| El hoyo en la cerca | |
| Director: | Joaquín del Paso |
| Producer: | Joaquín del Paso Fernanda de la Peza |
| Starring: | Valeria Lamm Lucciano Kurti Yubáh Ortega Erick Walker |
| Cinematography: | Alfonso Herrera Salcedo |
| Editing: | Paloma López |
| Music: | Kyle Dixon Michael Stein |
| Studio: | Amondo Films Cárcava Cine |
| Runtime: | 100 minutes |
| Country: | Mexico Poland |
| Language: | Spanish |
The Hole in the Fence (Spanish: El hoyo en la cerca) is a 2021 Mexican-Polish thriller drama film directed by Joaquin del Paso and written by del Paso and Lucy Pawlak.[1] Starring Valeria Lamm, Lucciano Kurti, Yubáh Ortega & Erick Walker.[2] The film was named on the shortlist for Mexican's entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards, but it was not selected.[3]
Every year at Centro Escolar Los Pinos, a renowned religious private school for boys, sends “the children of the Mexican elite” to a summer camp in the countryside. Under the watchful eye of their teachers and priests, the boys are strengthened physically, morally and in their faith. But then they discover a hole in the fence surrounding the camp.[4]
The actors participating in this film are:[5] [6]
The film had its international premiere on September 3, 2021, at the 78th Venice International Film Festival. On October 4, 2021, it screened at the 58th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival,[7] it also screened at the BFI London Film Festival in the middle of the same month.[8] It was commercially released on June 9, 2022, in Mexican theaters.[9]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 10 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10.[10]
David Katz from Cineuropa wrote: "This is an eminently well-made, well-designed and watchable piece of work, with fine, improvisational performances from young adolescents acting for the first time. It may be an odd claim to make in light of the Michel Franco comparison, but The Hole in the Fence still undoes itself slightly because of its sensationalist tone and the vaguer aspects of its harsh critique of religious education. When a film is both political and incoherent, the former element loses its sting."[11]
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Cairo International Film Festival | Best Film | The Hole in the Fence | [12] | ||
| Hollywood Music In Media Awards | Best Original Score - Independent Film (Foreign Language) | Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein | [13] | |||
| Huelva Festival - Ibero-American Cinema | Best Film | The Hole in the Fence | [14] | |||
| Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival | Best International Film | [15] | ||||
| Morelia International Film Festival | Best Film | [16] | ||||
| Best Director | Joaquin del Paso | |||||
| Venice Film Festival | Queer Lion | [17] | ||||
| Best Film | The Hole in the Fence | |||||
| Warsaw International Film Festival | Competition 1-2 Award - Best Film | [18] [19] | ||||
| 2022 | FICUNAM UNAM International Film Festival | Best Mexican Film | [20] | |||
| Ariel Award | Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen | Joaquin del Paso & Lucy Pawlak | [21] | |||
| Best Sound | Guido Berenblum, Santiago Arroyo, Jaime Baksht & Michelle Couttolenc | |||||
| Best Original Score | Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein | |||||
| Best Costume Design | Ursula Schneider | |||||
| Best Editing | Paloma López | |||||
| 2023 | Canacine Awards, MX | Best Newcomer - Male | Yubah Ortega | [22] |