BLANQUITA Director Fernando Guzzoni on a “CLASSIC” SOUNDS with Tom Needham

BLANQUITA Director Fernando Guzzoni Up Next on a CLASSIC SOUNDS with Tom Needham Podcast

BLANQUITA was Chile’s Official Oscar entry for 2022 for International Best Film Category, and will release it in New York and Los Angels on December 9, 2022. The film had its world premier in the Horizons section of the 2022 Venice Film Festival, winning the Best Screenplay prize for Director Fernando Guzzoni.

Young actress Laura López makes her debut as an 18-year-old resident of a foster home, who is a key witness in a trial against powerful politicians and businessmen implicated in a child sex scandal. As questions are asked, her role in the scandal becomes unclear. Award-winning veteran actor Alejandro Goic co-stars as a priest who runs the home where the young woman lives. Other cast members include Amparo Noguera, Marcelo Alonso and Daniela Ramirez.

The feature is inspired by the real-life early 2000s Spiniak Case involving a child prostitution ring which provided services to a number of high-placed politicians and businessmen in Chile. The case divided public opinion in Chile as it went through the courts, with doubts being cast on the testimony of key witness who was caught up in the ring as a minor and accused two senators of abusing her. Guzzoni spent a year investigating the case in-depth before writing his screenplay.

Blanquita is Guzzoni’s fourth feature after La Colorina, Carne de Perro (Dog Flesh) and Jesús.