Illiterate
(Las analfabetas)
Moisés Sepúlveda | Drama, Fiction, Romance
2013 | 73 minutes | Chile
Ximena is an illiterate woman in her fifties who has learned to live on her own in order to keep her illiteracy a secret. Jackeline is a young unemployed elementary school teacher who tries to convince Ximena to take reading classes.
Synopsis
Ximena is an illiterate woman in her fifties who has learned to live on her own in order to keep her illiteracy a secret. Jackeline is a young unemployed elementary school teacher who tries to convince Ximena to take reading classes.
Persuading her proves to be an almost impossible task, until one day Jackeline finds something Ximena has been keeping as her only treasure since she was a child: a letter Ximena’s father left when he abandoned her many years before. The two women embark on a learning journey where they discover that there are many ways of being illiterate, and that not knowing how to read is just one of them.
Reviews
"Full of meanings that reverberate way beyond the small room in which it's mostly set, Chilean debutante Moises Sepulveda's Illiterate is a richly metaphorical and emotionally subtle two-hander about the painful efforts of a middle-aged woman learning how to read." — Jonathan Holland, The Hollywood Reporter
"When the credits came up, they all applauded. After talking to the [students] during the reception, most of them liked the irony of the story, as well as the comedy in the interactions of the main character." — Karem Orrego, Founder & Executive Director of Crisol Film initiative, University of Utah
"A really unusual topic and shot in such a wonderful way." — Sara Villa, Assistant Professor of Spanish, The New School
Citation
Main credits
Sepúlveda, Moisés (filmmaker)
Sepúlveda, Moisés (screenwriter)
Paredes, Pablo (screenwriter)
Bascuñan, Fernando (film producer)
Other credits
Cinematography, Arnaldo Rodríguez; editor, Rodrigo Fernández; music, Cristóbal Carvajal.
Citation
Cataloging
Pragda subjects
Education
Family
Gender + Sexuality Studies
Sociology
South America
Women
Keywords
Clips
Festivals
Mar del Plata International Film Festival - FEISAL Award
Havana Film Festival - Caminos Award
Martin Luther King Association
Huelva Iberoamerican Film Festival - Best Director
Santiago International Film Festival - Best Film Audience Award
Viña del Mar International Film Festival - Winner, Work-in-Progress
São Paulo International Film Festival
DIRECTOR: Moisés Sepúlveda
NATIONALITY: Chile
YEAR: 2013
GENRE: Drama, Fiction, Romance
LANGUAGE: Spanish
COLOR / B&W: Color
GRADE LEVEL: High School, College, Adults
SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE
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