Presented by writer-director Lorenzo Vigas

Armando, middle-aged and solitary, lures young men from the streets to his Caracas apartment with the promise of money. In fact he’s a voyeur, although the distance he maintains contains its own particular aggression. Life takes an unexpected turn when he meets 17-year-old Elder. This relationship begins with violence, but transforms as a surprising intimacy emerges, for which neither is prepared.

From Afar, the remarkable feature debut by Lorenzo Vigas, won the Golden Lion at the 2015 Venice Film Festival. It speaks to Venezuela’s present reality and the disparate social classes that comprise the country’s capital. From the gated communities of the very rich to the poor communities crammed into monotonous apartment blocks, Vigas paints a portrait of a multitiered society, providing context to his resonant story about an impossible friendship.