RIDERS (Argentina-Portugal-Venezuela, 2024, 82′)

Saturday October 5, at 5 pm, Cinema Massimo, Screen 3

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Director: Martín Rejtman
Photography: Federico Lastra
Editing: Andrés Medina, German Ruiz
Sound: Marcos Zoppi, Emiliano Biaiñ
Production: Un Puma

In Argentina, many riders working for the local UberEats app are Venezuelans who have fled their country due to the economic crisis. A phenomenon that started about 20 years ago. Filmed during the pandemic between Buenos Aires, Caracas and Colonia Tovar (a city 63 kilometres from Caracas), Martín Rejtman’s new film immerses us in the gruelling daily lives of those exploited by the economic platforms at both ends of South America. Riders shows not only the tiring and continuous movement of these workers by bicycle or motorbike (in cities made empty by Covid there are almost only them on the streets), but also the protests for their rights. A film of slow, silent, frontal observation that deals with emigration and the gig economy. Riders also maps three cities following the movements of this multitude of people far from home and forced to never stop. It focuses on the story of two brothers who have just arrived in Argentina. National preview.

Martín Rejtman (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1961) is a director and screenwriter, and one of the main representatives of Argentinian cinema. After his studies in Buenos Aires, he continued in New York. Known for his minimal style, Rejtman debuted in feature with his low-budget movie Rapado (1992) based on one of his novels and presented at the Rotterdam Festival. He became famous with the comedy-drama Silvia Prieto (1999). La práctica (2023) is his first movie filmed outside Argentina, in Santiago de Chile.

Filmography: Doli vuelve a casa (1986, s.f.), Sistema español (1988, s.f.), Rapado (1992), Silvia Prieto (1999), Los guantes mágicos (2003), Copacabana (2006, doc), Entrenamiento elemental para actores (2009), Dos disparos (2014), Shakti (2019, s.f.), La práctica (2023), Riders (El repartidor está en camino) (2024, doc).