Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias
Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias is a Dominican director who studied film in Buenos Aires and Edinburgh and has an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. His first short film SheSaid HeWalks HeSaid SheWalks (2009) won a BAFTA Scotland while his documentary Pareces una carreta… (2013) was part of the major Latin America art exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. His graduation film Santa Teresa & Otras Historias (2015) won the Prix Georges De Beauregard at FidMarseille and Cocote (2017) won the Signs of Life Award at Locarno. He developed Pepe (2024) while participating in the DAAD artists-in-Berlin program.
Filmography: You Look Like a Carriage That Not Even the Oxen Can Stop (2013); Santa Teresa & Other Stories (2015); Cocote (2017)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Misericordia
Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, this film goes from drama to comedy without putting a foot wrong. Sex and murder are the subjects, and writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) mines them for suspense and outrageous laughs.
The Stand
This rousing doc explores a 1985 dispute over logging in the Haida Gwaii. Taking us from canny retrospective commentary to the thick of the action, director Chris Auchter employs animation and a wealth of archival footage to riveting effect.
Julie Keeps Quiet
When her coach falls under investigation for inappropriate behaviour, a young tennis ace is thrown into turmoil. Her reluctance to testify about her experience puts her at odds with the club, her parents and her friends.
Resident Orca
Captured in Puget Sound in 1970, killer whale Lolita spent the next half century in a cramped tank in Seaquarium, Miami. The film follows a coalition of Lummi elders, animal lovers and philanthropists on a rescue mission to return her to the ocean.
The Way, My Way
All manner of pilgrims flock to France and Spain to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago. One such is Bill, a stroppy sexagenarian Australian filmmaker who's determined to do the Camino with minimal prep, a dickey leg, and no firm idea why.