“There are any number of movies about gay men trying to liberate themselves from the long shadow of heteronormative oppression … but few have been told with the extraordinary nuance or compassion of
Jayro Bustamante’s Temblores Grade: A-“
— David Ehrlich, IndieWire
“A thoughtful, emotionally-charged exploration of a devoutly religious family man torn apart by the revelation of his love for another man.”
— Allan Hunter, Screen Daily
“A magnificently unflinching film from a master director in the making, whose thunderous strength will surely make waves in Bustamante’s
Central American homeland and abroad.”
— Carlos Aguilar, The Wrap
A MARRIED MAN FACES THE CRUEL AFTERSHOCKS OF THE REVELATION OF HIS HOMOSEXUALITY IN A GUT-WRENCHING GUATEMALAN DRAMA FROM CELEBRATED
DIRECTOR JAYRO BUSTAMANTE
TEMBLORES
Street Date: March 10, 2020
DVD/Digital: $24.95
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at NewFest 2019, This Powerful and Acclaimed Drama Arrives to Home Entertainment Directly Following Film Movement’s National Theatrical Release; Bonuses Include a Behind-the-Scenes Featurette and the Award-Winning Short Film “Black Hat”
SYNOPSIS
In this deeply personal follow-up to his landmark debut Ixcanul, Director Jayro Bustamante shifts his focus from rural Guatemala to Guatemala City, but once again sets his sights on an individual caught between two seemingly irreconcilable worlds.
When handsome and charismatic Pablo (Juan Pablo Olyslager) arrives at his affluent family’s house everyone is eagerly awaiting the return of their beloved son, devoted father and caring husband. A seemingly exemplary pillar of Guatemala City’s Evangelical Christian community, Pablo’s announcement that he intends to leave his wife for another man sends shock waves through the family. As Pablo tries to acclimate to his new life in the city’s gay subculture with the liberated Francisco, his ultra-religious family does everything in its power to get their prodigal son back on track, no matter the cost. “If Bustamante’s lucid second feature makes it feel as though the world itself is trembling beneath your feet, it’s because this mercilessly grounded film keys into the devilishness of Pablo’s dilemma: Forcing him to choose between himself and his family is the only way to guarantee that he ultimately loses both” (David Ehrlich, IndieWire).
Winner of numerous awards on the festival circuit, including the Best Latin American Film at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, the Emerging Filmmaker Award for Bustamante at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival and the Grand Jury Award for Juan Pablo Olyslager for Outstanding Performance in an International Narrative at L.A. Outfest, TEMBLORES garnered universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike. Devika Girish of The New York Times called the film “vividly imagined,” while Michael Rechtshaffen of The Los Angeles Times says it’s “a penetrating, mournful portrait of sexual identity” and Guy Lodge of Variety pens “As the latest in a long line of films to examine the hypocrisy-laden clash between gay rights and evangelical Christian ethos … this strong second feature from Guatemalan talent Jayro Bustamante doesn’t ask new questions, but its sensuous, reverberating atmospherics find fresh, angry ways to answer them.”
BONUS PROGRAMMING
Temblores: Behind the Scenes featurette
Bonus Short Film — Black Hat (Directed by Sarah Smith | USA | 15 minutes ) — A seemingly pious Hasidic man living a secret double life misplaces his black hat one night which will cause his two separate lives to collide in a way he never imagined. Winner, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Film Movement Award, 2019
PROGRAM INFORMATION
Type: DVD/Digital (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu)
Running Time: 107 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 Widescreen
Audio: 5.1 Surround Sound/2.0 Stereo
Language: Spanish with English Subtitles
About Film Movement
Founded in 2002, Film Movement is a North American distributor of award-winning independent and foreign films based in New York City. It has released more than 250 feature films and shorts culled from prestigious film festivals worldwide including the Oscar-nominated films Theeb (2016) and Corpus Christi (2020). Film Movement’s theatrical releases include American independent films, documentaries, and foreign art house titles. Its catalog includes titles by directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Maren Ade, Jessica Hausner, Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrzej Wajda, Diane Kurys, Ciro Guerra and Melanie Laurent. In 2015, Film Movement launched its reissue label Film Movement Classics, featuring new restorations released theatrically as well as on Blu-ray and DVD, including films by such noted directors as Eric Rohmer, Peter Greenaway, Bille August, Marleen Gorris, Takeshi Kitano, Arturo Ripstein, King Hu, Sergio Corbucci, Ettore Scola and Luchino Visconti. For more information, please visit www.filmmovement.com. Visit www.filmmovementplus.com for more information about Film Movement Plus, the new subscription streaming service from Film Movement.
