A Twelve-Year Night

This is the most gripping prison film you will see in a long time. The year is 1973, and the military junta has just taken the power in Uruguay by coup d’état. Several political opponents are put in prison. We meet three members from the Tupamara guerrilla in their cells, among them José Mujica, who would become the president of the country in 2010. Astonishing and intimate camera work really captures the dirt, pain and desperation of prison life, but also the prisoners’ hopes for a democratic Uruguay.

Álvaro Brechner (b. 1976) is an award-winning director, writer and producer from Montevideo. His first feature film, Mal día para pescar, was screened at the Cannes festival in 2009. Brechner’s second feature film, Mr. Kaplan from 2014, won 13 awards in different international film festivals.