PROPER EYES (POR SUS PROPIOS OJOS) Narrative Competition

This film-which won best actress awards for Ana Carabajal and Luisa Nunez at the Biarritz and the Mannheim-Heidelberg film fests – balances social criticism, fear, fantasy and reality in the lives of the women with family in prison. Far her college thesis, film student Alicia (Carabajal) is making a documentary about the women whose sons and husbands are inmates at a local jail. The only problem: No one is willing to be interviewed on camera, except the desperate Elsa (Nunez), whose son Luis has recently been arrested for a petty crime. Elsa will grant Alicia an interview only if she agrees to visit Luis in jail. Alicia reluctantly agrees to Elsa’s proposition, but that visit sends Alicia’s world spiraling. Blurring documentary and fiction (the film was shot in gritty, operating penitentiaries in Argentina), PROPER EYES takes the audience on a suspenseful ride. First-time director Liliana Paolinelli employs unconventional storytelling, asking the audience to actively work to uncover the story behind two fascinating women and eliciting nuanced and insightful performances from her leads. PROPER EYES reveals her as a passionate and inventive filmmaker.