Perro Bomba

Juan Cáceres

Chili | 2019 | 80 min.
Presented by lead actor Steevens Benjamin

Steevens is a young Haitian living an uneasy but somewhat stable life in Santiago de Chile. This precariously balanced life is disrupted when Junior, a childhood friend, arrives illegally in Chile seeking assistance to establish himself. Initially, Steevens does everything to support his friend and even gets him a job with his employer, but an incident at their workplace erupts racial tensions and stokes a large anti-immigration sentiment in the city. Steevens loses his working documents and his home, and is left to wander the city looking for a chance to restart his life beyond the margins of society.

Juan Cáceres (1990) is a Chilean filmmaker. He graduated from the University of Chile and started his career as a filmmaker directing the short fiction Desiderium in 2016, which premiered at the Santiago International Film Festival (SANFIC). In 2017 he directed La duda, which also premiered at SANFIC and then went on to an international tour that included Havana, São Paulo and Toulouse film fests.

Perro Bomba is his feature film debut. The film was selected for some of the most prestigious WIP industry events and won several development awards. It was the biggest winner at Guagalajara Construye, the festival’s works in progress section. Perro Bomba had its world premiere at the 2019 HBO Ibero-American Feature Film Competition at Miami International Film Festival.

Steevens Benjamin (1996) is a Haitian actor and model based in Chile. He was discovered while working as a travel assistant at a bus terminal in Santiago. He debuted in 2015, in the play "Trabajo Sucio." presented in La Memoria Theater, founded by Alfredo Castro. He also worked in several short films, such as The Doubt (2017) and Ali (2018). In 2018 he worked as a model for international advertising campaigns of H&M, Moschino & Zoo York. He was also in the cast of two Chilean TV soap operas. Perro Bomba (2019) is his feature film debut as an actor.