Planta
Close-up of a dog’s eye
La Résidence · Cinéma de Demain, Festival de CannesResidencias de la Academia de Cine de EspañaTorinoFilmLabOxbelly RetreatTres Puertos CineIzaña LabPrograma Ibermedia

El entrenador
de perros

Directed by Federico Luis · Chile, Mexico, Argentina, France · Fiction feature · Development

Simón, a young soldier, accidentally loses a dangerous military working dog and tracks it down to the remote home of its former breeder: Amado, a motionless and deformed man who is the best trainer of Belgian Malinois in Argentina.

Where it has been

Residencies
La Résidence du Festival de Cannes (Cinéma de Demain) · Spanish Film Academy Residencies · Oxbelly Retreat
Labs
TorinoFilmLab · Tres Puertos Cine · Izaña Lab
Fund
Ibermedia Programme
Advisors
Kleber Mendonça Filho, Albert Serra, Albertina Carri, Radu Jude, Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten, Juan Antonio Bayona, Mario Bellatin, Athina Tsangari, Marta Andreu, Mariano Llinás

Details

Director
Federico Luis
Screenplay
Federico Luis, Matías Fernández Burzaco
Based on
Perros héroes (Hero Dogs), the novel by Mario Bellatin
Format
Fiction feature
Producers
Fernando Bascuñán, Fernanda de la Peza, Elena Fortes, Jerónimo Quevedo, Sylvie Pialat
Production companies
Planta (Chile) · Cárcava (Mexico) · Fiasco (Mexico) · Un Puma (Argentina) · Les Films du Worso (France)
Stage
Development

Director

Federico Luis
Portrait of Federico Luis

Federico Luis

Federico Luis was born in Buenos Aires in 1990. After several short films, including La siesta (The Nap), which premiered in Cannes Competition in 2019, his debut feature Simón de la Montaña won the Grand Prix at Cannes Critics’ Week 2024. In 2023 he received the Best Short Film award at IDFA, Amsterdam, for En el mismísimo momento. His short film Para los contrincantes won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at Cannes 2026. His next feature, The Dog Trainer, was developed at La Résidence du Festival de Cannes, TorinoFilmLab, the Film Academy of Spain and Oxbelly Retreat.