Search Film, Company, People...

SHELTERED

REFUGIADO

By Diego LERMAN

Drama - Completed 2012

Matías, a four-year-old boy, arrives at a Women’s Shelter. He’s with his mother Larua.
Laura decides to leave the shelter, to set out to rebuild her broken family. With Matías, she begins a whirlwind tour around the city, where previously-known things now pose a threat.

- Year of production
- 2012
- Genres
- Drama
- Countries
- ARGENTINA
- Languages
- SPANISH
- Budget
- 1 - 3 M$
- Duration
- 90 mn
- Director(s)
- Diego LERMAN
- Cast
- Julieta ZYLBERBERG
- ISAN
- 0000-0004-2E0B-0000-O-0000-0000-2
- EIDR
- 10.5240/06F6-E4BC-2FE4-2E9E-308B-A
- Producer(s)
- Diego LERMAN, Nicolas AVRUJ
- Synopsis
- Matías (4) and his mother Laura (30) travel in a patrol car. He is dressed in a Spiderman costume. They are being taken to a shelter for battered women, a place that provides accommodation for the victims of domestic violence, people with nowhere else to go. Clinging on to his toy dinosaur Tito, Matías enters this new building with a mixture of bewilderment and curiosity.
  Matías adapts quickly to the new routines and forms ties with Belén, a young pregnant woman, and Ana, a girl just slightly older than him. With Ana, he shares toys and discoveries made behind the big, thick walls of the Shelter, letting their imaginations run free.
  After the novelty begins to wear off, Matías starts to miss his daily world. He wants his regular toys, his room, and particularly he wants to be back together with Fabián.
  Laura is pregnant, and after spending two days at the shelter, she decides to leave on her own will, convinced that life in the shelter is not the best for her and her son.
  Once they’ve left, mother and son begin a whirlwind tour of the city looking for options for places to stay. First they visit the theatre where she works. Laura flees in terror when she learns not only that Fabián had been there looking for her, but also beat up Luis, a co-worker with whom Laura had a brief romantic fling in the past. Matías doesn’t quite understand what is happening and – although he is showing signs of being tired - he is limited to accompanying his mother on their journey with no destination.
  On the recommendation of Julia, Laura’s sister, the mother and her son stay for one night at a family hotel in the neighbourhood of Chacarita.
  The following morning, Laura and Matías stop by their family apartment with the aim of picking up a few things and leaving quickly. Even though Laura explains to him that it will be very brief, Matías enjoys returning to his home, playing with his toys and with his things. Amongst family photographs, the remains of a violent night are spread throughout the house. Laura throws things into an improvised bag. Matías doesn’t want to leave; he’s tired of going from place to place. Laura tries to get him going, telling him they’re heading to a nice place. There’s no point. Matías goes in to the bathroom, locking the door. Tension builds to a maximum with Fabián arrives at the building, and Laura appears to have to hide with Matías.
  They begin a journey to the coast, but it’s more like a get-away, a hinge opening to a new reality ahead for this family.
  Mother and son settle into a small apartment in Claromecó, where they used to spend the summers. Distance drives away the ghosts of fear and despair. Laura tries to rebuild her bond with Matías, making him share in the experience his family is living. She speaks with him, and they connect on a level of shared pain and loss, but strengthened by a existence of a love that transcends the possibilities of living together again. Matías speaks with Fabián on the telephone, and cries. Laura silently cries as well.
  Afternoon falls on Claromecó. Laura and Matías smile as they see a gaucho parade make its way down the streets fo the town. Later, they sit on the deserted beach to contemplate a warm summer’s evening. Matías sings a song. Laura kisses him, while the fire-orange light hides behind the horizon.
- Partners & financing
- Dominique Barneaud and Staron Films
- Beginning of shooting
- Oct 01, 2012