Camera Obscura

About The Film

Illuminating questions of beauty and self-image through a feminine lens, CAMERA OBSCURA is an enchanting story of a homely woman who recedes into obscurity among a colony of Argentine Jewish immigrants. Born on the docks of a Buenos Aires harbor at the end of the 19th century and rejected by her mother, Gertrudis (Mirta Bogdasarian) is all but ignored, and escapes her ugly duckling adolescence through flights of fantasy. Eventually married off to an older, wealthy Jewish rancher and raising a loving family, she appears to salvage a happy life. When a worldly French photographer is invited to take a family portrait, his surrealist visions reveal the camera-shy Gertrudis in a new light. Artfully blending live action, animation and still photography, CAMERA OBSCURA is a lyrical, inventive film from Argentine director María Victoria Menis. Nominated for 8 Argentine Film Critics Association Awards, including Best Film.