Amigos del cine latinoamericano Spring 2010 series
De Género a Género - From Genre to Gender
This semester the films will be presented of Fridays at 6:30pm at the Frick Fine Arts Auditoriun (except for Thursdays February 4, February 18 and April 8). As usual, we will give a short introduction of the film and after the presentation you are welcome to stay for a discussion.
During our talks to determine the topic of our Spring 2010 series, we at Amigos del Cine tackled the question of gender and sexual identity and their representations in Hispanic-America cinemas. It was immediately clear that it would be an excellent idea: there are scores od Spanish and Latin American films that brilliant apply, twist, or shatter the prism of gender through their images and stories. Yet an unspoken reason to make this our current theme, following that of Genre (our theme for Fall 2009 series), is the curious equivalence in the terms género (genre) and género (gender) in the Spanish language. Even though it might be a case of divergent etymologies, the implications of the very existence of such homonyms raises questions about Hispanic culture's relationship with matters of sex-related self-creation. What is it about our worldviews and our histories that has made us simplify, rather than complicate our taxonomy of identity? What do we mean when we say "genero"? The correspondence, then, extends beyond the linguistic arena, for both concepts (genre and gender) are forever entangled in struggles involving purity, difference, authenticity, prejudice and stereotype. All of the following films represent instances of these struggles, but more importantly, they emerge as opportunities for us to engage in a cross-cultural reflectionabout our own conceptions and misconceptions, sonce they all confront us with characters and stories that challenge the idea of a stable, coherent sexuality, and wonder, in their own ways, how do sex and gender define us and whether they should define us at all.
Friday, January 15
Leonera (Lion's Den)
Director: Pablo Trapero - Argentina, 2008
To open the Spring series, De Género a Género, we present Pablo Trapero's Leonera (Lion's Den), Argentina's chilling entry in the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. It tells the tale of Julia (Martina Gusman), who wakes up in the aftermath of a bloody evening to find herself simultaneously convicted and pregnant without knowing either who killed her lover. Trapero's sensitive camera follows her as she grows from unwilling and frightened to a loving mother in the course of her sentence and the eventual trial that will decide her fate. Despite the potentially melodramatic situation and the links of women-in-prison scenarios to exploitation cinema, Trapero and Gusman represent Julia's titanic struggle to raise her child in the most hostile of environments (which appears to be the very negation of the innocence she so desperately tries to protect for ther child and even with herself) without stridency or exaggeration, making Leonera a gripping, thought-provoking mediation on the many dilemas of maternity and a rare cinematic study of motherhood behind bars.
Friday, January 22
Doña Herlinda y su hijo - Doña Herlinda and her son (Dramatic comedy)
Dir. Jaime Humberto Hermosillo - Mexico, 1985
In this sly Mexican sex comedy, a manipulative mama deftly manages the life of her homosexual son so that he can have his cake and eat it too. A woman of means, she does this by allowing her son, a doctor, to tryst in her home with her lover. Putting her son's happiness above all else, she then arranges a marriage of convenience to a woman. When the marriage is consummated, the young male lover gets terribly jealous and this creates problems until the irrepressible Doña Herlinda again gets involved. Not surprisingly, critics have often argued that Doña Herlinda's character echoes the authoritarianism of the Mexican State and that of the Mexican Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), in power for most of 2oth century. In the act of remodeling her house so as to accommodate both her son's wife and son, and his male lover, Doña Herlinda is, as some would say, "queering patriarchy"; yet, she does not give up the pretense of "normal" heterosexual bliss for her son. As such, the movie challenges the public's understanding of non-heterosexual behavior and suggests that gender expression is, after all, not only culturally defined but also in constant evolution.
Friday, January 29
Radio Corazón
Dir. Roberto Artiagoitía - Chile, 2007
Based on three stories that were heard on a popular Chilean radio show, with the first story following the amusing journey of a teenage girl who vows to lose her virginity before graduation. The second story shows the results of an affair between a middle-aged woman and her son's fiance, while the last segment focuses on a young woman who goes from being a servant to a member of the family.
Thursday, February 4
Los amantes del círculo polar - Lovers of the Arctic Circle (Drama)
Dir. Julio Medem - Spain/ France, 1998
Circle is the key word here. Spanish filmmaker Julio Medem's dreamy, exquisitely constructed romance, set in Spain and Finland, finds poetry in geometry, particularly in the never-ending spherical shape of fated love. Taciturn liners Otto and Ana -the palindromic names are no accident- meet as children and instantly recognize each other as missing halves of a soulful whole (Three different pairs of actors play de duo). And as their lives twine over the years (her widowed mother falls in love with his divorced father), their joined destinies are echoed in a symetry of coincidence affecting parents, grandparents, teachers, and passing townspeople. Otto becomes a pilot, girdling the globe; Ana moves to Finland, yearning to stand where the Arctic sun never sets. Though in the end the heroes find each other again, we are invited to question the role of fate and predentination in people's lives rather than being gratified with a happily-ever-after conclusion.
