International Competition
[ZAHORÍ]

Mora rebels against her school & family, she decides to go deep into the Patagonian steppe to help her only friend, a gaucho Mapuche who has lost his horse, Zahorí. The steppe of Patagonia is swept by a grey wind… Mora, 13-year-old, wants to be a “gaucho”. She rebels against school and affirms herself to her parents, Swiss Italian ecologists, whose dream of autonomy turns into a nightmare. Mora will go deep into the meanders of the steppe to help her only friend Nazareno, an old Mapuche who has lost his horse, Zahorí.

– Locarno Film Festival

Japan Premiere
  • Director:Mari Alessandrini
  • Switzerland, Argentina, Chile, France
  • 2021
  • 105min.
  • color
  • -
  • Spanish, English, Italian, Mapudungun
  • JPN & ENG Sub.

SNS

Screening Dates, Times, and Venues

Sep.21 (Wed.) 10:00-
Naramachi Center

Sep.23 (Fri.) 13:00-
Naramachi Center

* Only if there are vacant seats, tickets are available at the door.

Guest Talk

Sep.23 (Fri.) 13:00-
After screening

movie trailer
Director
ZAHORÍ speaks of passages, from childhood to adulthood for Mora, and from life to death for Nazareno. It is an initiatory journey, punctuated by the trials that Mora has to face, her desires, thoughts and her femininity in conflict with her environment. Mora will make a choice that is contrary to the expectations of her family and school. The friendship between Mora and Nazareno looks at integration and highlights, from the point of view of a young foreign girl with an old Mapuche, the history of the encounter between immigrants and natives, between different generations, but also between men and women.
Mari Alessandrini

MARÍ ALESSANDRINI grew up in Patagonia. Before cinema, she worked in photography, and contemporary circus, travelling in America. She studied cinema in Europe and made several documentaries & short fiction films selected in Internationals Festivals & Art Centers. ZAHORÍ was at the Cinéfondation, Cannes Film Festival, won a Pardo at Locarno Film Festival and Best First Film at India International Film Festival.

Recommendations from the NIFF Supporters

The harsh environment of Patagonia is depicted with great interest, the harsh environment is told through gentle images. The main character’s confusion and doubts as he grows up are well expressed, and his simple yet somewhat adventurous. The film is simple, yet it has a sense of strength and a refreshingly clear mind, as if one were watching an adventure story.

Jurors

Jury President│Filmmaker

Billante Mendoza

Filipino film director and producer. Known as a Living National Treasure. His films
have been highly acclaimed and won awards at the world’s three major film festivals―the Cannes Film Festival,
the Venice International Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival. After working in the advertising
industry, he became a production designer. He has served as juror and jury president at film festivals held in
Japan, Egypt, France, Malaysia, Singapore, and Belgium.

 

Filmmaker

Momoko Ando

Born in Tokyo in 1982. She studied abroad in England since high school and
graduated from the University of London’s Faculty of Arts. After that, she studied filmmaking in New York, worked
as an assistant director, and made her debut as a director and screenwriter in 2010 with “A Piece of Our Life”. In
2011, she published her first full-length novel “0.5mm”, and in 2014 directed, wrote and made it into a movie. After
that, the movie “Utamonogatari CINEMA FIGHTERS project ‘Aeiou'”, which she directed and wrote, was released
in 2018.

 

Professor at Kyoto Seika University Faculty of Humanities

Dr. Oussouby SACKO

As a government-sponsored student, he studied at Beijing Language and Culture
University and Nanjing Southeast University. In 1990, he experienced a shortterm
homestay in Tokyo and was surprised by the downtown culture that was common to Mali. He came to
Japan in 1991, and in 1999 completed a doctoral course at the Department of Architecture, Graduate School
of Engineering, Kyoto University. Ph.D. (Engineering). Specialized in spatial anthropology. After working as a
faculty member and dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Kyoto Seika University, he was appointed president of
the university in April 2018 (until March 2022) before taking up his current position. He advocates a society that
recognizes diverse values from the perspective of everyday life.

 

 

Asian Film Programming Advisor

Asia│Film Programming Advisor

Jacob Wong

Jacob Wong has been a member of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society for over two decades, with double-barrel responsibilities as Curator and Director of HAF (Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum). He is currently Director of the Film Industry Office, overlooking HAF, HAF Goes to Cannes, the Film Lab, Co-productions and Foreign Sales. He is also the Berlin Film Festival’s delegate for Chinese-language cinemas.

 

Locarno IFF Selection Committee, Film Critique

Daniela Persico

Daniela Persico is part selection committee for Locarno Film Festival and Berlin Critics Week and
a curator for L’immagine e la parola, spin-off of the Locarno Festival. She’s founder and editor in chief of the online quarterly
Filmidee (www.filmidee.it). She has also devoted to help various young filmmakers in developing films. In 2022, she was
appointed artistic director of the Bellaria Film Festival.

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