LA PERRA
Special Features: U.S. Premiere
An adaptation of Colombian writer Pilar Quintana’s novel, Dominga Sotomayor’s (THURSDAY TILL SUNDAY, TOO LATE TO DIE YOUNG) impressive third feature expands on the Chilean filmmaker's distinctive explorations of memory, landscape and the inner lives of women. On Santa María, a remote island off the southern coast of Chile, Silvia (Manuela Oyarzún) leads a solitary life as a seaweed harvester, immersed in hard work, routine and the lingering presence of an unresolved grief, unspoken to her partner, Mario (David Gaete). When Silvia lets down her guard to take in an abandoned puppy, the quiet rhythms of her days begin to shift as the mischievous pup grows into a headstrong young dog who, like Silvia, refuses to be hemmed in. A complex and unexpected bond grows between the pair, but when the dog goes missing, the experience opens a path toward painful memories tied to another disappearance, and to the very ocean from which Silvia now draws her livelihood. Nature can also be a bitch. Cinematographer Simone D’Arcangelo (THE SETTLERS) captures the island’s rugged beauty with luminous precision, creating an indelible sense of place across the film’s present and past timelines, while Oyarzún delivers a performance of remarkable restraint, allowing silence and gesture to speak volumes. But at the film’s emotional heart is Oyarzún's four-legged co-star, Yuri, a rescue dog whose natural, untrained performance earned her the coveted Palm Dog Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Graceful and compassionate, yet unsentimental, LA PERRA is an intimate portrait of loss, resilience and the unexpected relationships that can subtly transform untamed grief into a force for renewal and acceptance. –Abbie Algar
Official Selection, 2026 Cannes and Karlovy Vary film festivals. DIR/SCR Dominga Sotomayor; SCR Inés Bortagaray, from the novel by Pilar Quintana; PROD Rodrigo Teixeira, Fernando Bascuñán, Berta Marchiori. Chile/Brazil, 2026, color, 113 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Run Time: 113 Minutes
Opening Date: Saturday, September 26, 2026
Genre: Drama