February 11/12 no film presented
Thursday, February 18
Princesas
Dir. Fernando León de Aranoa - Spain, 2005
In Princesas, Caye comes from a middle-class family unaware of her life as a prostitute. Zuleman is a beautiful woman from the Dominican Republic who works the streets to support a son back home. Both wolme pin their dreams on money or idealized relationships. Caye and Zule share in discovery of self-determination. While it sontains director Fernando Leon de Aranoa's signature concern with the forces that constrain working-class people, Princesas is social realism infused with a wonderful figurative touch.
Friday, February 26
Novia que te vea
Guita Schyfer - Mexico, 1994
Based on the novel by Rosa Nissan, this 1994 Mexican film presents a warm and touching tale set within the Mexican Jewish community, starting with a prologue in the 1920s and spanning all the way to the present. The film focuses on two young women: the sensitive, wide-eyed Oshi Mataraso and the rebellious and idealistic Rifke, and their coming-of-age in a time ripe with alienation, self-discovery, revolution, destruction, and rebirth. Besides exploring gender expression at the intersection of tradition and modernity in the Mexican Jewish community, the movie also discusses Jewish-Catholic relations in Mexico as well as Mexican Jew's feelings toward the State of Israel, thus constituting a broader interrogation of the meaning of "Mexicanness".
Friday, March 5
La pasión según Berenice
Jaime Humberto Hermosillo - Mexico, 1976
Berenice, a brooding young widow scarred by the fire that mysteriously took her husband's life, becomes the caretaker of her ailing godmother. There she falls for her godmother's handsome young doctor, who awakens her passion and fantasies. In this dark, Hitchcockian drama, Jaime Humberto Hermosillo masterfully weaves a subplot of passion and intrigue, likening Berenice to a black widow spider.
Wednesday!!!, March 17
A casa de Alice
Lucia Puenzo - Argentina, 2007
When Alice, a Sao Paulo manicurist, wife and mother has a chance meeting with an old flame, she is forced to re-examine her life and address her romantic dreams. Feeling her youth and sexuality slipping away, Alice flirts with a rapturous affair to escape her repressive family life and avoid the fate of her aging mother, who drags out her remaining years as the housemaid. Award-winning documentarian Carlos Teixeira silently immerses his camera in Alices household, recording day-to-day minutia and scorching passion with equal weight and no judgement. The result is a world all too real, overflowing the boundaries of its Brazilian setting and revealing the dreams and flaws which define our shared humanity.
March 25/26 no film presented
Friday, April 2
XXY
Chico Texeira - Brasil, 2007
Thursday, April 8
Mariposa Negra
Francisco Lombardi - Perú, 2006
April 15/16 no film presented
Friday, April 23 (5:30pm Closing Reception)
Gigante
Adrián Biniez - Uruguay, 2008
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Former Amigos del cine latinoamericano series:
De Género a Género - From Genre to Gender
This semester the films will be presented of Fridays at 6:30pm at the Frick Fine Arts Auditoriun (except for Thursdays February 4, February 18 and April 8). As usual, we will give a short introduction of the film and after the presentation you are welcome to stay for a discussion.
During our talks to determine the topic of our Spring 2010 series, we at Amigos del Cine tackled the question of gender and sexual identity and their representations in Hispanic-America cinemas. It was immediately clear that it would be an excellent idea: there are scores od Spanish and Latin American films that brilliant apply, twist, or shatter the prism of gender through their images and stories. Yet an unspoken reason to make this our current theme, following that of Genre (our theme for Fall 2009 series), is the curious equivalence in the terms género (genre) and género (gender) in the Spanish language. Even though it might be a case of divergent etymologies, the implications of the very existence of such homonyms raises questions about Hispanic culture's relationship with matters of sex-related self-creation. What is it about our worldviews and our histories that has made us simplify, rather than complicate our taxonomy of identity? What do we mean when we say "genero"? The correspondence, then, extends beyond the linguistic arena, for both concepts (genre and gender) are forever entangled in struggles involving purity, difference, authenticity, prejudice and stereotype. All of the following films represent instances of these struggles, but more importantly, they emerge as opportunities for us to engage in a cross-cultural reflectionabout our own conceptions and misconceptions, sonce they all confront us with characters and stories that challenge the idea of a stable, coherent sexuality, and wonder, in their own ways, how do sex and gender define us and whether they should define us at all.
Friday, January 15
Leonera (Lion's Den)
Director: Pablo Trapero - Argentina, 2008
To open the Spring series, De Género a Género, we present Pablo Trapero's Leonera (Lion's Den), Argentina's chilling entry in the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. It tells the tale of Julia (Martina Gusman), who wakes up in the aftermath of a bloody evening to find herself simultaneously convicted and pregnant without knowing either who killed her lover. Trapero's sensitive camera follows her as she grows from unwilling and frightened to a loving mother in the course of her sentence and the eventual trial that will decide her fate. Despite the potentially melodramatic situation and the links of women-in-prison scenarios to exploitation cinema, Trapero and Gusman represent Julia's titanic struggle to raise her child in the most hostile of environments (which appears to be the very negation of the innocence she so desperately tries to protect for ther child and even with herself) without stridency or exaggeration, making Leonera a gripping, thought-provoking mediation on the many dilemas of maternity and a rare cinematic study of motherhood behind bars.
