La Perra Premieres at Cannes, Dominga Sotomayor’s Film
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- La Perra premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival, marking its first public screening.
- Dominga Sotomayor directed the film, adapting it from Pilar Quintana’s novel of the same name.
- Manuela Oyarzún delivers a contained performance as Silvia, a rugged islander who harvests seaweed and adopts a dog named Yuri.
- Yuri the shelter dog playing the titular mutt, receives second billing and serves as a central character alongside Silvia.
- Santa Maria Island in Chile, the remote setting of the film, features a flammable tide caused by a historic gas pipeline burst, which the film uses as a visual motif.
- Simone D’Arcangelo provides expansive cinematography that, together with editor Federico Rotstein’s fluid transitions, underscores the film’s non‑linear storytelling.
Why it matters: The film gives audiences a rare, contemplative look at solitary womanhood on a harsh Chilean island, rewarding viewers who appreciate patient, non‑linear narratives, while signaling Dominga Sotomayor’s shift back to intimate, auteur‑driven cinema after a commercial Netflix venture.
