Panaji: With only a few hours until the closing ceremony of the 46th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), film buffs from all over the country who have gathered here are waiting for El Clan, a slice of the recent past of Argentina captured in film.
The film, directed by acclaimed Pablo Trapero, is Argentina's official entry for the Oscars as well as one of the biggest blockbuster films produced in the country.
El Clan is about our country's history, about how a lot of violence permeated in the our society a few decades ago. The film in many ways is a metaphor for the violent political movement in Argentina that lasted till the late 80's especially the monstrous military dictatorship in the late '70s and the early '80s when around 30,000 people disappeared. The Clan tells a similar story in which a midddle class family projects itself as respected but actually it kidnaps and kills its own friends and acquiantances," said Alejandro Carrillo Penovi, who edited the film along with its director.
Argentine film industry has grown many fold in the recent past, producing 115 films last year, Penovi told reporters here. He said that they were happy at the selection of El Clan as the closing film of the Festival. Penovi added that compared to Indian cinema, the Argentine film industry was much smaller, but they too do produce very good movies.
Further on the film El Clan, he said that a novel idea ‘Good is bad and bad is good’ was experimented in the film to keep the audience interest alive throughout the film.
Vicente D´elia, the Sound designer and Micaela Buyi of the Production Company K&S Films were among the crew who interacted with the media.
Synopsis: Argentina in the 1980s. Within a typical family home in the neighborhood of San Isidro, a sinister clan makes its living off kidnapping and murder. Arquímedes, the patriarch, heads and plans the operations. Alejandro, his eldest son, is a star rugby player. He identifies possible candidates for kidnapping; his popularity shields him from suspicion. All the family members are accomplices in this dreadful venture as they live off the large ransoms paid by the families of their victims. Based on the true story of the Puccio family, this film takes place in the final years of the Argentine military dictatorship and incipient return to democracy.