La Familia

Dust, sweat and hardship lay as a heavy carpet over this engaging drama-thriller set in of Caracas' toughest neighbourhoods. Pedro is twelve years old and lives with his father Andres, who holds several part-time jobs in order to make a living. Pedro is mostly left to himself in a part of town where only the strong survive. After a fatal incident, father and son have to pack up and leave, and it is only now that the two of them really get to know each other.

La Familia is an intimate portrait of father and son. There is no sentimentality to it, but no matter how tough they treat each other when they are short of money and yet another opportunity is lost, there is always a genuine love between then. The film is beautifully short by cinematographer Luis Armando Arteaga, known for Ixcanul, which won the main award at Films from the South in 2015.

The film was funded by Sørfond in 2015, and was a part of the La Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes in the spring of 2017. Jon Sæter

Gustavo Rondón Córdova (b. 1977) studied Communications in his home country Venezuela, and film at FAMU in Prague. He has made six short films, including Nostalgia (2012). La Familia, his feature film debut, is supported by the co-production fund Sørfond and screened in the Critics' Week at the Cannes film festival this year.