Friday, January 22
Doña Herlinda y su hijo - Doña Herlinda and her son (Dramatic comedy)
Dir. Jaime Humberto Hermosillo - Mexico, 1985
In this sly Mexican sex comedy, a manipulative mama deftly manages the life of her homosexual son so that he can have his cake and eat it too. A woman of means, she does this by allowing her son, a doctor, to tryst in her home with her lover. Putting her son's happiness above all else, she then arranges a marriage of convenience to a woman. When the marriage is consummated, the young male lover gets terribly jealous and this creates problems until the irrepressible Doña Herlinda again gets involved. Not surprisingly, critics have often argued that Doña Herlinda's character echoes the authoritarianism of the Mexican State and that of the Mexican Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), in power for most of 2oth century. In the act of remodeling her house so as to accommodate both her son's wife and son, and his male lover, Doña Herlinda is, as some would say, "queering patriarchy"; yet, she does not give up the pretense of "normal" heterosexual bliss for her son. As such, the movie challenges the public's understanding of non-heterosexual behavior and suggests that gender expression is, after all, not only culturally defined but also in constant evolution.
Friday, January 29
Radio Corazón
Dir. Roberto Artiagoitía - Chile, 2007
Based on three stories that were heard on a popular Chilean radio show, with the first story following the amusing journey of a teenage girl who vows to lose her virginity before graduation. The second story shows the results of an affair between a middle-aged woman and her son's fiance, while the last segment focuses on a young woman who goes from being a servant to a member of the family.
Thursday, February 4
Los amantes del círculo polar - Lovers of the Arctic Circle (Drama)
Dir. Julio Medem - Spain/ France, 1998
Circle is the key word here. Spanish filmmaker Julio Medem's dreamy, exquisitely constructed romance, set in Spain and Finland, finds poetry in geometry, particularly in the never-ending spherical shape of fated love. Taciturn liners Otto and Ana -the palindromic names are no accident- meet as children and instantly recognize each other as missing halves of a soulful whole (Three different pairs of actors play de duo). And as their lives twine over the years (her widowed mother falls in love with his divorced father), their joined destinies are echoed in a symetry of coincidence affecting parents, grandparents, teachers, and passing townspeople. Otto becomes a pilot, girdling the globe; Ana moves to Finland, yearning to stand where the Arctic sun never sets. Though in the end the heroes find each other again, we are invited to question the role of fate and predentination in people's lives rather than being gratified with a happily-ever-after conclusion.
February 11/12 no film presented
Thursday, February 18
Princesas
Dir. Fernando León de Aranoa - Spain, 2005
In Princesas, Caye comes from a middle-class family unaware of her life as a prostitute. Zuleman is a beautiful woman from the Dominican Republic who works the streets to support a son back home. Both wolme pin their dreams on money or idealized relationships. Caye and Zule share in discovery of self-determination. While it sontains director Fernando Leon de Aranoa's signature concern with the forces that constrain working-class people, Princesas is social realism infused with a wonderful figurative touch.
Friday, February 26
Novia que te vea
Guita Schyfer - Mexico, 1994
Based on the novel by Rosa Nissan, this 1994 Mexican film presents a warm and touching tale set within the Mexican Jewish community, starting with a prologue in the 1920s and spanning all the way to the present. The film focuses on two young women: the sensitive, wide-eyed Oshi Mataraso and the rebellious and idealistic Rifke, and their coming-of-age in a time ripe with alienation, self-discovery, revolution, destruction, and rebirth. Besides exploring gender expression at the intersection of tradition and modernity in the Mexican Jewish community, the movie also discusses Jewish-Catholic relations in Mexico as well as Mexican Jew's feelings toward the State of Israel, thus constituting a broader interrogation of the meaning of "Mexicanness".
Friday, March 5
La pasión según Berenice
Jaime Humberto Hermosillo - Mexico, 1976
Berenice, a brooding young widow scarred by the fire that mysteriously took her husband's life, becomes the caretaker of her ailing godmother. There she falls for her godmother's handsome young doctor, who awakens her passion and fantasies. In this dark, Hitchcockian drama, Jaime Humberto Hermosillo masterfully weaves a subplot of passion and intrigue, likening Berenice to a black widow spider.
Wednesday!!!, March 17
A casa de Alice
Lucia Puenzo - Argentina, 2007
When Alice, a Sao Paulo manicurist, wife and mother has a chance meeting with an old flame, she is forced to re-examine her life and address her romantic dreams. Feeling her youth and sexuality slipping away, Alice flirts with a rapturous affair to escape her repressive family life and avoid the fate of her aging mother, who drags out her remaining years as the housemaid. Award-winning documentarian Carlos Teixeira silently immerses his camera in Alices household, recording day-to-day minutia and scorching passion with equal weight and no judgement. The result is a world all too real, overflowing the boundaries of its Brazilian setting and revealing the dreams and flaws which define our shared humanity.
