Al oriente

The film 'Al oriente' is an Ecuadorian drama. The protagonist, Atahualpa, works on the construction of a road through the Llanganates mountain range, heading east. Among the locals it is rumoured that the treasure that the Inca Atahualpa left behind after his death in 1533 is hidden there. After his girlfriend leaves town, Atahualpa feels a kind of attraction, a distant call that takes him back a hundred years.

'Al Oriente' won the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Special Award at the Venice Film Festival in 2021.

It has a small cast, with actors Paulet Arévalo ('Plaga'), Oliver Utne ('Rumbo al Sol de la Amazonía') and Santiago Villacís ('Mono con gallinas', 'Feriado').

The director is José María Avilés, with a background as a short filmmaker ('La enorme presencia de los muertos', 'Speed Paradise', 'Conversaciones en el jardín'), who also wrote the script with Felipe Troya. The duo made their feature debut with their work together in the dramatic film 'La muerte del maestro', released in 2018. It is produced by Julieta Juncadella and Oderay Game. Behind the cameras are Adrián Balseca as art director, Sebastián Schjaer as editor, and Pablo Paloma's cinematography. In the sound department are Nicolás Fernández Pérez and Xanti Salvador, with Manuel Schjaer as composer.