Octopus Skin, a national film in cinemas in Ecuador

The audiovisual film reaches the cinemas of its country of origin after being shown at the San Sebastian Film Festival (Spain), in Thessaloniki (Greece) and after being selected as the best feature film at the author’s Canary Islands International Film Festival.

Barragán tells the story of Iris and Ariel, twins who live with their mother and older sister on a rocky island covered in molluscs and birds, where they encounter typical struggles of adolescence, when the young hero decides to go to town alone.

In cinema, stories of beings who go to cities after a Tarzan-like “uncivilized” life focus on the brutality of what is not a social norm, but in the skin of an octopus, the more complex world of what was believed, according to GK Digital Media Review.

It is important for me to reveal how, at present, there is a world of childhood wounds that cannot be seen, but that can be felt, Barragán explained in an interview with the Ecuadorian magazine Plan V.

The tape shows places known to Ecuadoreans, as it has been recorded in places on the coast such as Punta Barandoa, Ancon, Anconcito, Pajo Alto, Salinas and Guayaquil, as well as in Quito in the Sierra region.

For the young filmmaker, photographing the spaces and creatures on the beach where her father lived and which she knew well served as the seed for creating a fantasy island full of birds and shellfish.

The main characters are played by young Ecuadoreans who first appeared on the big screen: Isadora Chávez Ron, Juan Francisco Vinueza and Hazel Powel.

Also among the cast is actress Christina Marchand, who has more than 15 years of experience in theater and the seventh art.

La piel octopus began to be produced in 2015 with the help of international cooperation funds promoting cinema in developing countries and a budget from Ecuadorian entities, such as the Institute of Film and Audiovisual Creativity, Wide Shot Films, and private companies.

ro / avr