Jose Andre Sibaja's Hyenas premiered at the Anthology Film Archives alongside the film 237NP, from directors Oscar Brais Revalderia and Ricardo Perez. Paralyzed by the fear of facing "reality," six lost causes find themselves holed up in a refuge of depravity and temptation. Unable to resist their urges, the enable each other to descend into addiction. Hyenas is a short film directed and produced by José André Sibaja, and co-produced by Ibai Vigil-Escalera. The film lingers between the video art and the experimental cinema, structured in five vignettes, each one of them portraits the emptiness and anxiety felt by a group of youngsters. “To me, Hyenas is a timid peep into my fears from yesteryears… well, and present day also” - says the director, José André Sibaja - “I suffer of chronophobia. I do not wear a watch, nor I check my phone, I don’t like calendars, or birthdays, I’m deeply perturbed by the concept of time. So, my characters experience an uneasy sensation that life is moving too fast and is thus hard to make any sense of it, they feel alone in time and space, lost in oblivion. They take the worst of the decisions as a desperate attempt to feel alive. I believe this speaks to many people of my generation, young talented, intelligent and capable people overwhelmed by life and modern times. ” The concept was born in a matter of days. José André had put together some essays, and Ibai found a small apartment in Brooklyn and equipment; in less than seven days they were filming Hyenas, a sordid trip of eleven minutes long that will be screened for the first time in New York City, at the Anthology Film Archives on April 16th of 2016. José André and Ibai have collaborated on nine films in the past two years, thus founding Oblivion-Films, a production company with an eclectic and fascinating catalogue of stories, always speaking the truth of those alienated and forgotten by society.
Hyenas features a cast of regulars in Oblivion Films. The young talents, Ammo Mercedes, Anatole Odolant, Madelina Farbstein, Joshua R Pangborn and Sandra Gagalo breath life into the gang, accompanied by the great Wanda Nobles Colon, who plays “La Prima”, a character that will bring the Pandora Box to this this pack of HYENAS . From left to right: Joshua R. Pangborn, José André Sibaja and Wanda Nobles Colon From left to right: Ibai Vigil-Escalera, Óscar Brais Revaldería and José André Sibaja NYC icon, Joey Arias From left to right: Harrison Varner, Ammo Mercedes and Sandra Gagalo Hyenas PresentationFrom left to right: José André Sibaja, Óscar Brais Revaldería and Ricardo Perez. Madeline Farbstein approves Hyenas Full house at the Anthology Film ArchivesActress Wanda Nobles Colon at the Hyenas Premiere

HYENAS IN NYC