PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Rodrigo Plá, co-director of the film El Otro Tom.
A conversation with Rodrigo Plá, co-director with Laura Santullo of El Otro Tom, presented in the Orizzonti section of the 78th Venice Film Festival. The director talks with us about some of the themes of the movie, including theme of the excessive use of psychiatric medicines in childhood, the events in his personal life that prompted him to tell this story, the casting and more.
El Otro Tom: Elena is a single mother dependant on Social Services. Her son Tom has behaviour issues and is stigmatised at school as a ‘problem child’. An absent father further complicates their difficult relationship. Tom is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and given psychiatric medication, but a strange accident alerts his mother as to their side effects. When she refuses to continue administering the drugs to him, Social Services threaten to take Tom from her.