“Feral,” directed by Andres Kaiser, is a horror mockumentary that takes place in the Oaxacan mountains.
(photo courtesy of LACLA)

Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles is presenting the second annual Cine Nepantla on Friday, March 26, featuring the Mexican horror mockumentary “Feral.”

The streaming will be available at lacla.uscreen.io for the price of $5 starting Friday through Sunday, March 28. That will also include a post-streaming discussion in English and Spanish with director Andres Kaiser and Guido Segal, a screenwriter and film critic.

Nepantla is a Nahuatl word which describes the state of living in-between different cultures. It can also refer to living in the borderlands or being at a literal or metaphorical crossroads. In line with this concept, Cine Nepantla aims to create a space in which meaningful dialogue among audiences of different socio-economic backgrounds, races, ethnicities, ages, abilities, genders, sexualities, nationalities and religions can take place and effect change.

“Feral” takes place in the majestic landscape of the Oaxacan mountains, where videotape diaries and interviews reveal a shocking series of horrific events involving a psychoanalyst priest and his children patients.

Somewhere in the Oaxacan mountains are the burnt-out remains of a shelter that housed a psychoanalyst priest who was obsessed with rehabilitating savage children to place them back into society. Through videotape diaries, viewers are treated to a portrait of a man whose singular pursuit of this goal saw him excommunicated from the church he holds dear, separated from society and plagued by a self-doubt which chipped away at his humanity. However, a more sinister picture begins to emerge as interviews with individuals from the nearby village and his close family appears.

Kaiser’s found-footage documentary weaves a spellbinding tale by featuring deep character explorations that threaten to spill into malevolence at any moment. Examining questions of blind faith, trust and doubt, Kaiser explores the individual in relation to the church through a critical lens that highlights the hypocrisies prevalent within religion and builds on the idea of the “other,” an ostracized figure both feared and reviled.

The videotape diaries reveal conflicting elements: the nobility of the disgraced priest’s mission at odds with the unnatural goings-on that appear at the edges, leaving the audience unsettled. Kaiser keeps the truth hidden as long as possible, hinting at the horrors that lay buried deep within the film. A small cast of remarkable actors helps keep the atmosphere tense and frightening in the build-up to a haunting and unforgettable climax.

For information, visit lacla.org.