March 25/26 no film presented
Friday, April 2
XXY
Chico Texeira - Brasil, 2007
Thursday, April 8
Mariposa Negra
Francisco Lombardi - Perú, 2006
April 15/16 no film presented
Friday, April 23 (5:30pm Closing Reception)
Gigante
Adrián Biniez - Uruguay, 2008
Former Amigos del cine latinoamericano series:
Fall 2009 Series: Genre Films
Clowns, Robots, Killers and Wrestlers: the Latin American Film Genres.
(Payasos, robots, asesinos y luchadores: los géneros del cine Latinoamericano).“Genre” is a loaded term, but it is so in the best way. It invites one to make a singular inventory: of the details that make a western a western, a thriller a thriller, or a horror movie a horror movie. If we make such a list, it will look like the recipe for another world, and whenever we turn to a genre film, we expect to find the elements of that recipe. In short, the pleasure of watching genre films rests largely on their consistency – which is to say they are, to a great extent, predictable.
The film industry of the United States has popularized the very idea of genre. The concept helps package and sell films, for every genre aims at a particular demographic – a sector of the audience for whom the world of a genre film is deliciously familiar. During the Studio Era, production companies specialized in particular genres, so that, for instance, Universal once handled all the horror films while MGM dominated the musicals. As purely commercial products, genre films often emerged as the opposite of art cinema: the latter breaks boundaries, defies description and delivers surprises, while the former relies on formulas, stock characters and situations, and a need for escapism.
Genres are then the product of an established, working film industry. But what happens when a developing film industry tries its hand at a genre film? Interestingly, the result is then found in the art-house circuit when it goes abroad. Lacking an abundant output of examples of their genre, films like Sleep Dealer, El áura or Al final del espectro are, in fact, a rarity. The initial condition is then reversed: the genre film is no longer about meeting the viewer’s expectations, but about subverting them. The familiar morphs into something strange and new as Latin American filmmakers recast foreign genres through the sensibility that their history has shaped. And in this appropriation of the alien, the values of the Hispanic movie creators come into sharper focus. These genre films are paradoxes, for they trade in an unpredictability and uniqueness hiding behind their conventional surfaces.
Amigos del cine latinoamericano invite you to step into novel worlds by following the allure of their familiarity, and also, if you will, to explore endemic genres for completely new experiences.
Film CalendarThe film industry of the United States has popularized the very idea of genre. The concept helps package and sell films, for every genre aims at a particular demographic – a sector of the audience for whom the world of a genre film is deliciously familiar. During the Studio Era, production companies specialized in particular genres, so that, for instance, Universal once handled all the horror films while MGM dominated the musicals. As purely commercial products, genre films often emerged as the opposite of art cinema: the latter breaks boundaries, defies description and delivers surprises, while the former relies on formulas, stock characters and situations, and a need for escapism.
Genres are then the product of an established, working film industry. But what happens when a developing film industry tries its hand at a genre film? Interestingly, the result is then found in the art-house circuit when it goes abroad. Lacking an abundant output of examples of their genre, films like Sleep Dealer, El áura or Al final del espectro are, in fact, a rarity. The initial condition is then reversed: the genre film is no longer about meeting the viewer’s expectations, but about subverting them. The familiar morphs into something strange and new as Latin American filmmakers recast foreign genres through the sensibility that their history has shaped. And in this appropriation of the alien, the values of the Hispanic movie creators come into sharper focus. These genre films are paradoxes, for they trade in an unpredictability and uniqueness hiding behind their conventional surfaces.
Amigos del cine latinoamericano invite you to step into novel worlds by following the allure of their familiarity, and also, if you will, to explore endemic genres for completely new experiences.
Wednesday, September 9
Opening reception at 6:30 pm.
ACTORES SECUNDARIOS (Documentary)
Dir. Pachi Bustos & Jorge Leiva – Chile – 2004
Documentary on the history of a student movement of the 1980s which opposed the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Thursday, Sept. 17
EL AURA (Crime thriller)
Dir. Fabián Bielinsky, Argentina – 2005
A quiet, cynic taxidermist, who suffers epilepsy attacks, is obsessed with committing the perfect crime. He claims that the cops are too stupid to find out about it when it's well executed, and that the robbers are too stupid to execute it the right way; and that he could do it himself relying on his photographic memory and his strategic planning skills. After he is invited on a hunting trip away from his home, an accident gives him the chance of his life: the possibility to commit the perfect crime he has been waiting for.
