Genre: Drama
Actor: Carlos Guerrero, Christian McGaffney, Franklin Vírgüez, Jana Nawartschi, José Ramón Barreto, Luis Silva, Prakriti Maduro, Roberto Jaramillo, Sallie Glaner, Wynn Reichert
Director: Diego Vicentini
1. Simón, 2023
While we would like to think that we would do all we can to fight against a tyrannical regime, it’s not as easy as we think, and there are plenty of consequences that we wouldn’t foresee, living in relative peace. Diego Vicentini’s debut feature is a portrait of Venezuelan dissidents forced to flee the country, expanding on the short he made five years previously to flesh out the double lives most exiles go through– the angry yet hopeful protests they left behind in their homeland, and the peaceful, yet guilt-ridden, traumatized lives they now lead in another country. While it’s easy to expect certain moments, especially for people familiar with the country’s situation, Simón nevertheless was a film that needed to be made in order to shed light on this issue.