«Tigers are not afraid»: guns and stuffed tigers

Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) - Thierry Fivaz

For her third feature film, Mexican director Issa Lopez tells the epic tale of a group of lost children who, from rooftop to rooftop, try to extricate themselves from a world not made for them.

For many years, Mexico has ranked at the top of the the deadliest countries in the world. In 2016, the number of recorded intentional homicides totaled nearly 23,000 people—or sixty-three murders per day—slightly fewer than in Syria. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a think tank According to a British expert on politico-military conflicts, territorial wars between cartels explain this climate of extreme violence. The stakes are high, since by expanding their territories—whether or not they are occupied by their rivals—the cartels secure a monopoly on drug trafficking.

But the horror doesn't end there. Often overshadowed by conflicts between drug traffickers, Mexico also faces another problem: femicide and kidnappings. According to the Colegio de la Frontera Norte research center, From 1993 to 2013, 1,441 women were murdered in Ciudad Juárez (Editor's note: a city located on the border with the United States and infamously dubbed «the murder capital of the world»).

How does one manage to survive—or even just get by—in such a situation, in such a climate of insecurity and violence? That is what Mexican director Issa Lopez sought to show us, in all its raw honesty, in Tigers Are Not Afraid.

The Lost Children

At just ten years old, Estrella (Paola Lara) suddenly finds herself on her own; her mother, like so many other women before her, has disappeared. The young girl wants only one thing: to find her. But Estrella can’t stay at home waiting for her. Threatening voices and shadowy figures tell her to run away, that her life is in danger. Frightened, the little girl obeys and, during her escape, encounters a group of lost children—five boys, all orphans—led by young Shine (Juan Ramón López), a leader with the face of an angel and a stolen childhood.

The small gang and Estrella are struggling to survive—or just get by—but they’re in deep trouble: they’re in possession of the cell phone belonging to the leader of one of the city’s many cartels. That phone contains sensitive information—videos of executions—but also a photo, the only one Shine has of his mother, which he wouldn’t give up for anything in the world.

Animals and fields of soccer for tigers

Tigers Are Not Afraid is a powerful, unsettling film that leaves no one unscathed. A sort of road movie, this film takes us on a journey through the streets, rooftops, and dilapidated buildings, alongside a group of kids whose innocence has been unjustly stolen—and who are brought to life by actors who all deliver remarkable performances! In this city where caring adults seem to be absent—the only adults present are drug traffickers—the children are left to fend for themselves. With no one to feed or love them, they take refuge in their imaginations, telling each other stories of vast soccer fields and friendly animals. 

However, while it is true that the imagination plays an important role in Tigers aren't afraid, Much like the voices and silhouettes Estrella hears or the stories the children tell each other, Issa Lopez’s film has, above all, a documentary-like quality. In fact, while this contributes to the film’s intensity, this realism also makes it particularly difficult to watch: how can one not feel repulsed and outraged by a film that depicts a world so close to our own?

All in all, through the delicate interplay of fantasy and documentary, Issa Lopez’s film is particularly moving. With Tigers Are Not Afraid, the director depicts the daily lives of thousands of Mexicans and shows, with detachment and authenticity, the main aspiration of these fellow citizens: to no longer live in fear.

Tigers Are Not Afraid was screened as part of the NIFFF on July 6 and 10, 2018, in the international competition.

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Photo credit: © NIFFF