Thursday, Oct. 1
CABEZA DE VACA (Historical Drama)
Dir. Nicolás Echevarría, Mexico – 1991
1
A powerful historical drama concerning the eight-year long journey (1528 - 1536) of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, who was shipwrecked in Florida and enslaved by Indians, but who found a career as an itinerant Indian shaman, and eventually, after an endless journey through swamp and desert, ultimately found his way back to Spanish civilization. Cabeza de Vaca's few traveling companions, most notably the Moor Estebanico, helped fuel rumors of the Seven Cities of Cíbola, which led directly to the 1540 Coronado expedition and the first Spanish encounters with the Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. Cabeza de Vaca's story is one the greatest personal survival tales in world history, and it made him one of the very, very few people who could fully appreciate the tragedy of Spain's conquest of the peoples of the Americas.
Thursday, Oct. 8
FAMILIA RODANTE (Comedy)
Dir. Pablo Trapero, Argentina – 2004
On her 84th birthday, Emilia gets a call from her sister in Misiones inviting her to be matron of honor at a family wedding. Emilia tells her family that all of them are making the trip. Her two daughters, their husbands and children, one great-grandchild, and one child's friend jam into a camper van atop an old Chevy pickup. They leave from Buenos Aires. Engine trouble, a toothache, a stray dog, mosquitoes, and the heat complicate the journey. Cousins kiss, a melancholy brother-in-law tries to re-kindle an old flame, and the infant's father shows up uninvited. The screen is full of close ups. "Well, that's life," says Emilia.
Thursday, Oct. 15
LA TETA ASUSTADA (Social Drama)
Dir. Claudia Llosa, Perú – 2009
Winner of the first award at the Berlinale, “La teta asustada” is the second film made by Claudia Llosa, director of the brilliant and exotic “Madeinusa”. The movie shows an interesting picture of a village in Peru, the life of a family, the things they do to earn a living, and the fears of Fausta, a girl whose mother taught her the power of songs to send away tears. Fausta keeps a secret, and she wants no one to discover it. Meanwhile, he tries to save money to make a wish come true. Magaly Solier plays a gorgeous role and makes us share her feelings through her eyes and her voice. Besides, the film shows the customs of a family and the way every member helps doing his best with a smile.
Thursday, Oct. 22
El ORFANATO (Horror)
Guillermo del Toro, Mexico – 2007
Haunting secrets of the past resurface when a child mysteriously disappears in the supernatural thriller The Orphanage, a spinetingler with a jaw-dropping twist that will take your very last breath away! Produced by Academy Award® nominated filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth).
Visionary Guillermo del Toro and acclaimed director J. A. Bayona present The Orphanage, a “positively terrifying” (John Anderson, Newsday) new vision of the classic ghost story. Returning to her childhood home – a mysterious, seaside orphanage – Laura and her family unknowingly unleash a long-forgotten, evil spirit. Now, thrust into a chilling nightmare that involves the disappearance of her young son, Laura must confront the memories of her past before the ghosts of the orphanage destroy her… and everyone she has ever loved.
Thursday, Oct. 29
FOUR DAYS IN SEPTEMBER (O que é Isso, Companheiro?) (Thriller)
Dir. Bruno Barreto, Brazil – 1997
Fernando, a journalist, and his friend César join terrorist group MR8 in order to fight Brazilian dictatorial regime during the late sixties. Cesare, however, is wounded and captured during a bank hold up. Fernando then decides to kidnap the American ambassador in Brazil and ask for the release of fifteen political prisoners in exchange for his life.
Wednesday, Nov. 4th
Santo vs. las mujeres vampiro (Mexican wrestling)
Dir. Alonso Corona Blake, México – 1962
The vampire women in Mexico have awakened from their sleep, commanded by their master, The Evil One, to find him a bride. They choose as their target the beautiful daughter of a local professor. To rescue his daughter, the professor calls El Santo (Samson in some US versions), a silver-masked wrestler for justice.
Thursday, November, Nov. 12
La niña santa (Auteaur film)
Dir. Lucrecia Martel, Argentina – 2004
A group of physicians gather at a provincial hotel in Salta. The hotel owner, Helena, is subdued, brittle, avoiding the calls of her ex-husband's pregnant wife. Family dysfunction seems everywhere. Helena's daughter, Amalia, about 14, discusses vocations in Catholic girls group. Their teen imaginations conflate the erotic, the religious, and the lurid. Amalia notices Dr. Jano, and he notices her. She decides to make him her vocation, she follows him, he rubs against her in a public crowd, he's appalled at his actions. Meanwhile, Helena believes Jano is attracted to her even through he's married. Longing, guilt, scandal, and teen sensuality are set to collide.
Thursday, November 19
Los Andes no creen en Dios
Dir. Antonio Eguino, Bolivia, 2007
The film is set in 1927, in Uyuni, where tin and silver mining was a major business, making some people wealthy and making thousands of others essentially paid slaves. But the film (as some critics might point out) is not really as much about the brutal exploitation of miners (in fact working miners are almost a non-presence in the film) but about conflicts of morals amidst the better-off living in the city made by the mines.
An almost all-Bolivian cast creates vivid characters, including: Joaquin (Milton Cortez), a young transplanted Cochabambino man who misfortune in love and work eventually makes a wreck; Claudina (Carla Ortiz), a very sexual and free-willed transplanted Cochabambina who makes a lot of men wrecks; and Alfonso (Peruvian Diego Bertie) who navigates everything from banking, getting shot, and getting trapped in a mountain storm, to survive better than any others.
