When filmmaker Anabel Rodríguez Ríosvisits a remote floating village in Venezuela to see its mysterious lightning storms, she discovers another ongoing and alarming situation taking place. Congo Mirador was once a magical, thriving fishing community, built on stilts near Latin America's biggest oil field, but as Venezuela has been spiraling into chaos and violence, the village itself is literally sinking from pollution and neglect —a prophetic reflection of the country itself. At the center of the village's existential fight stand two female leaders: Mrs. Tamara, a Chavez-worshipping coordinator not above bribery and intimidation, and Natalie, a schoolteacher who is Mrs. Tamara's most vocal critic. As confidence erodes under President Maduro and Venezuela is poised to become the site of 2020's worst refugee crisis, outpacing the displacement in Syria, will the village find a way to stay afloat or will it become a political and ecological sacrifice? Shot over seven years, ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENEZUELA bears witness to the corrosive consequences of corruption and government neglect that reach the farthest corners, pitting neighbor against neighbor in a struggle for survival. Official Selection, 2020 Sundance, Miami, CPH:DOX and Hot Docs film festivals. DIR/SCR Anabel Rodríguez Ríos; PROD Sepp R.Brudermann. Venezuela/UK/Brazil/Austria, 2020, color, 99 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED

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