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