El Father Plays Himself (2020): cast, story & where to watch
2020 · Film · ★ 9
Released in 2020, El Father Plays Himself is a documentary film directed by Mo Scarpelli, running about 105 minutes. “A father and son return to the Amazon jungle to shoot a deeply personal film. Fiction and reality clash as father plays himself.” — that tagline sets the tone.
What it’s about. A young film director returns to Venezuela, inspired to make a film based on his father's life in the Amazon jungle (La Fortaleza, Jorge Thielen Armand). He casts Father to play himself. What starts as an act of love and ambition — filmmaking to more deeply understand the self, and the other — spirals into a process which confronts Father’s struggles with addiction and his life devoid of his son. EL FATHER PLAYS HIMSELF holds a steady lens to the way the act of cinema unearths, binds, heals and destroys.
Who’s in it. El Father Plays Himself stars Jorge Thielen Armand and Jorge Thielen Hedderich.
How it landed. With an audience score of 9.0/10, El Father Plays Himself sits among the best-reviewed titles in the catalogue.
Where to watch. In US you can stream it on GuideDoc and DocAlliance Films and rent or buy it from DocAlliance Films. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch El Father Plays Himself page.
If you liked it. Fans of El Father Plays Himself tend to enjoy One Direction: This Is Us, Burn the Stage: The Movie, BTS World Tour: Love Yourself - Japan Edition and Senna.
Frequently asked
- Where can I watch El Father Plays Himself (2020)?
- In US, El Father Plays Himself is available to stream on GuideDoc and DocAlliance Films, and rent or buy from DocAlliance Films. Availability varies by country — check our where-to-watch page for every region.
- Is El Father Plays Himself worth watching?
- El Father Plays Himself holds an audience score of 9.0 out of 10, and is a strong pick if you enjoy documentary. Most viewers rate it highly.
- Who stars in El Father Plays Himself?
- El Father Plays Himself stars Jorge Thielen Armand and Jorge Thielen Hedderich.
- When was El Father Plays Himself released?
- El Father Plays Himself was released in 2020, with a runtime of about 105 minutes.