Vendedora de rosas, La (1998)

Director:

Víctor Gaviria

Writers:

Víctor Gaviria (writer)
Carlos Henao (writer)

Release Date:

25 August 1998 (Colombia)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

13-year-old Monica leads a street life, making her living by selling flowers to couples in local nightspots...

Plot Keywords:

Rose | Street Children | Prostitution | Glue Sniffing | Street Kid

Awards:

14 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Lady Tabares	...	Mónica
Marta Correa	...	Judy
Mileider Gil	...	Andrea
Diana Murillo	...	Cachetona
Liliana Giraldo	...	Claudia
Yuli García
Álex Bedoya	...	Milton
Elkin Vargas
John Fredy Ríos
Robinson García
Giovanni Quiroz	...	El Zarco
Elkin Rodríguez
William Blandón
Wilder Arango
Duván Vásquez

Also Known As:

The Rose Seller

Runtime:

USA:116 min | Argentina:118 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Colombia

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

France:U | Argentina:13 | Singapore:R21

Filming Locations:

Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia

Company:

Producciones Filmamento

Trivia:

Of the cast of 17, nine have died violent deaths including the boy who played Monica's cheating boyfriend.

Quotes:

Chinga: What shoes for is there is no home?

A window into the lives of Colombia's street girls.

La Vendedora de Rosas is a companion piece to Victor Gaviria's 1990 Rodrigo D:no futuro, about the lives of street boys from Medellin,Colombia. Vendedora focuses on girls equally affected by poverty, ignorance, abuse and neglect. It earns a place next to Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay and Hector Babenco's Pixote, excellent urban youth films in the tradition of Bunuel's Los Olvidados. Vendedora does not shy away from depicting the effects of drugs, violence, and family dysfunction while allowing for brief moments of tenderness and solidarity, even joy. Gaviria has enlisted street kids in enacting events from their daily lives, during 48 hours preceding Christmas. The film refuses to cheapen their plight with plot contrivances or stylistic flourishes. The spanish spoken is specific to the youth of Medellin, a welcome challenge to most native speakers. The fate of the characters evolves naturally from earlier scenes, without being predictable. I recommend La Vendedora de Rosas to anybody who considers film a window to the world of folks we wouldn't otherwise be able to access and an opportunity to understand it.