El prófugo

The Intruder
Inés is a dubbing artist and sings in a choir in Buenos Aires. Ever since a traumatic experience on holiday, she has been suffering from insomnia and is haunted by violent nightmares. In the dubbing studio, the microphones record strange sounds that seem to come directly from her vocal cords. These sounds disrupt the dubbing and also threaten her place in the choir. Gradually, Inés falls into a paranoid state in which reality and delusion become increasingly blurred. She begins to entertain a dangerous thought: the characters that populate her dreams are trying to take possession of her body. After her remarkable debut Death in Buenos Aires, Natalia Meta has created a highly original psycho-sex thriller. The trauma of the protagonist, brilliantly embodied by Érica Rivas, becomes an exploration of how we and others perceive ourselves, how gender boundaries can be overcome, as well as the age-old question of whether reality is much more than the world we can see. Inspired by the cult horror novel “El mal menor” (1996) by Argentine writer C.E. Feiling, El prófugo is a film which mutates repeatedly, and in which the idea of freedom is discovered in each mutation.
by Natalia Meta
with Érica Rivas, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Daniel Hendler, Cecilia Roth, Guillermo Arengo, Agustín Rittano, Mirta Busnelli
Argentina / Mexico 2020 Spanish 90’ Colour

With

  • Érica Rivas (Inés)
  • Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (Alberto)
  • Daniel Hendler (Leopoldo)
  • Cecilia Roth (Marta)
  • Guillermo Arengo (Maestro)
  • Agustín Rittano (Nelson)
  • Mirta Busnelli (Adela)

Crew

Written and Directed by Natalia Meta based on the novel “El mal menor” by C.E. Feiling
Co-Written by Leonel D'Agostino
Cinematography Bárbara Álvarez
Editing Eliane Katz
Music Luciano Azzigotti
Sound Design Guido Berenblum
Sound Guido Berenblum
Production Design Ailí Chen
Costumes Mónica Toschi
Make-Up Emma Miño
Assistant Directors Adriana Vior, Marcello Pozzo
Production Manager Mercedes Tarelli
Producers Benjamin Domenech, Santiago Gallelli, Matias Roveda, Natalia Meta, Fabiana Tiscornia
Co-Producers Lorena Villarreal, Axel Kuschevatzky, Julio Chavezmontes
Co-Production Barraca Producciones Mexico City
Infinity Hill Buenos Aires

Picnic Producciones

Natalia Meta

The director studied philosophy at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and, in 2006, founded La Bestia Equilátera publishing house with Luis Chitarroni and Diego D’Onofrio. Her debut film, Death in Buenos Aires, attracted over 500,000 admissions in Argentine cinemas. She worked as associate producer on Las acacias by Pablo Giorgelli, Un amor by Paula Hernández (both 2011) and Zama (2017) by Lucrecia Martel. El prófugo is her second film as director.

Filmography

2014 Muerte en Buenos Aires (Death in Buenos Aires) 2020 El prófugo (The Intruder)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020