The Grown-Ups

Invited

Andres and Anita met at school during catering class, began dating, and fell in love. With their classmates Ricardo and Rita, they fill baking sheet after baking sheet with pristine pastries and colorful frosting, and sneak chocolate into their pockets when they think no one is looking. But as each day echoes the last, they voice their boredom with the class—and their lives. Andres and Anita dream about marriage, but when they raise this desire with their parents and a priest, Chilean law shatters their hopes. People with Down syndrome cannot be legally married in Chile. For Ricardo, a big frustration is the inability to be financially independent. Working two jobs, he makes little money, and his dream of saving enough to rent his own place feels impossible. The classmates have attended this school for 40 years, and as the viewer joins them for each repetitive day, the limitations on their lives become extremely apparent. They want to experience the life they read, see, and hear about—go on dates, drive cars, be parents, have jobs—but the world refuses to allow them in. With sensitivity, humor, and elegance, filmmaker Maite Alberdi lets the four protagonists speak for themselves—treating them as the grown-ups they are. KR

Director

Maite Alberdi

Producer

Maite Alberdi

Editors

Juan Eduardo Murillo, Menno Boerema

Cinematographer

Pablo Valdés

Original Title

Los Niños

Release Year

2016

Festival Year

2017

Country

Chile, Netherlands, France

Run Time

80 minutes

Subtitled

No