The Dutch-Paraguayan co-production Novena by director Enrique Collar has received an award for Best Latin American Film at the Mar del Plata festival. This distinction was awarded by SICA, the Argentine Film Industry Association. Novena, the second feature film by Paraguayan director Enrique Collar, had its world premiere at this festival. Collar, who is by profession a painter of large realistic canvases, lives and works in Rotterdam. For NOVENA, Collar returned to his native village in rural Paraguay to film the people he has been painting for 15 years. In a story based on true events, the villagers play themselves or their neighbors.

The film was co-produced by Rotterdam producer André Schreuders (AS Film), who was in Cannes earlier this year with the short film Licht. Collar and Schreuders made NOVENA with a budget of 17,000, or about 5% of what is still considered a low-budget film in the Netherlands. The Dutch contribution came from the Thuiskopiefonds. This makes Novena the last production to be realized with a contribution from this fund. The fund was dissolved three years ago. The film is expected to be screened in the Netherlands in January during the International Film Festival Rotterdam.



How to respond / more information
You must log in to respond