Play

Colour, 35 mm
Chile, Argentina, France, 2005, 105 min
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

Cristina, a young nurse from the country, walks the streets of Santiago de Chile like a silver ball in a pinball machine. When she is not reading National Geographic to her elderly Hungarian patient Milos or flirting with a park gardener, she is following Tristán Greenberg, a 33-year-old architect whose wallet she finds after he is mugged. Tristán, who is temporarily unemployed while his construction workers are on strike, has been dumped by his too-perfect girlfriend Irene. He returns to the suburban home where he grew up to find that his mother is living with a sleazy magician. As the film progresses, Cristina’s and Tristán’s lives come together in a surprising way… This original and playful example of new Latin-American cinema was the Chilean entry for the Oscars.

About the director

Alicia Scherson (b. 1974, Santiago de Chile). After graduating as a biologist, Alicia Scherson studied film at the Escuela de cine in Cuba. In 1999 she moved to the United States, where she studied at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She made short films and videos. Scherson currently teaches film in Santiago. Films (all shorts): No me mires (1994), Gallo de Pelea (1996), La ultima aceituna (1998), 4 Postcards (2001), Deep Throat, Human Vocal Cords (2001), Heavenly Bodies (2001), Crying Underwater (2002). Play (2005) is her feature debut.