The Calm After the Storm

After studying abroad, Mercedes moves back to Colombia to work on the next film by her father, Víctor Gaviria, one of the most famous directors in the country. She joins the film crew on La mujer del animal, a fictional film about a woman who is subject to sexual violence. This return to the country becomes an upsetting journey for her, opening up wounds that had been latent for years. At the same time as the shoot, Mercedes begins personal research, which focuses as much on cinematographic writing as it does on family relationships. Plunging into family archive images, she wonders about the role her father and mother have played over the years in maintaining the patriarchal structure that makes him a great filmmaker and her a sacrificed woman. Fluctuating between admiration and reproach towards this overwhelming father, Mercedes Gaviria constructs a private diary that goes beyond familial conflicts to question the place of women in the film world, which is still strongly ingrained with a patriarchal mindset. (Visions du Réel)