4. Selling Rosario
https://vimeo.com/128510350 Rosario is twelve years old, and lives with her parents on a migrant labour camp: a poor, squalid environment for any family to raise a child to adulthood. They know that shell be better off somewhere else, anywhere else but where should she go? Finally, a plan in place to save their little girl from the life theyre trapped in, Rosarios family make their move. Written and directed by Iana Simeonov and Michael Winokur,
Selling Rosario delights in wrongfooting the audience, setting up some fairly horrible expectations as to Rosarios fate only to delight in subverting them. The narrative is stylistically imaginative and elegantly constructed, and newcomer Mia Xitlali is vastly impressive as the young girl at the centre of the tale. You really dont want it to end. If Back At You is one of those films that makes you love the short film format, then Selling Rosario is like a magnificent calling card for a longer, fuller story. Still, its magnetic enough on its own, and critics agree: the film has been selected for several film festivals, winning multiple awards.