The Portrait December 6, 2010

A PHOTOGRAPHER OBSESSED WITH THE SEARCH OF THE PERFECT PORTRAIT FINDS PEOPLE´S HEARTS. LITERALLY.

Director Daniela Merino presents her film THE PORTRAIT at Galápagos Art Space (16 Main Street, Brooklyn - Dumbo) on December 6th at 7pm. The film is a poetic reflection on the creative process of a photographer. A young artist, Pénelope, interpreted by Spanish actress Marta Milans, creates a body of work that is both macabre and beautiful: she starts collecting people’s hearts for her portraits, starting with the heart of her deceased lover, Samuel (Erik Parillo). The story takes an unexpected twist as she begins to know the son of this man, Pierre (Marcel Simoneau).

THE PORTRAIT is Daniela Merino´s first film. She is an Ecuadorian visual artist that lives and works in New York city since 2003. Her art has mainly focused on a series of photographs and video portraits on female characters within the subject of coming of age: their physical and psychic transformation on a postmodern society.

THE PORTRAIT is her first narrative film. It reunites experimental elements of her previous work with traditional storytelling that poetically questions the nature of the photographic art. “Extraordinarily beautiful short; captures the mood and feel of the character exquisitely,” –Vlad Nikolic, director of ZENITH, just released at IFC.

Official Website: http://s80131.gridserver.com/public/