Iván Fund's 'El mensaje' Premieres at Berlin Film Festival

Argentine director Iván Fund's fourth feature film, 'El mensaje,' premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale). The black-and-white road movie follows young Anika (Anika Bootz), who is exploited by her grandmother Myriam (Mara Bestelli) and Myriam's partner Roger (Marcelo Subiotto) for her supposed telepathic abilities to communicate with pets. Fund focuses on Anika's solitary daily life—sleeping in a van, washing with a water jug, eating stolen corn—rather than questioning the reality of her powers. Myriam's new-age, paranormal rhetoric and detachment contrast with Roger's caregiving role. Fund cites French photographer Bernard Plossu and filmmakers Wim Wenders, Tsai Ming-liang, and John Cassavetes as inspirations. The film blends the real and fantastic, using animal spirituality to deepen the fairy-tale tone.