Niña Niño Films’ “Outsider Girls” (“Las Demás”), the debut feature of rising Chilean talent Alexandra Hyland, which world premieres in the Bright Future sidebar of Intl. Film Festival Rotterdam, has bowed its trailer exclusively with Variety.

Hyland was named one of Variety’s Five Chilean Talents to Watch in 2018. Her feature debut follows best friends Gaby (played by Alicia Luz Rodriguez) and Rafa (Nicole Sazo), two college girls whose pink-hued oasis is disrupted when Rafa gets pregnant after a night of debauchery. Given Chile’s ultra-conservative society, abortion is illegal except in extreme cases. They set out to earn enough to pay for the pricey abortion pills through a series of oddball part-time jobs, straining their friendship in the process.

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Produced by Maltrato Films and Niña Niño Films, the film reflects one of the burning issues in Chilean society where its increasingly emancipated women have demanded an easing of restrictions on abortion. Until September 2017, Chile was one of the few countries worldwide that banned abortion under any circumstances. The 2017 act allowed abortion on only three grounds: when a woman’s life is in danger, when there are fetal anomalies, and in the case of rape.

“It is in this context that ‘Outsider Girls’ is borne, a film about two friends who are faced with having an illegal abortion,” said Hyland in her director’s statement.

“With a team of women and a low-budget production, we questioned the ways of filmmaking, seeking to make stories that can communicate political messages both in front of and behind the cameras. Thus, reinforcing the main thesis of the film: powerful relationships between women are the ones that save the day,” she added.

Hyland studied film at the Universidad Católica de Chile. She has participated in a number of screenwriting events, including the Guadalajara Co-Production Meeting, the Ventana Sur Market and Talent Campus Buenos Aires.

“Outsider Girls” got its final polish at the Ibermedia Development Lab, the FemCine Screenwriting Lab and Sanfic’s Santiago Lab, where Hyland won the Tribeca Award to participate in the Tribeca Industry Market in New York. The film was also part of the Sanfic Industry Work In Progress program. It’s also the first film funded by the new Chilean Fund for independent films, created in 2018.

Producer Roberto Doveris of Niña Niño Films also co-edited the film. He’s a recognized director in his own right, with his debut feature “Las Plantas” (“Plants”), premiering in Berlinale Generation 14+, where it won the Best Picture Award and the Crystal Bear Special Mention. His second outing as a director, “Proyecto Fantasma” (“Phantom Project”), premiered in Rotterdam 2022.

His other producing credits include “Potential Victim” (2018), Sebastian Muñoz’s 2019 Venice Queer Lion winner “The Prince” and “(Im)Patient,” which screened at the Busan, Huelva and Dominican Republic film festivals, among others. He has two other projects in the pipeline: gaming drama “Slay the Dragon” and psychological thriller “Devenir Loba.”

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