The unveiling of Pelo malo: The naked truth of co-producing poverty-porn

Film festivals are important for the survival of world cinema, art cinema and independent cinema. One can also add that the awards and media exposure that a film receives at a film festival act as paratextual layers that condition the reading of the core of that particular work of cinematography. Most research on the cultural phenomena of film festivals shows that filmmakers/producers internalize and integrate an understanding of festival expectations in the very inception and development of their projects. Mariana Rondón’s Pelo malo (Bad Hair), recipient of the 2013 Golden Shell at the San Sebastián Film Festival, is a film that represents art/independent/world cinema and was boosted financially by its success at the abovementioned film festival. In this article, I explore how the construction of masculinity, race, poverty porn and affects in Pelo malo is a byproduct of the cultural imperative of a global film festival circuit that sees Venezuela as the most potent signifier of misery and violence in today’s Latin America.