Latin American Film Festival » FILMS

Grandmother mambo / Abuela mambo

eva — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:39:22 +0000

Inspired by the debate about a new class of “Granny Slaves” the film examines the plight of a woman who, instead of enjoying a restful old age, is pushed into taking more and more responsibility for the upbringing of her grandchild. The remarkable aestheticism of the cinematography is a tool, which the director uses to convey, through allusion and metaphor, the hidden emotion beneath the surface of every scene. Stunning.

Garifuna in peril

eva — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:37:58 +0000

Ricardo struggles to protect his Afro-Amerindian culture and language (Garifuna) from the steady encroachment of the tourist trade. T old in Social Realist style, the film subtly explores the parallels between the iniquities of the British Colonial period and the modern day threat from globalised commerce.

Marina

eva — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:36:43 +0000

An evocative rendering of deeply Cuban themes, (city and country , male and female, age and youth) told through the unfolding love story between a girl returning to her Holguín home from Havana, and a young, local fisherman.

Uomo

eva — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:35:05 +0000

Arandom encounter between Damian, a married lawyer undergoing a mid-life crisis, and Estela, a local transvestite prostitute, begins a strange relationship between two individuals who seem poles apart but have more in common than they know . Seeing the world through Estela’s eyes, Damian begins to look at things from a different point of view and will soon make a decision that will affect the rest of his life.

Reus

eva — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:34:11 +0000

Montevideo, set amidst the vastness of land, ocean and river, is the scene of a bloody feud of Shakespearean proportions as two dynasties (one Jewish, one gentile) fight to preserve their honour and tradition. Reus, the district in which the drama plays out, is rich with the narrative and iconography of European émigrés, who long have thrived, clashed and coexisted there, so far from their original roots” perhaps with “European émigrés, who have long thrived, clashed and coexisted there, so far from their native homelands.

See you never / