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PIFF 42 Official Selection

Virus Tropical

Directed by Santiago Caicedo, Paola Gaviria

Colombia, Ecuador • 2018 • 97 mins. • In Spanish with subtitles

Showtimes & Past Screenings

Based on beloved Colombian-Ecuadorian artist Power Paola’s graphic novel of the same name, Virus Tropical is a brilliantly line-drawn, gorgeous black-and-white film covering roughly twenty years in the life of Paola, born to an average middle-class Bogotá family. Paola is a mischievous, spirited girl, blossoming into a headstrong young woman who’s something of an outsider. The filmmakers beautifully capture Paola’s—and her family’s— travails including new children, domestic dramas, upheavals, and the normal stuff of life, crafting a film of subtle power and nuanced emotional intelligence. “An amazing look at a life that feels both familiar and exotic, and if we look inward, perhaps all of our own adventures have the potential to fascinate in the same way.” —Josh Hurtado, Screen Anarchy. Winner, Audience Award, 2018 SXSW Film Festival. Ages 16+.

Filmography: First feature

Sponsored by LAIKA and AC Hotel Portland

Appears in: 42nd Portland International Film Festival, PIFF 42: Animated Worlds

The Northwest Film Center recognizes and honors the Indigenous peoples of this region on whose ancestral lands the museum now stands. These include the Willamette Tumwater, Clackamas, Kathlemet, Molalla, Multnomah and Watlala Chinook Peoples and the Tualatin Kalapuya who today are part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and many other Native communities who made their homes along the Columbia River. We also want to recognize that Portland today is a community of many diverse Native peoples who continue to live and work here. We respectfully acknowledge and honor all Indigenous communities—past, present, future—and are grateful for their ongoing and vibrant presence.