MONOS

On a remote isolated hilltop in an unnamed South American country, eight teen guerrilla fighters form a tightly cloistered ad hoc family living out of an abandoned bunker on behalf of a shadowy outfit simply known as the Organization. With no real purpose or goal other than to receive combat training given by the ferocious Mensajero (former guerrilla fighter Wilson Salazar), to take care of a dairy cow named Shakira, and to keep alive an American hostage simply known as Doctora, the teens revel in an increasingly unbridled hedonism. But when the animal is killed and the group is suddenly attacked by a rival force, the teens must trek down the mountains and into the jungle, where petty rivalries devolve into life-or-death battles and the child fighters descend into their own increasingly brutal hearts of darkness.

Alejandro Landes (Sao Paolo,1980) is a Colombian-Ecuadorian film director, producer, screenwriter, and journalist. Landes studied political economy at Brown University and graduated in 2003. His documentary Cocalero was screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and gained theatrical release in over 20 countries. His debut feature film Porfirio premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2011 and went on to be screened and win prizes at many international film festivals. Monos (2019) is winner of a Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film festival.