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25 Alternative 2011 TIFF Picks: Sebastián Lelio’s The Year of the Tiger

One more standout item from the Vanguard programme offerings is this low budget Chilean film that garnered favorable reviews (Variety, THR and IndieWIRE) but went home empty handed at this year’s Locarno Film Festival. Sebastián Lelio’s third feature film (following his Cannes selected Navidad in 2009) puts a damaged landscape from Chile’s deadly 2010 quake to extremely good use.

Eric Lavallée

Published on September 3, 2011

#25. The Year of the Tiger

Director: Sebastián Lelio
Cast: Luis Dubó, Sergio Hernández, Viviana Herrera
Distributor: Rights Available

Buzz: One more standout item from the Vanguard programme offerings is this low budget Chilean film that garnered favorable reviews (Variety, THR and IndieWIRE) but went home empty handed at this year’s Locarno Film Festival. Sebastián Lelio’s third feature film (following his Cannes selected Navidad in 2009) puts a damaged landscape from Chile’s deadly 2010 quake to extremely good use.

The Gist: Perhaps a good starter-kit prior to the release of Life of Pi, Chile’s devastating earthquake of February 27th, 2011, inadvertently converts prisoner Manuel into a fugitive. As he futilely searches for loved ones, he encounters a caged tiger washed up on shore. After freeing the beast, Manuel realizes that neither of them have much of a chance for survival in the present landscape.

TIFF Schedule: Saturday September 10
TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
7:30pm
Monday September 12
AMC 1
8:30pm
Friday September 16
AMC 9
3:00pm

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Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).