Alejandro Landes

A Colombian-Ecuadorian film director, producer, screenwriter, and journalist, born in Sao Paulo in 1980. Landes studied political economy at Brown University and graduated in 2003. He got his start as an assistant producer on the TV series “Oppenheimer presenta” and wrote for the “Miami Herald” before switching to filmmaking, debuting with the Bolivian farmer union documentary “Cocalero,” which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released in over 20 countries. He followed it up with the true story “Porfirio,” which premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival: Directors’ Fortnight and won top prizes at many international film festivals. Landes was a resident at the Cannes Cinéfondation and a fellow at Sundance Institute's Screenwriters and Directors Labs.

Past events

Films

  • Monos104'

    Teenage guerrillas are watching an American hostage in the mountains of South America. “The Organisation” is giving them orders via the radio, assigns them a cow – Shakira, and machine guns to play with. Shakira’s accidental death starts the fight for leadership in the unit which has to escape from the mountains into the Amazonian jungle. This is the beginning of a brutal fight for survival. The hostage sees her chance to escape, and the unit destroys the radio and their contact with “the Organisation.” The rebels are left alone with their demons. They are making their way through the tropical forest, and death follows them… The hypnotising atmosphere is underlined by Mika Levi’s soundtrack. “Monos” was a huge success at Sundance (Special Jury Prize) and Berlinale 2019, where “The Guardian” deemed the film “the best thing” there and called it “Apocalypse Now on shrooms.” Alejandro Landes’ film is the official Columbian candidate for the Academy Award.

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