Thursday, December 3
MOEBIUS,(Science Fiction)
Dir: Gustavo Mosquera R. Argentina, 1996
MOEBIUS is the first feature film to be collectively financed and produced by the two filmmakers and cinema professors who led the project, a crew formed by their 45 students, and the "Universidad del Cine" of Buenos Aires, as a producing entity. The idea of MOEBIUS came out of the young professor and filmmaker Gustavo Mosquera R, who engaged his students in their final years of their film studies to participate as the entire crew of the film.
The idea of the "disappearance" of a subway train came out of the original short-story written by scientist A.J.Deutsch, "A Subway Called Moebius", published in 1950. But Mosquera R took the story and figured out a very different concept for the meaning of "the disappearance". He conceived the idea of a missing train as a passage to imply other political meanings about the missing people during the dictatorship times in Argentina.
In July 1996, MOEBIUS was completed and presented by Gustavo Mosquera R, at the "Universidad del Cine". The film was a complete surprise for audiences and authorities, and was quickly submitted to the "44th International Film Festival of SAN SEBASTIAN". It was immediately accepted and screened with notable success.
Thursday, December 10
**** Closing reception : 6:30pm ****
Sleep Dealer (Science fiction)
Dir. Alex Rivera, Mexico, USA – 2008
Set in a near-future, militarized world marked by closed borders, virtual labor and a global digital network that joins minds and experiences, three strangers risk their lives to connect with each other and break the barriers of technology.
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Spring 2009:
January 21
AVENTURERA
Dir. Alberto Gout – Mexico – 1950
One of the most popular Mexican films ever made, the cult sensation Aventurera is a famous example of a cabaretera, a curious film noir and musical hybrid wildly popular in Mexico in the 1940s and 1950s. Starring Ninón Sevilla, whom Variety called 'a cross between Rita Hayworth and Carmen Miranda', the film follows the melodramatic rise and fall of a popular nightclub star with a dark past.
January 28
ORFEU NEGRO
Dir. Marcel Camus – Brazil, France, Italy – 1959
February 4
EL ANGEL EXTERMINADOR
Dir. Luis Buñuel – Mexico – 1967
On his return to Mexico, Luis Buñuel followed his successful Viridiana (1961) with this brilliantly dark surreal black comedy, the last film he made in his adopted homeland. El Ángel exterminador (a.k.a. The Exterminating Angel) combines the unsettling creepiness of Buñuel’s first silent works - Un chien Andalou (1928) and L’Age d’or (1930) – with a potent cocktail of anti-bourgeois and anti-authority satire. It may not have the subtlety and sophistication of the director’s later work, but its unapologetic directness and in-your-face humour makes it his most accessible and irresistibly funny film.
February 11
VIDAS SECAS
Dir. Nelson Pereira dos Santos – Brazil – 1963
February 18
BOQUITAS PINTADAS
Dir. Leopoldo Torre – Argentina – 1974
February 25
LA ULTIMA CENA
Dir. Tomas Gutiérrez Alea – Cuba—1976
March 4
EL LUGAR SIN LIMITE
Dir. Arturo Ripstein – México – 1978
March 18
UN HOMBRE DE EXITO
Dir. Humberto Solas – Cuba – 1985
March 25
EL EXILIO DE GARDEL
Dir. Fernando Solanas – Argentina, France – 1985
April 1
Che Guevara: Hasta la Victoria Siempre
(Por confirmar)
April 8
SENORA DE NADIE
Dir. María Luisa Bemberg – Argentina – 1982
April 15
FRIDA, NATURALEZA VIVA
Dir. Paul Leduc—Mexico—1984
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Latin American Cinema is experiencing an exciting and progressive moment in time. As in literature, Latin American film has a long history of examining social and political issues related to the diverse countries of the region. The current trend in Latin American film is also emphasizing upon simple and intimate narrative. Through a range of cinematographic genres and historical epochs, these stories reveal small but significant moments in the lives of those who live, suffer, love, cry and experience challenges just like any of us. In some cases social issues subtly manifest. This Fall 2008 Film Series will cover a rich variety of these themes through a selection of internationally acclaimed films.
This series also pays tribute to the talent and imagination of those involved in every aspect of Latin American cinema production. Latin American filmmakers demonstrate a constant desire for innovation in the screenplay writing as well as in production, acting and directing. New strategies are developed in order to overcome production obstacles, particularly financial ones. Consequently, filmgoers will find that Latin American filmmaking does not employ a great deal of special effects. Instead the medium relies more upon the strength of screenplay, strong acting skills, and, often by the effective use of less expensive technical resources—natural light, hand-held cameras, and in some cases the efficient use of video instead of film.
Today Latin American film is among the best in the world. All this and more will be part of the Amigos del Cine Latinoamericano 2008 Fall Series named "Historias mínimas" (Simple Stories), with a special homage to Argentina for its outstanding film production. Also look out for a selection of unique films about women. Some films are adult in nature and may not be appropriate for young audiences. All films have english subtitles.
