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Isabella

Encounters 2020
© Trapecio Cine / Le Fresnoy
Mariel wants to play the role of Isabella in Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure”. She has already prepared for an audition, but she is distracted by money problems. In the hope of receiving financial support from her brother, with whom she has had no contact for a long time, Mariel turns to his lover, Luciana, who is also an actress, albeit a more successful one. Luciana agrees to convince him, but only if Mariel goes ahead with the audition. However, luck is seldom on Mariel’s side. Time after time, she tries to win this role that persistently eludes her. And time after time, she encounters Luciana, a sort of more successful doppelganger, who leads Mariel to doubt her own ambitions: to act or not to act. Mariel’s dilemma intertwines her idea of success with her experience of friendship, motherhood and pursuing a career. Isabella is the latest in Piñeiro’s series of films about female roles in Shakespeare’s comedies; at the same time, it is a moral story that, following in the footsteps of Alain Resnais and Jacques Rivette, experiments with non-linear narrative. Piñeiro constructs a colourful mosaic of mathematical precision that traces Mariel's story both forwards and backwards in time.
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by Matías Piñeiro
with María Villar, Agustina Muñoz, Pablo Sigal, Gabi Saidon Argentina / France 2020 Spanish 80’ Colour World premiere

With

  • María Villar (Mariel)
  • Agustina Muñoz (Luciana)
  • Pablo Sigal (Miguel)
  • Gabi Saidon (Sol)

Crew

Written and Directed by Matías Piñeiro
Cinematography Fernando Lockett
Editing Sebastián Schjaer
Music Gabi Saidón, Santi Grandone
Sound Design Mercedes Tennina
Production Design Ana Cambre
Costumes Ana Cambre
Producer Melanie Schapiro
Executive Producer Melanie Schapiro
Co-Production Le Fresnoy - Studio national des arts contemporains Tourcoing

Produced by

Trapecio Cine

Photos

Berlinale Meets | Interview

Matías Piñeiro

© Películas mirando el techo

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1982, he has lived in New York since 2011. A director and screenwriter, his short and feature films have premiered at the Berlinale, Toronto, Locarno, Cannes and the New York Film Festival. His work is often based on literary sources including Shakespeare, Sappho and D. F. Sarmiento. He is an associate professor at the Pratt Institute in New York and coordinates the filmmaking programme at the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola in San Sebastián. He is currently working on the adaptation of “The Lesson of the Master” by Henry James and on an essay film based on Francesco Petrarca’s “De remediis utriusque fortunae”.

Filmography (selection)

2007 El hombre robado (The Stolen Man) 2009 Todos mienten (They All Lie) 2010 Rosalinda; short film 2012 Viola 2014 La princesa de Francia (The Princess of France) 2016 Hermia & Helena 2020 Isabella 2021 Sycorax; short film, co-director: Lois Patiño 2024 Tú me abrasas (You Burn Me)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2024