UN VARÓN (A MALE)
Cannes Film Festival 2022
Directed by Fabian Hernández
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Carlos lives in a youth shelter in the center of Bogotá. It's Christmas and he longs to spend the day with his family. As he leaves the shelter for the holidays, Carlos is confronted with the brutality of his neighborhood, ruled by the law of the strongest, the alpha male. He must prove he can be one of them, while deep inside, these expressions of masculinity clash with the decisions he must make in order to survive.
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Director Fabian Hernández
Screenwriter Fabian Hernández
Producer Manuel Ruiz Montealegre, Louise Bellicaud, Claire Charles-Gervais, Ilse Hughan, Christoph Hahnheiser, Josune Hahnheiser
Cinematography Sofía Oggioni
Sound Director Isabel Torres
Sound Mixer Jean-Guy Veran
Color grading Emmanuel Fortin
Original Music Mike & Fabien Kourtzer
Art Director Juan David Bernal
Casting Santiago Porras
Principal Cast Dylan Felipe Ramírez
Year 2022
Category Feature
Countries Colombia/ France/ Netherlands/ Germany
Language Spanish
Run time 82 mns
Format 5:1
Scope 2.39:1
Production Company Medio de Contención Producciones
Co production companies In Vivo Films, Fortuna Films, Black Forest Films GmbH, RTVC Play -
Fabián Hernández was born in Bogotá in 1985. He has written, directed, and produced his first short films with his company Níquel Films which he founded in 2015. He has also worked as an assistant director in film productions all over Colombia. In addition to his career as a director, he taught “Script and Film” in public schools in Bogotá. He is currently developing his new feature film, THE BIRDS.
Director’s Statement
The film is inspired by events from my adolescence, my personal experiences. I grew up in a patriarchal society with its machismo and in the company of ‘real men’. Vulnerability and fear were considered as feminine, as a lack of virility and a flaw. Therefore, I rejected to express my feelings and sensations and to explore my sexual desires. I also started to hate the poetry and art I was originally drawn to. I despised sensitivity in general.
UN VARÓN tells about this conflict: the vulnerable side in men challenged by a pressure to adopt a concept of stereotypical masculinity which hides the individual’s true nature.
I intended to show that there are ways out of this, even in a rough environment like the streets of Bogotá: It is possible to change, to break free from an identity imposed on you and yet, to survive. In fact, it is the rebellion against machismo that lets the main character grow strong. -
“A sensitive and subtle exploration of Latin American masculinity on the streets of Bogota (…) Smart, sensitive and thoroughly contemporary" SCREEN
“The Colombian director refuses miserabilism to embrace an onirism at the edge of fiction & documentary. The lyrical beauty of Un Varón lies precisely in this strange dreamlike quality that the film creates.”
LES INROCKS“Gender construction is denounced in a raw, slow-burning exposé of toxic masculinity among Colombia’s street thugs. (…) Young actor Felipe Ramirez keeps center stage, building an impressive performance that soars in the final scenes (…) the superb performance by actor Felipe Ramirez and his character’s final refusal to fit into the stereotypical male role allows the story to touch our hearts.” THE FILM VERDICT
“A feral, often troubling tale of survival” IONCINEMA
“this is a powerful and intense portrait. Un Varón speaks of a world, a street, a party or codes which are never his own”. LE POLYESTER
"Fabián Hernández’s debut queers the gangland coming-of-age film (…) Hernández is achieving something rich: there is no demand of rigid cause-and-effect, just a steady chain of occurrences” CINEUROPA
“Accelerated by the recent health and social crises, the impoverishment of the population ensures that the injunction to toxic masculinity has a bright future ahead (…) It took the talent of Fabian Hernandez to deliver – in an hour and a half – such a powerful indictment.” LE MAG DU CINE
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Official Screenings
Wednesday 25th - 7PM - Cinéma Alexandre III (French subs only)
Friday 27th - 2PM - Cinéma La Licorne (French subs only) -
Cannes Film Festival 2022 - Director’s Fortnight
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International Press
Marijana Harder
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