Parque vía

Colour, 35 mm
Mexico, 2008, 86 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

The main protagonist, Beto, is a real person. Beto is the caretaker of a house which has stood vacant for many years. He lives a routine, regular life, ignoring the bustle of the big city, within the confines of the empty house. He is completely satisfied with his lifestyle and the thought of venturing outside can cause Beto to panic. The only two people he ever occasionally sees are the owner of the house, a woman he greatly respects, and Lupe, his prostitute girlfriend. One day, the house is sold and Beto is threatened with eviction... Director Rivero’s original, adroitly filmed debut gently pulls the viewer into Beto’s world, which passes by at the slow pace of daily rituals. The more surprising and unexpected the conclusion of the film seems, the more understandable it is. The director explains how the film came about: "This story is based on my trips to Mexico City in the last couple of years. Living in such a special place makes it is easy to overlook a lot of things that, seen again from a distance, provoke different feelings, colors, and above all, a different meaning.”

About the director

Enrique Rivero (b. 1976, Madrid) studied industrial engineering in Mexico, and then worked in banking. The year that he worked in the United States for Citibank was of fundamental importance, in that he decided to completely change his life and study film. He then tried out various movie professions: in 2002, he assistant produced José Luis Padilla’s El silencio. After that he shot two shorts: Nidra (2004) and Schhht (2005). Then he was first assistant director to Pedro Aguilera on La influencia (2007). Parque vía is his first feature. The film took the Golden Leopard and the FIPRESCI Prize at last year’s Locarno IFF.