Barrio triste (2025)

In 1987, local residents in Medellín report strange lights descending from the sky. When a reporter arrives to investigate, a group of teens steal the camera. With it, they record their neighborhood and the disturbing phenomena that surrounds them. Led by restless youths like Caneco and Piojo, their initial fascination with the camera quickly turns into a tool for capturing the raw, neglected reality of their surroundings, blending mundane teenage boredom with an unsettling sense of looming supernatural dread. Later, the group of teenagers — including Caneco, Piojo, Rata and Cuchilla — are seen riding inside a stolen car while listening to a radio broadcast featuring an interview about a serial killer who targets prostitutes. Driven by a lack of direction and reckless impulse, the boys pull up to a local jewelry store to execute a robbery. During the heist, one of the teens shoots and kills the cashier, plunging the group into serious trouble once they retreat back to their hideout. As chaos brews among them, Caneco paces around filming the interior of the house before smashing a stereo playing a news segment regarding the sudden disappearance of one of their close friends. Caneco continues documenting the raw, mundane, and chaotic daily occurrences scattered across their neighborhood; a local punk rock band rehearsing, two young girls exercising, Piojo casually wielding and playing with a machete, a sugarcane cutter sternly scolding one of the boys, and a teenager getting dragged into a heated brawl with a biker. Caneco approaches the defeated teenager — who confesses to feeling suicidal — and motivates him to join their crew as they take the stolen car from the jewelry heist and set it ablaze to destroy evidence. Later that night, the group ventures into an abandoned, decaying building where they encounter the mysterious Light Child, an otherworldly figure whose touch causes each member of the group to vanish into thin air. Upon the Light Child’s touch, Caneco finds himself abruptly transported to an abandoned swimming pool where a few members of the group are strangely seen swimming. He wanders aimlessly through the empty streets and desolate alleys of the neighborhood before heading back home. Following the eerie sound of a dog’s howl, he is led into another abandoned building where he witnesses a dark alien standing directly over the defeated teenager's disemboweled body. Overwhelmed by the cosmic horror and loss, Caneco returns home and quietly smokes a cigarette, leaving the recorded camera tape abruptly inconclusive. Interspersed throughout the entirety of the film are raw interview tapes of Caneco, Piojo, Rata, and Cuchilla being questioned about their lives, core beliefs, and personal struggles. As these intimate sit-down sessions progress, the confident facade of the group fractures; Caneco candidly opens up about a four-year-old daughter he never knew he had, the deep neglect he suffered from his parents, and his persistent, debilitating battle with depression.