El Paraiso

Australian premiere

“Director Enrico Maria Artale takes a naturalistic approach to this unconventional, dysfunctional love story which explores just how isolating the immigrant experience can be.” – Screen International

Julio is almost 40 years old and still lives with his mother in the house they own just outside of central Rome in the seaside town of Fiumicino. His Columbian-born mother is a strong, tyrannical woman with whom Julio has a complicated relationship. Their bond leads them to share practically everything, from a passion for Latin American dancing to working as a drug courier. The arrival of Ines, an attractive young Colombian drug mule, threatens to unsettle their tenuous stability. Julio finds himself falling in love and for the first time and he imagines a life away from his mother’s possessive gaze.

El Paraíso deftly balances many things, at times being a compelling crime drama, an unconventional love story, a portrait of a seriously dysfunctional mother/son relationship, all the while delving into the complexities of the immigrant experience.

Winner of Venice Horizons Award for Best Screenplay and Best Actress and Winner of the Arca Cinema Giovani Award for Best Italian Film in Venice at Venice Film Festival