The prince

Chile, 1970. One crazy night, Jaime (Juan Carlos Maldonado), a young, lonely and narcissistic 20-year-old, stabs his best friend in an alleged act of passion. In jail he meets El Potro (Alfredo Castro), an old and respected inmate to whom Jaime grows closer as he is in need of some protection on the inside. Jaime becomes known as The Prince and discovers love and loyalty whilst he takes part in the violent power struggle that characterises his prison block. A relationship starts between the two men that is not only sexual in nature, but is also defined by patronage, protection and perhaps even love. 'El Príncipe' is a feature film about the coming-of-age of a young man who doesn't know anything about life and who never puts down his mirror for long enough to find out.

The movie, which premiered during the Venice International Film Critics' Week, won the Queer Lion, the official award granted to the best film with a LGTB theme across all of the festival sections. 'El Príncipe' delves into and grants depth to the themes of the prison subgenre: the closed environment, claustrophobia, and sex.

The movie is the feature film debut of director Sebastián Muñoz, who collaborated on the script with Luis Barrales, and is based in a low circulation novel written at the early 70s by Mario Cruz.