Pepe
A voice claiming to be a hippopotamus tells this surreal story about Pepe, the first and last hippopotamus to be killed in Latin America.
This innovative fable loosely tells the tragic story of a descendant of Pablo Escobar's «cocaine hippos» — hippos he illegally imported into Colombia for his private zoo. This is a strange and formally unique project from one of Latin America's most original directors.
Director
Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias (b. 1985) is a filmmaker from the Dominican Republic. He had his breakthrough with Cocote in 2017, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival. His latest film, Pepe, premiered at the Berlinale in 2024.
This film is part of
Original title Pepe
Country Dominican Republic, Namibia, Germany, France
Year 2024
Director Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias
Screenplay Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias
Cinematography Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias, Roman Lechapelier, Camilo Soratti
Producer Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias, Pablo Lozano, Tanya Valette
Cast Jhon Narváez, Sor María Ríos, Fareed Matjila, Shifafure Faustinus, Harmony Ahalwa, Jorge Puntillón García, Nicolás Marín Caly, Steven Alexander
Runtime 2h 2m
Language Spanish, Afrikaans, German
Subtitles English
Genre Documentary, Drama
Format DCP
Age limit 12
Links IMDb
This film is in competition for the Audience Award.