NO is the true story of a marketing campaign that sparked a revolution. This Oscar-nominated film releases exclusively at Cinema Nouveau theatres on Friday, 30 January.
Chile 1988: After 15 years of oppressive dictatorship, General Augusto Pinochet faces increasing international pressure to legitimise his regime. The government calls for a referendum as the future of the country is at stake. The people of Chile are asked to vote YES or NO to keep Pinochet in power for another eight years.
Opposition leaders for the ‘NO’ vote persuade a brash, young advertising executive, René Saavedra, to spearhead their campaign. Against all odds, with scant resources and under constant scrutiny by the despot’s minions, Saavedra and his team devise an audacious plan to win the election and set Chile free from oppression.
These actual political events are recounted in the film, NO, directed by Pablo Larrain (Tony Manero, Post-Mortem), and featuring Gael García Bernal as René Saavedra. Other actors starring in the film include Alfredo Castro as Lucho Guzmán, Saavedra’s boss and an advisor to Pinochet, Antonia Zegers as René’s ex-wife Verónica Carvajal , Luis Gnecco, Marcial Tagle, Néstor Cantillana, Jaime Vadell and Pascal Montero as René’s adolescent son, Simón.
Among various awards and nominations the film has received, it was Chile’s official entry into the 2013 Academy Awards and was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category. NO (Spanish with English sub-titles) releases exclusively at Cinema Nouveau theatres in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town on Friday, 30 January. The running time is 118mins.
