HANDSOME AND
Trailer
Synopsis
Celsa covers her skin with roots and leaves from her jungle garden. She wants to heal. She still feels the imprisonment and torture she experienced 45 years ago in the concentration camp in Paraguay. Yet her past resonates; The country is ruled by the son of the dictator's right hand man.
Film sheet
Celsa covers her skin with roots and leaves from her jungle garden. She wants to heal. She still feels the imprisonment and torture she experienced 45 years ago in the concentration camp in Paraguay. Yet her past resonates; The country is ruled by the son of the dictator's right hand man.
LANGUAGES): Spanish
SUBTITLE: English
COUNTRY(S): Paraguay, Argentina
PREMIER TYPE: Regional Premiere
SECTION: First Documentary “Fernando Báez”
DIRECTOR(S): Sofia Paoli Thorne
PRODUCER(S): Gabriela Cueto, Federico Pozzi, Nadia
Martinez, Sofia Paoli Thorne
SCREENWRITER(S): Sofia Paoli Thorne
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Willi Behnisch
EDITOR: Delfina Margulis Darriba
CONTACT:
CAST: Document
Director's Statement
I felt that I needed to do something to make the history of the dictatorship known. It made me quite uncomfortable to hear people say 'that's already happened, we have to look forward'. It was something that they said not only in political speeches, but also in my friends and that idea is reflected in the entire process of the country because the places that should be museums or tell history through education - I went to school in Paraguay - do not speak of the subject and the Ambush is currently a maximum security prison, it is not a place of memory, very little is said about the dictatorship. It seemed to me that it was important that what Celsa was experiencing could also be told, which is not part of the past. The things that one suffers impact your body and it is something that we constantly experience, it is not easily forgotten, you cannot simply leave it behind, it is a matter of memory to not repeat the same mistakes and I always felt that it was preferable not to talk.
Festivals and awards
I felt that I needed to do something to make the history of the dictatorship known. It made me quite uncomfortable to hear people say 'that's already happened, we have to look forward'. It was something that they said not only in political speeches, but also in my friends and that idea is reflected in the entire process of the country because the places that should be museums or tell history through education - I went to school in Paraguay - do not speak of the subject and the Ambush is currently a maximum security prison, it is not a place of memory, very little is said about the dictatorship. It seemed to me that it was important that what Celsa was experiencing could also be told, which is not part of the past. The things that one suffers impact your body and it is something that we constantly experience, it is not easily forgotten, you cannot simply leave it behind, it is a matter of memory to not repeat the same mistakes and I always felt that it was preferable not to talk.
2023 – Bajo Nuestra Piel – International Human Rights Film Festival 2023 – 35th Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival 2023 – 18th True/False Film Festival 2023 – 26th Malaga Film Festival. Cinema in Spanish.
Sofia Paoli Thorne
Sofia Paoli Thorne was born in Peru in 1982, she had to move with her entire family to Paraguay in 1989 to escape the armed conflicts. There she became a director, producer and founded Tekoha Audiovisual where she made different pieces for television, documentary film and videos for NGOs.
Director's Filmography
Handsome and (2023)
Out of field (2013) – Producer
The marginalization of the Pombero (2011) - Short film
Mercadocuatrope (2011) -Producer