I Have Electric Dreams () is a 2022 coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Valentina Maurel. A co-production of Costa Rica, Belgium and France, it follows the young Eva (Daniela Marín Navarro), who lives with her mother, her little sister and their cat, in a thin line between love and hate, in a world where aggression and rage intertwined with the vertigo of female sexual awakening.
The film had its world premiere at the main competition of the 75th Locarno Film Festival on 8 August 2022, where it won the Pardo for Best Direction, Pardo for Best Actress and Pardo for Best Actor. It was also selected as the Costa Rican entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.
Cast Reinaldo Amien Gutiérrez as Martín Daniela Marín Navarro as Eva Vivian Rodriguez as Anca Adriana Castro García as Sol Sarah Lefèvre José Pablo Segreda Johanning
Release It premiered at the 75th Locarno Film Festival on 8 August 2022, where it won the Pardo for Best Direction, Pardo for Best Actress and Pardo for Best Actor. In September 2022, It made to 'Latin Horizons (Horizontes Latinos)' section of 70th San Sebastián International Film Festival, where it won Horizontes Award. It also made it to 'World Cinema' section of 27th Busan International Film Festival and was screened on 6 October 2022. In November 2022, it was featured in 'International Competition' section of 53rd International Film Festival of India, where it won Golden Peacock for Best Film and Best Actress Award. In December it was invited to the 28th Kolkata International Film Festival and was screened on 17 December 2022. It was also invited to the 27th Lima Film Festival in the Competition fiction section, where it was screened on 11 August 2023.
Reception On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes website, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10.
Guy Lodge of Variety wrote "an auspicious debut feature from Costa Rican writer-director Valentina Maurel". It has been reviewed by Neil Young of Screen Daily, who wrote of "the tough, sensual, spiky feature-length debut by Costa Rican writer-director Valentina Maurel".
Sequel In November 2022, Maurel announced that she was writing a sequel, which would focus on the mother-daughter relationship between Eva and Anca. She noted that the follow-up would include "complex characters and maybe a little bit of a raw take on relationships between women."
Accolades Year Award Category Recipient(s) Result Locarno Film Festival 13 August 2022 Golden Leopard Valentina Maurel Best Direction Award Best Actor Award Reinaldo Amien Gutiérrez Best Actress Award Daniela Marín Navarro Sarajevo Film Festival 19 August 2022 Special Award for the Promotion of Gender EqualityI Have Electric Dreams San Sebastián International Film Festival 24 September 2022 Horizontes Award Film Fest Ghent 22 October 2022 Best Film Mar del Plata International Film Festival 13 November 2022 Best Latin-American Film FIPRESCI Prize FEISAL Award International Film Festival of India 28 November 2022 Golden Peacock (Best Film) IFFI Best Actor Award (Female) Daniela Marín Navarro Palm Springs International Film Festival 16 January 2023 Best Ibero-American Film I Have Electric Dreams Cleveland International Film Festival 1 April 2023 New Direction Award Guadalajara International Film Festival 9 June 2023 Iberoamerican Competition – Best Film Lima Film Festival 18 August 2023Best Film Best DebutECRAN Award for Best Direction of Debut or Second Feature Film in the Fiction CompetitionValentina MaurelNUNA Award for Best Latin American Female Director in Competition Magritte Award 9 March 2024 Best Editing Bertrand Conard Platino Awards 20 April 2024 Best First Feature Film I Have Electric Dreams
See also List of Costa Rican submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
References
External links