The Untamed

With The Untamed, Amat Escalante, who won the prize for best director in Cannes with his previous film Heli, takes his particular and graphic cinematic style into new territories. The Untamed is first and foremost a social realistic drama film marked by Escalante's unsentimental style, but this time the director has also added elements of horror and sci-fi.

The film is a genre hybrid that focuses on topics such as masochism, homophobia and the role of women in society, interspersed with elements of both horror and realism. A young couple, in a small town in the Mexican lowlands, struggle with their destructive relationship: he has been cheating on her and their problems seem insurmountable. When a meteor suddenly crashes into a nearby mountain, their personal struggles are replaced by much greater challenges and events.

On account of the success of Heli, Escalante had a more generous budget at his disposal for the production of The Untamed. Amongst those in the film crew worthy of mentioni is the Danish Peter Hjort , who was in charge of the visual effects. Hjort has worked on films such as Lars von Trier’s Melancholia and Nymphomaniac, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Neon Demon as well as Hans Petter Moland’s In Order of Disapearance.

The Untamed is set in Escalante’s hometown of Guanajuato, Mexico and is co-produced by Norwegian Mer Film, and co-funded by Sørfond. It won a Silver Lion Award for best director at Venice International Film Festival in 2016, and screened in Films from the South the same fall.

Amat Escalante (b. 1979) is no newcomer to the Films from the South audience, and both Los Bastardos and Heli were screened at the festival in 2009 and 2013, resvely. Moreover, the latter won the Best director award at Festival de Cannes. Escalante attended the Center for Cinematographic Studies of Catalonia.