Details of a Duel/A Matter Of Honor (Tecnicas De Duelo)

Director: Sergio Cabrera
Screenwriters: Humberto Dorado

Institute History

  • 1990 Sundance Film Festival

Description

Tecnicas de Duelo is a subtle comedy of manners, full of surprise and inventiveness. The film offers a satirical look at Latin life and mores by taking small-town society and Colombia's formal attitudes to task, especially Latin American notions of honor, machismo, government bureaucracy, religious duty and self-important petty officials.

The story is set in a small provincial Andean town, where two former best friends—the schoolmaster (Frank Ramirez) and the town butcher (Humberto Darado)—prepare for a duel. Since the raison d'étre of the duel is never given, the story revolves around each man's actions as the fatal hour approaches and death seems imminent. Actor Humberto Dorado's tight script has a literary quality, and the forma elegance of the dialogue and the lush photography underline the ritualistic nature of the impending duel.

Tecnicas de Duelo is the first fiction feature by documentary filmmaker and cinematographer Sergio Cabrera, who spent most of his early life in China. He studied philosophy at the University Of Beijing before switching to cinematography at London's Polytechnic School. Cabrera has made over thirty documentaries and been cinematographer on five features, in addition to producing over five hundred television commercials. He is currently completing his second fiction film, Estrattegia del Carceal (Snail's Strategy).


Thursday, January 25, 10:15 a.m.
Holiday Village Cinema II

Sunday, January 28, 2:30 p.m.
Holiday Village Cinema I

$5.00

— Paul Lenti

Screening Details

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