Soy Nero
by Rafi Pitts
Nero is running in the desert. He is trying to escape. He is running from the US border patrol. He is captured. Nero is a 19-year-old deported Mexican. After several attempts Nero finally manages to return and make his way back into the Promised Land. He follows the trail of his hometown, Los Angeles, to find his older brother Jesus. Jesus has set himself up in a new life, living with a girl named Mercedes. Nero begins to realize that as an illegal immigrant, his chances of leading a regular life will not be easy to come by. In an ultimate attempt to escape his desperate reality, Nero decides to enlist in the US Army as a “Green Card Soldier”, a short cut to citizenship. Nero is lost in a maze, a desolate landscape, where the boundaries between the immigrant in uniform and the US soldier are difficult to perceive. Although it soon becomes clear that while a soldier fights for a nation, the Green Card Soldier, Nero, fights to obtain his identity… SOY NERO.
Rafi Pitts‘ films have attained acclaim and awards around
the globe. His first feature, THE FIFTH SEASON, was
the first Franco-Iranian coproduction since the Iranian
Revolution in 1979, and premiered in Venice. SANAM
was hailed by French critics as the Iranian THE 400
BLOWS. In 2003 Pitts presented his controversial
feature documentary ABEL FERRARA NOT GUILTY
in Locarno. IT‘S WINTER premiered in the Berlin
Competition, and one year later, the Seattle International
Film Festival honored Pitts with the Emerging Masters
Award for his work. In 2010 Pitts‘ fifth feature THE
HUNTER was also nominated for the Berlin Golden Bear.
Born 1967 in Iran, Pitts spent his childhood in Tehran.
During the war between Iran and Iraq, in 1981, he fled
the country and moved to Britain. He graduated in 1991
from Harrow College – Polytechnic of Central London
with a BA (Hons) Degree in Film and Photography. His
first short, IN EXILE, was presented the same year at
the London International Film Festival. In the 90s Pitts
moved to Paris and worked on films by Leos Carax,
Jacques Doillon and Jean-Luc Godard.
FILMOGRAPHY
2016 SOY NERO
2010 THE HUNTER (Shekarchi)
2006 IT'S WINTER (Zemestan)
2003 ABEL FERRARA: NOT GUILTY (documentary)
2000 SANAM
1997 THE FIFTH SEASON (Fasl-e Panjom)
Johnny Ortiz - Nero
Rory Cochrane - Sgt. McLoud
Aml Ameen - Bronx
Darrell Britt-Gibson - Compton
Director Rafi Pitts
Writer Razvan Radulescu, Rafi Pitts
Producer Thanassis Karathanos, Twenty Twenty Vision, Rita Dagher, Senorita Films
Co-producer Nicolas Celis, Pimienta Films
Director of Photography Christos Karamanis, GSC
Costume Designer Alexis Scott
Production Designer Malak Khazai, Max Biscoe
Music Rhys Chatham
Format: DCP / color / 5.1
Length: 120 min.
Original Language: English, Spanish