This debut feature from Ecuadorian filmmaker Araujo explores race, class and sexuality with sensitivity and intelligence, through the eyes of privileged 16-year-old Juan Pablo. Confronted with prejudice and injustice at his family’s Andean hacienda during the carnival holiday of 1999, days before the collapse of Ecuador’s banking system, he meets Juano, a self-assured, black-metal fan from the nearby pueblo, who opens his eyes to a new, liberating universe. As his country and family heads for the abyss, their budding friendship tentatively moves towards a gentle romance, and Juan Pablo gradually constructs his sense of identity against his chaotic surroundings.
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