Film Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
August 27, 6:45pm - **Opening Reception** - Frick Fine Arts Auditorium
HISTORIAS MÍNIMAS - Argentina, 2002
Director: Carlos Sorín
Near the provincial town of San Julian, three vibrant characters undertake seemingly mundane journeys that turn out to be subtly life changing. A lonely, fastidious traveling salesman quests for the perfect cream cake to win the widow of his dreams. A grizzly grandfather hitchhikes to town to find his forgotten lost dog and seek forgiveness. A poor young mother hopes to win the grand prize--a microprocessor--as a contestant on a TV game show. In the end, the three will get more or less what they set out for, but it will come to them in ways that they never expected.
Two wins and seven nominations
September 3
SUBTERRA - Chile, 2003
Director: Marcelo Ferrari
In 1897, in Lota, Chile, in the face of long days, low pay, debts to the company store, unsafe and deadly working conditions, and widespread child labor, men try to establish a miners' association at one of the largest coal mines in the world. They must face Davis, an iron-fisted and murderous supervisor; there's at least one turncoat, willing to inform on their fellow workers; and, there are passions on all sides, including one between Fernando, a leader of the miners, and Virginia, the godchild of the mine's owners. Can the miners win a victory, and at what cost? Baldomero Lillo, a grocery clerk, records it all.
Nine international wins
September 10
HABANA BLUES - Spain, Cuba, France, 2005
Director: Benito Zambrano
Ruy and dreadlocked buddy Tito, the owner of a delicious red '52 Chevy, are the key members of Habana Blues, a band that plays rock-soul fusion. Ruy's commitment to his music means his relationship with Caridad (Yailene Sierra) is suffering: They have two kids and no cash, and she has dropped out of college to work. Tito lives with his spiky, cigar-smoking, ex-chanteuse grandmother, Luz Maria (the wonderful Zenia Marabal).
An enjoyably anarchic love letter to the never-say-die spirit of Cuba and to music as a way of life, "Habana Blues" is a vibrant portrayal of a group of musicians struggling to make the big time. Like all love letters, pic is part-inspirational, part self-indulgent, and overlong, and helmer Benito Zambrano's keen sense of emotional nuance -- as revealed in his 1999 debut "Alone" -- takes a backseat here.
Nine wins and six nominations
September 17
CASA DE AREIA (House of Sand) - Brazil, 2005
Director: Andrucha Waddington
Áurea arrives at a town in the dunes of State of Maranhão, Brazil, in 1910, having for female company only her mother Maria. She is pregnant and wants a way out of that arid place. But leaving is difficult and, somehow, she still hopes to find happiness there. The film follows these two lives for three generations, presenting Áurea's daughter and, later, her granddaughter.
Eight wins and fifteen nominations
September 24
EL MÉTODO - Argentina, Spain, Italy, 2005
Director: Marcelo Piñeyro
A multinational company in Madrid is the setting for Marcelo Pineyro's drama about a group of candidates vying for one executive position and the fierce competition that develops among them. The seven applicants quickly grow to distrust one another when they discover they're all aiming for the same position. Put through a grueling selection process, they endure feelings of fear and paranoia while going to extreme measures to land the job.
Ten wins and twelve nominations
October 1
VALENTÍN - Argentina and Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, 2002
Director: Alejandro Agresti
On 1969, in Argentina, the eight-year-old Valentin is a boy that dreams to be an astronaut. He is raised by his poor widow grandmother Abuela, and is totally abandoned by his parents. His mother has apparently forgotten him, and his stupid father does not pay much attention on him. The smart, but needy kid missed his mother, and when his father introduces his new girlfriend Leticia, Valentin has a strong connection with her. Meanwhile his grandmother gets sick, and the boy tries to resolve all his family problems using his persuasion and viewpoint of life. He also tries to approach Leticia to his great friend and master Rufo.
Thirteen wins and twelve nominations
October 8
25 WATTS - Uruguay, 2002
Directors: Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll
This affable low-budget affair from Uruguay captures a day in the life of three friends--Leche (Daniel Handler), Javi (Jorge Temponi), and Seba (Alfonso Tort)--as they bumble their way through a lazy, hungover Saturday in Montevideo. Along the way, they encounter a series of bizarre characters who remind them of just how unfocused and boring their lives actually are. Directed under the influence of American indie auteurs such as Jim Jarmusch and Richard Linklater by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, 25 WATTS is a universally charming comedy.
Ten wins and three nominations
October 15
TEMPORADA DE PATOS - Mexico, 2004
Director: Fernando Eimbcke
Flama and Moko are fourteen years old; they have been best friends since they were kids. They have everything they need to survive yet another boring Sunday: an apartment without parents, videogames, porn magazines, soft drinks and pizza delivery. The electricity company, Rita, the neighbor, Ulises, a pizza deliveryman, eleven seconds, the Real Madrid-Manchester game, some chocolate brownies and a horrible painting of ducks, all combine to break the harmony of what promised to be a placid Sunday, and reveal issues such as the parents' divorce, loneliness, the confusion between adolescent love and friendship, as well as frustration in adult life. "Temporada de Patos" is a movie that shows that, when the lights go off, we can see the stars.
