Exclusive Clips: Lorenzo Ferro is Hard to Read in Federico Luis’ “Simon of the Mountain” – 2024 Cannes Film Festival

Among the Croisette items contending for the prestigious Caméra d’Or at Cannes, a fresh voice emerges from Argentina’s film scene: Federico Luis, a filmmaker based in beautiful yet economically challenged epi-center of Buenos Aires. Following his participation in the Shorts Competition with “La Siesta” back in 2019, Luis returns for a second time to present Simon de la montaña (Simon of the Mountain). In this film, we witness Lorenzo Ferro shedding his iconic curls and trading the angelic yet sinister qualities of his previous role in Luis Ortega’s El Angel (2018) for a character that is enigmatic, mysterious, and resistant to easy interpretation. Among one of the lucky seven competition film entries in the Critics’ Week section, in the logline we learn that Simon is 21 years old. He introduces himself as a mover’s helper. He claims not to know how to cook or clean the bathroom, but he does know how to make a bed. Recently, he seems to have become a different person…

Perhaps with some of the discomfort we found in Lars von Trier’s The Idiots, we imagine this to be a much more complex and complete portrait about shedding one’s skin. Perhaps leaving privilege for a new identity but in the same measure embracing physical characteristics of someone close – we find Simon mirrors the disabilities and further honors a true friendship with Pehuen (Pehuen Pedie) and be present in the moment we one of the young girls within the group. In our exclusive pair of clips below we find Simon (Lorenzo Ferro) working into those streams of consciousness. The film receives its world premiere screenings on Wednesday, May 15th.