El Rostro de la Medusa

El Rostro de la Medusa a.k.a. The Face of the Jellyfish
by Melisa Liebenthal
Argentina, 75 min., 2022, Spanish with English subtitles

Marina’s appearance suddenly changed. One day around her thirties her face ceased to be what it was. Who is she now? Is she ill, a different person, prettier? Those around her take it in their stride, her doctor is puzzled, the authorities block her ID card. Through Marina’s story, El Rostro de la Medusa (The Face of the Jellyfish) delves into a playful research around the meaning of the face, token of our identity and crucial when connecting with others. Part of a new generation of Argentine filmmakers, Liebenthal grounds Marina’s experiences in the everyday, then expands out to ask how human individuated identity compares with that of the animal kingdom, incorporating footage of mammals, reptiles, birds, and aquatic species. Liebenthal showed her first feature Las Lindas in Rotterdam. El Rostro de la Medusa premiered in the Forum section of the Berlinale.

This film is presented by Gerwin Tamsma, who was, for a long time, responsible for Latin American programming at IFFR. He showed the first feature films of e.g. Carlos Reygadas, Kleber Mendonca Filho, Dominga Sotomayor, and Laura Citarella to the world. These débuts were financially supported by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund, as is El Rostro de la Medusa.

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