Ema

by Pablo Larraín

Ema

Synopsis

After a shocking incident upends her family life and marriage to a tempestuous choreographer, Ema, a reggaeton dancer, sets out on an odyssey of personal liberation, in this incendiary drama about art, desire, and the modern family from director Pablo Larraín (Jackie, Neruda).

Director

Born in Santiago in 1976, Pablo Larraín is, along with Sebastián Lelio, Chile's greatest movie director as well as a major producer (through his Fabula company). Not for the weak-hearted, his films are straightforward, generally aggressive and interspersed with violence. They paint a hard-hitting portrait of his country, Chile, notably in a trilogy covering fifteen years of national history from 1973 (the last days of Salvador Allende's presidency in Post Mortem (2010)) to 1978 (the height of General Pinochet reign of terror in Tony Manero (2008)) to 1988 (the last days of Pinochet in No (2012)). Another characteristic of Laraín's cinema is the unusual angle under which his subjects are dealt with. If the writer-director decides to attack Pinochet he does it through a strange love story or by telling the misdeeds of a petty thief imitating John Travolta or else by portraying an ad executive coming up with a campaign to defeat the dictator. Likewise, Fuga (2006), his first effort, was about a composer going mad while his last one to-date, El Club (2015) takes place in a beach house where priests who have "sinned" are sidelined. This firebrand earned the director the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. It is also Chile's official selection for the 2016 Best Foreign Movie Award.

DIRECTOR'S FILMOGRAPHY:

2019: Ema
2016: Jackie
2016: Neruda
2015: The Club
2012: No
2010: Post Mortem
2008: Tony Manero
2006: Fuga

Cast

Mariana Di Girolamo: Ema
Gael García Bernal: Gastón
Paola Giannini: Raquel
Santiago Cabrera: Aníbal
Cristián Suárez: Polo

Crew

Director: Pablo Larraín
Scriptwriter: Guillermo Calderón, Pablo Larraín, Alejandro Moreno
Cinematographer: Sergio Armstrong (ADFCH)
Editing: Sebastián Sepúlveda
Music: Nicolas Jaar
Art Director: Estefanía Larraín
Choreography: José Vidal
Costume: Muriel Parra, Felipe Criado
Hair and Make-up: Margarita Marchi
Sound Design: Roberto Espinoza
Executive Producer: Rocío Jadue, Mariane Hartard
Associated Producer: Paula Kraushaar, Catalina Adoni, Alfredo Adoni
Producer: Juan De Dios Larraín
Production Company: Fabula

Technical Data

format DCP / colour / 5.1
length 102 min.
original languages Spanish

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