Twenty four wins and thirteen nominations
October 22
LISTA DE ESPERA - Cuba, 2000
Director: Juan Carlos Tabío
A desperate group of people wait at a rundown Cuban transit station for the next bus to arrive. The problem is, it never shows up. While a number of busses pass by the station, and others that are either full or at the end of the line stop by, it soon becomes obvious that the bus everyone was waiting for has left them high and dry. While one of the would-be passengers, Emilio, uses his downtime to win the affections of the beautiful Jacqueline, most of the rest decide that if they're stuck without anywhere to go, they might as well make the station a better place to wait, and they begin forming a plan to turn the decrepit bus terminal into a showplace that people would look forward to visiting.
Three wins and three nominations
October 29
EU TU ELES - Brazil, 2000
Director: Andrucha Waddington
Darlene, earthy and unmarried, returns to the cane fields of Bahia with her young son. There, over time, she balances the pride, desire, jealousy, and tolerance of three men. Osias, an older man, proud of a house he's built, proposes marriage; she accepts. He retires to his hammock, she works hard, and in a few years births a second son, much darker than Osias. Then, he takes in his cousin Zezinho, almost as old as he, a good cook, so Osias is happy. Darlene smiles at Zezinho. Another son arrives, light-skinned like Zezinho. Next, Darlene meets Ciro, young and handsome, and invites him to dinner. Osias insists Ciro stay. When another son arrives, what will the proud Osias do?
Twenty wins and seven nominations
November 5
LAS DOCE SILLAS - Cuba, 1962
From aclaimed cuban film director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
When her country is taken over by socialist revolutionaries, a wealthy woman can't bear to give up all of her wealth and possessions to the new government, so she hides all of her treasures in the 12 chairs of a dining-room set. After her death her nephew finds out what she had done and, since the chairs had been "nationalized" and are now in the possession of a dozen different people, he sets out to track them down and get the treasures he believes rightfully belong to him.
November 12
CENIZAS DEL PARAÍSO - Argentina, 1997
Director: Marcelo Piñeyro
This a top of the line police thriller, crossed with sibling/father rivalry drama, criminal who-done-it, and psychological character study. Quite unique really, the film is worthy of its impressive Argentine pedigree: directed by one of the country's greatest, and starring an ensemble of its best players. They range from its eldest living legend in the father/dead judge role to its most promising and popular young ones as the three sons. In between, the talent is just as impressive.
Seven wins and ten nominations
November 19
EL DIA QUE MURIO EL SILENCIO - Bolivia, Germany, 1998
Director: Paolo Agazzi
A rural Bolivian village, blissfully free from the harshness of the modern world, has its peaceful state disrupted when a mysterious stranger sets up a radio and loudspeakers in the town square and begins playing music and selling airtime to villagers to broadcast their gossip and secret desires. Before long, the town is awash in bitter rivalries, betrayals, and emotional overload. But is there more fiction than fact to the community's downfall? A satirical fable with "fine detail, fun characters, a fair amount of whimsy, a little sex, some terrific music, and an exciting finale" (Henry Cabot Beck, Film.com).
November 26
TEMPORADA DE PATOS - Mexico, 2004
Director: Fernando Eimbcke
Flama and Moko are fourteen years old; they have been best friends since they were kids. They have everything they need to survive yet another boring Sunday: an apartment without parents, videogames, porn magazines, soft drinks and pizza delivery. The electricity company, Rita, the neighbor, Ulises, a pizza deliveryman, eleven seconds, the Real Madrid-Manchester game, some chocolate brownies and a horrible painting of ducks, all combine to break the harmony of what promised to be a placid Sunday, and reveal issues such as the parents' divorce, loneliness, the confusion between adolescent love and friendship, as well as frustration in adult life. "Temporada de Patos" is a movie that shows that, when the lights go off, we can see the stars.
Twenty four awards and thirteen nominations
December 3
7:00 pm - **CLOSING RECEPTION**
7:30pm - THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION - Brazil, 2006
Director: Cao Hamburger
“The Year My Parents Went on Vacation” takes place in Brazil in 1970, when the country was ruled by a military dictatorship and its national soccer team, led by Pelé, was making its way toward the finals of the World Cup. Accordingly, sports and politics both play parts in this film, directed by Cao Hamburger, which filters the tumult and trauma of Brazilian history through the perceptions of a 12-year-old boy named Mauro. The film is most seductive when it focuses on the details of daily life in the lower-middle-class São Paulo neighborhood Bom Retiro. The rhythms of commerce, worship and domesticity — the sounds of apartment house courtyards, synagogues and shops — frequently overshadow what turns out to be a fairly conventional and sentimental story. — A. O. Scott, The New York Times
