A VHS journey to the heart of one of the most shameful episodes of modern Argentina. Made almost entirely from archive material, Splinters (Esquirlas) is a firsthand reflection on family, pain and the passage of time, a further example that the personal is always political.
Director Natalia Garayalde was 12 when the Río Tercero munitions factory in Argentina exploded. Equipped with her father’s camcorder, she documented the scale of the disaster in her town. In time, what was supposed to be an accident was uncovered to be one of the most shameful chapters of Argentina's recent history, as the incident was connected with the illegal sale of weapons for the Balkan war by the Carlos Menem government.
25 years later, Garayalde used her VHS tapes to make this powerful film essay on family and the passage of time, the consequences of corruption and state violence, and the pain of a city that still endures.
Screening part of CinemaAttic’s ADRIFT, a film season bringing essential world cinema to Scotland.