The Wave (La Ola)

Inspired by the Chilean 'Me Too' wave, which saw female students occupy their campus to denounce systemic harassment and abuse, this rousing musical follows Julia, a music student, as she gradually realises what happened to her on a certain night with her teacher assistant, and joins the wave of change.The likeable Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio previously directed invigorating crowd pleasers centred on women, which rightfully garnered wide acclaim, from 2013 hit Gloria to 2017 Oscar winner A Fantastic Woman and 2018 Julianne Moore starrer Gloria Bell. In The Wave, he acknowledges with humour the paradox of being a man behind the most outwardly feministic film of the year. He does, crucially, not point out the accumulated hurt and anger of the young female students. He shares it.And uses the musical genre, with its aura of romance, splendour, spectacle and escape, as a vehicle to speak about a challenging and urgent subject that appeals to all humanity today: the need to create a new paradigm that redefines the way men, women and sexual non-conformers, relate to each other.