Bad Hair

“In a Caracas tenement high-rise, Marta is raising two children alone, their father long gone and her security-job employment recently terminated. Broke and desperate, she focuses her frustrations on her 10-year-old elder son Junior’s curious new determination to straighten his frizzy interracial hair. He wants to look like the people he watches on T.V. — not actually be a beauty contestant or singer, but simply resemble one. It’s a harmless enough pursuit, one would think. But Marta worries it’s a sign of femininity that underscores her failings as a parent and provider. The resulting conflict between them shouldn’t turn serious — and yet somehow it keeps pressing all the wrong buttons until mother and son may not be able to repair the damage. Without ever spelling anything out, Mariana Rondón’s prize-winning feature addresses potent issues of economic pressure and homophobia within the family unit. She displays a fine understanding of the unspoken tensions that can create a divide — and the occasional words said in anger that can seal it.” — SFFILM

Film Details

Country: Venezuela, Peru
Language: Spanish

Year: 2013

Running time: 93 min

Format: DCP

Director: Mariana Rondón

Screenwriter: Mariana Rondón

Producer: Marité Ugas

Cinematographer: Micaela Cajahuaringa

Editor: Yovanny Leal, Marité Ugas
Source: FiGa Films

Films and schedules may be subject to change.

Modern Cinema’s Founding Supporters are Carla Emil and Rich Silverstein. Generous support is provided by Nion McEvoy and the Susan Wildberg Morgenstein Fund.