Skip to main content
The Message film image; woman standing in a field of tall grass looking at an adorable capybara

The Message

El Mensaje

Panorama

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

A young girl’s gift for communicating with animals both alive and dead makes her a considerable asset to her guardians, who traverse the Argentinian countryside providing assistance to pet-owners in need. But despite their best efforts to keep her happy and comfortable, the child gets restless as the trio’s journey rolls on.

Winner of the Silver Bear Jury Prize at this year’s Berlinale, Iván Fund’s moving road drama is as pointed as it is improvisational, quietly observing the travelers’ mundane rhythms and moments of camaraderie while disguising any suggestion of unseen forces at play. In its gentle explorations of the characters’ unusual lifestyle, the supernatural remains on the periphery, a presence as ordinary as losing milk teeth. Nevertheless, the otherworldly is reflected in the still, silent interactions with the animals, and foregrounded by the elegant black and white photography and a haunting trumpet theme.

 

Silver Bear Jury Prize, Berlinale 2025

Oct 3 & 4: Q&A

Director
Cast

Mara Bestelli, Marcelo Subiotto, Anika Bootz, Betania Cappato

Credits
Country of Origin

Argentina/Spain/Uruguay

Year

2025

Language

In Spanish with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+

At International Village

19+

At Fifth Avenue

91 min
Award Winners Drama Family Relations
Rita Cine, Insomnia Films

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Laura Mara Tablón

Producer

Iván Fund, Laura Mara Tablón, Gustavo Schiaffino

Screenwriter

Iván Fund, Martín Felipe Castagnet

Cinematography

Gustavo Schiaffino

Editor

Iván Fund

Production Design

Adrián Suárez

Original Music

Mauro Mourelos

Iván Fund headshot

Iván Fund

Born 1984 in San Cristóbal, Argentina, Fund is a director of his own works as well as a screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, and editor. His films have screened and been awarded at film festivals that include Cannes (Un Certain Regard), Venice, Berlinale, San Sebastian, Rotterdam, Viennale, BFI London, Busan, Havana, Neighboring Scenes at Lincoln Center, Lima, and Mar del Plata, among others. His latest film, The Message, participated in San Sebastian’s WIP Latam 2024 and premiered in the Official Competition of Berlinale 2025.

Filmography: The Lips (2010); Today I Felt No Fear (2011); The Amazement (2014); Toublanc (2017); Soft Rains Will Come (2018); Dusk Stone (2021)

Photo by Betania Cappato

 

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Rosetta

Dir. Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne
93 min

A teenager tries to change her dire circumstances in this overwhelming naturalistic drama from the Dardenne brothers, winner of the Palme d'Or and Best Actress awards at Cannes, 1999.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Being John Malkovich

Dir. Spike Jonze
113 min

There's real yearning in this bizarre, mind-bending comedy about voyeurism, sex, and the human desire to play God from writer Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze. You can't get much further out of the box than this.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

10 Things I Hate About You

Dir. Gil Junger
97 min

Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles became the thinking teen's heartthrobs with this smart update on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, transposed to a Tacoma, Washington high school.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

Magnolia

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
188 min

This deeply personal 1999 California opus is ripe for rediscovery. Mapping the emotional traumas of half-a-dozen major characters as they crisscross the San Fernando Valley in search of either recognition or reconciliation, it's PTA's riskiest gamble.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

But I'm a Cheerleader

Dir. Jamie Babbit
85 min

Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is the perfect All-American Girl, or so she thinks. That is until she’s shipped off to conversion therapy. This pitch black comedy is wrapped in a saccharine bow, featuring the icon herself, RuPaul, as a conversion counsellor.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

Franz

Dir. Agnieszka Holland
127 min

Veteran Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland takes the bull by the horns to craft a Kafka biopic that's Kafkaesque and then some, artfully layering scenes from Kafka's life and works along with ironic present-day footage for a truly surreal counterpoint.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre