The film tells the surreal and compelling story of the first and only hippopotamus ever killed in the Americas, named Pepe by the Colombian press. Set in a world where the boundaries between the real and the imagined blur, the film blends humor and melancholy to explore themes of memory, exile, and historical trauma. Narrated by a voice claiming to be Pepe, the film employs inventive visuals and sound design to convey his tragic yet absurd story. Through encounters, epiphanies,
and misunderstandings, Pepe invites viewers into a world full of stories about life and death.
Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, San Sebastian Film Festival
The Dominican director Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias studied film in Buenos Aires and Edinburgh and has an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. His first short film She Said He Walks, He Said She Walks won a BAFTA Scotland in 2009 while his documentary Pareces una carreta... was part of the major Latin America art exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. His graduation film Santa Teresa y otras historias won the Prix Georges De Beauregard at FidMarseille; Cocote won the Signs of Life Award at Locarno. He developed Pepe while participating in the DAAD Αrtists-in-Berlin programme.
