Hunting Season
by Natalia Garagiola
Synopsis
Ernesto is a respected hunting guide in Patagonia, where he lives with his new family. After the loss of his first wife, he is forced to house his teenage son (Nahuel), whom he hasn’t seen for more than a decade.
Confronted with the past he left behind, Ernesto struggles to contain the violent outbursts of his son. Without the sympathy of his new family, Nahuel stretches the conflict with his father to a limit.
In the hostility of nature, resentment gives way in to a possible relationship between these two men. The reunion will confront them with their own hability to kill and forgive.
Logline: A respected hunting guide in Patagonia is faced with the education of his biological son recently expelled from school.
In a wild environment, the father tames his son and teaches him how to respect nature and human relationships.
Specifications
Argentina/USA/France/Germany/Qatar 2017 105mn 2.35:1 5.1 Spanish 1st Feature Film
Original title: Temporada de Caza
Produced by
Rei Cine
Santiago Gallelli, Matías Roveda, Benjamin Domenech, Gonzalo Tobal
Co-producers
Gamechanger Films, Augenschein Filmproduktion, Les Films de l’Étranger
Crew
DOP: Fernando Lockett
Production Designer: Marina Raggio
Sound Designer: Santiago Fumagalli
Costume Designer: Victoria Nana
Line Producer: Fernando Méndez
Assistant Director: Bruno Roberti
Editor: Gonzalo Tobal
Cast
Germán Palacios (XXY by Lucia Puenzo) as Ernesto Ayala
Lautaro Bettoni as Nahuel Ayala
Boy Olmi as Bautista
Rita Pauls as Clara
Natalia's Filmography
2012 Mares and Parakeets (short film) – Cannes Critic’s Week
2014 Sundays (short film) – Cannes Directors’Fortnight
Festivals and Awards
- World Premiere: Venice IFF 2017 – Critics’ Week- Official Competition – Audience Award
- San Sebastian IFF 2017 : Horizontes Latinos
- Chicago IFF 2017 – in Competition
- Sao Paulo IFF 2017 – New Directors’s Competition
- Bratislava IFF 2017 – in Competition
- Zagreb FF 2017 – in Competition
- Tallinn Black Nights FF 2017 – Panorama
- Macao IFFAM 2017 – Asian Premiere – Best Feature Film Award
- La Habana IFF 2017 – in Competition
- Dubai IFF 2017 – in Competition
- Göteborg IFF 2018, Sweden- New Voices
- Palm Springs IFF 2018
- Cinélatino (Toulouse) 2018 – Prix FIPRESCI
- Vilnius IFF 2018
- Belgrade IFF 2018 – Debut Award
- Miami FF 2018
- Vilnius Kinoavasaris IFF 2018
- Karlovy Vary IFF 2018 (Czech Republic)
- Festival de Cine de Lima 2018
Press quotes
“intense father-son drama is played out against the wilds of Patagonia”
“Hunting Season benefits from the approach of its director which has a welcome dramatic maturity and lightness of touch” SCREEN
“…a solid and convincing result, and as the characters grow by showing their true identities (…)” CINEUROPA
“A well-crafted if fundamentally familiar tale of a hot-head belatedly coming of age with tough-love help from his crusty old man, the Argentinian production made a buzzy debut in Venice, winning the audience award in the Critics’ Week sidebar”. THR