The Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar maintained an extensive zoo on his hacienda. He had animals imported from all over the world. These included four hippos from Namibia. After the drug baron's death, the animals were released into the wild in 1993. One of the offspring of these hippos is Pepe. And Pepe causes problems. He is up to mischief for years until he is shot. The film consists of acted scenes, documentary footage and sequences from cartoons. We also hear Pepe speaking Spanish and Afrikaans, because although he was born in Colombia, he is still at home in Namibia. His monologue touches on themes such as separation and farewell, uprooting and the search for home. The director's gaze does not remain on Pepe, but also focuses on German safari tourists in Namibia, for example, or a Colombian fisherman and his wife who argue endlessly.
DIRECTOR
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Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
In his films, Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias measures Latin American identities. He maps the stratifications of colonial and pre-colonial traditions. And tells the history and stories in the field of tension between fiction and reality. He left the Dominican Republic, where he was born and raised, to study creative writing and media art in Mexico City. In Buenos Aires, he turned to film and then to experimental film in Edinburgh. He finally completed his training in Los Angeles.
