Four years after Ariel Escalante’s “Domingo and the Mist” premiered to acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival, Costa Rica’s flourishing Incendio Cine label continues to strike key co-production deals in the Central American country.
Panama’s Expansive Cine and Peru’s Cine Infinito have just joined Felipe Zúñiga’s solo directorial debut “We Won’t Let the Goat Die,” the winner of the grand prize at this year’s Fantastic Lab Central America & Caribbean, with seasoned producer Santiago Durán also boarding the film.
“We Won’t Let the Goat Die” trails ten-year-old Bernardo, who becomes consumed with watching over his mother following the sudden death of his father. As the widow struggles with depression, her son secretly rescues and cares for an injured goat deep within the tropical rainforest. When an ocelot begins prowling the neighborhood and a mysterious green light appears in the sky, Bernardo is forced to confront the harsh, uncontrollable nature of growing up.
“The film began with a feeling that stayed with me throughout my childhood: the feeling of being a child who had to take care of the adults,” the director tells Variety ahead of presenting the film at the upcoming Costa Rica Media Market. “I grew up in a home where I never fully knew what might happen. My mother went through very severe emotional crises, and my father struggled with alcohol. I was always alert to noises, changes in mood, and any sign that something might get out of control. For a long time, I believed it was my responsibility to keep my family together.”
