The Bella Vista

The Bella Vista

The Bella Vista

2012, Uruguay/Germany, 73' & 52', Alicia Cano

Synopsis

On the outskirts of a small provincial city in Uruguay, the BELLA VISTA Football Club lost its final game and was eliminated from its category; a fight broke out between the fans and players and the club was disbanded.
The club house, empty for some time, was taken over by a well-known madam, who quickly turned it into a brothel for transvestites, with great success.

Every night the neighborhood was overrun with cars, bicycles, horses, moans, shouts and fighting. Local residents, some frightened, others fed up, brought these stories to the attention of Patón Lerena, former director of the club, patriarch of a large family and local strongman. He immediately gathered a group together to evict the “undesirable” elements from the club. As if to exorcize the sinful past that had impregnated the place, the local residents established a Catholic chapel there: the Jesus of Mercy Oratory.

Since then, guided by a cheerful nun, the children attend catechism classes and dance and sing their praises to the Lord in the rooms that formerly housed the brothel. The transvestites were forced back into street prostitution. Patón Lerena has a brick factory and a family of six children and 20 grandchildren whose lives he runs.
A madam and two transvestites, a macho-man and a devout old lady, will bring to life this battle for control of a single physical space, all of them driven by the same motivation: passion.

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Karlovy Vary IFF – World Premiere; San Sebastian IFF; DMZ-DOCs; Chicago IFF; FIC Valdivia – Special Mention; Rio de Janeiro Film Festival; Bergen International Film Festival; Festival du Nouveau Cinema; MiradasDoc Film Festival; Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata; International Documentary Film Festival in Mexico City – DOCSDF; La Havana Film Festival - Special Mention; Goteborg Film Festival; Bilbao International GLT film and performing arts Film Festival; Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival; Sofia International Film Festival; Vilnius International Film Festival; Planet Doc Review Audience Award; Zurich FF – Special Mention;