Alanis

A vibrant, empathetic glimpse into the hard-knock life of a resilient young sex-worker in Buenos Aires, Alanis amply confirms writer-director Anahí Berneri as one of Latin America’s most skilful and subtly radical film-makers.

Built around a terrific lead performance by Sofía Gala Castiglione, who often shares the screen with her real-life toddler son (pint-sized scene-stealer Dante Della Paolera), it takes a fresh and insightful approach to “the world’s oldest profession” via the story of Maria—aka Alanis. Kicked out by her landlord, she finds temporary accommodation in a relative’s tiny clothes-shop where she ponders her options. Luis Sens’ cinematography works unfussy wonders with both interiors and exteriors, bringing unfamiliar sides of the oft-filmed Argentine capital to unruly but carefully-framed life. Berneri takes great pains to do justice to the marginalised, multi-cultural districts where our defiantly independent heroine ekes out a precarious living.

The results earned considerable praise and warm audience reactions when world-premiering at Toronto; the film was also selected for the main competition at Spain's leading festival, San Sebastian, where it won Best Actress and Best Director. Reporting from that festival, Variety critic Jessica Kiang wrote that Alanis is “so naturalistic and authentic in its Buenos Aires streetlife setting, and especially in Gala Castiglione’s terrifically real, truculent performance… that one could almost miss the artistry and care in its construction.” Neil Young

Anahí Berneri (b. 1975) is an Argentinian filmmaker. She graduated from the National Audiovisual Institute in Paris and debuted with a short documentary Modelo para armar (1997). Her five features have reaped numerous awards on the festival circuit. She teaches at Argentine’s national film school in Buenos Aires and also works as a theatre director.