Taxi - An Encounter

Colour, 35mm
Argentina, Germany, 2001, 93 min
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

A young man in Buenos Aires makes his living stealing taxis and selling them to a crooked car dealer. But before delivering the car, he likes to play taxi-driver – not just to earn extra cash, but mainly to have someone to talk to. One evening he hears a shooting and gives a young girl a ride in his taxi. She collapses in the car and the taxi-driver discovers that she has been shot. He doesn’t dare take her to hospital and in the end takes her home, where he removes a bullet from her shoulder. When the girl’s condition doesn’t improve, he leaves her on the street and calls for an ambulance. When she recovers and is discharged from hospital, the girl goes looking for him . . . An intimate story about two people in a society where the instinct to survive is confronted with the need to help another person.

About the director

Gabriela David (b.1960, Mar del Plata) has worked as an assistant director on many features and TV productions. She has also been a teacher at the University of Buenos Aires for many years. She has made one short film, Tren Gaucho (1989). Taxi – un encuentro is her first feature.