HAMACA PARAGUAYA
(PARAGUAYAN HAMMOCK)
2006. 78 mins. Paraguay.
In Guarani with English subtitles.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, AUGUST 11 – 5 PM
THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 – 7:30 PM

Paz Encina’s debut feature focuses on elderly couple Ramón (Ramon Del Rio) and Cándida (Georgina Genes) as they spend their days on an isolated hammock in the woods, awaiting on news from their son who’s off at war. Set during the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay, the film shows the two conversing about anything but the actual details of the war, of which they know little about. Instead, conversations about whether it’s going to rain and how to shut their son’s dog up take up their time. Between these conversations we hear flashbacks of the conversations that led up to their son leaving, juxtaposed with moments of labor and inaction. With its static long takes and atmospheric setting, HAMACA PARAGUAYA invites viewers into a space where our understanding of the temporal and spatial are vague, and campesino life become as abstract as any work can dare to be.