A Chilean girl and a German teenage skier meet in the snow-covered Andes and quickly get along. So what can go wrong?!

Well, for starters, the German skier can disappear without a trace. The hills may be alive with the sound of music, but in The Meltdown (El Deshielo), the mountains are alive with potential horror that is not immediately obvious.

The sophomore directorial feature of Chilean actress Manuela Martelli (God Will Not Help, The Future) explores hidden truths and trauma on the personal, family and bigger political levels.

The movie, world premiering in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, marks Martelli’s first writer-director effort in the Official Selection. Her Chile ‘76 had debuted in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

Maya O’Rourke plays young protagonist Inés, Maia Rae Domagala is skier Hanna, 15, and Saskia Rosendahl plays her mother. “Chile, 1992. Staying at her grandparents’ remote hotel near an Andean ski resort, Inés (9) befriends Hanna (15), a German skier,” reads the synopsis for the film. “When Hanna vanishes without a trace, the search for her exposes hidden truths.”

Les Films du Losange is handling international sales on The Meltdown, which is a Chile, United States, Spain, Mexico co-production. The movie was produced by Ronda Cine, Cinema Inutile and Wood Producciones, with co-production from Elastica Films, Piano and Fundación Río.

The film is the first fiction feature by a Chilean female director to be included in the Un Certain Regard lineup. “It feels like achieving something very important for the film, and also something that could encourage future female directors in Chile,” says Martelli. 

In a film clip, which THR can now exclusively premiere, Inés and Hanna, talk about the snow, the mountains, the border and even the military. It feels like not only the snow weighs heavily on the region and people’s minds. Watch the clip from The Meltdown here.