The evangelical Alberto Almonte works as a gardener for a rich family in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, but has to return to his home village in order to bury his father and take part in the rituals. When it becomes clear that father was murdered by a powerful man, Alberto's family expect him to take revenge.
Through his protagonists, Nelson De Los Santos Arias shows, with an ethnographic and artistic eye for detail, a country where old rituals and the established order clash with moral and social change. The award-winning Cocote is largely filmed on 35mm, juxtaposed with video fragments of disturbances and religious gatherings.
With powerful visual contrast and a pulsing soundtrack, the director investigates the restless emotional landscape of his homeland, imprisoned in a spiral of corruption and violence, where class contrasts and religious quarrels heat tempers.
- Director
- Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias
- Countries of production
- Dominican Republic, Argentina, Germany, Qatar
- Year
- 2017
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 2018
- Length
- 106'
- Medium
- DCP
- Language
- Spanish
- Producers
- Fernando Santos Díaz, Christoph Friedel, Lukas Valenta Rinner
- Production Companies
- Guasabara Cine, Pandora Film Produktion, Nabis Filmgroup S.R.L
- Sales
- Luxbox
- Screenplay
- Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias
- Cinematography
- Roman Kasseroller
- Editor
- Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias
- Production Design
- Natalia Aponte
- Sound Design
- Nahuel Palenque
- Cast
- Vicente Santos, Judith Rodríguez, Yuberbi de la Rosa, Pedro Sierra, Isabel Spencer, José Miguel Fernandez
- Website
- http://luxboxfilms.com/cocote