Movies

For Oscar Restrepo, poetry is the meaning of life. Since his poetic integrity has brought him little fame, Oscar has embraced the noble status of a poet in obscurity—naturally, accompanied by copious amounts of alcohol. Yet the uncompromising life of an outsider artist is anything but easy, and his relationships with his daughter and those closest to him are in complete disarray. When he takes a job as a high school teacher, he discovers Yurlady among his disinterested students, a girl for whom inspired poetry and prose flow effortlessly. Yurlady has better things to do than dabble in verse, but Oscar is on a mission—to open for her the doors of fame he himself never managed to pass through.

The Poet is a touching blend of absurdity, satire, and drama, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard program in Cannes, where it won the Jury Prize.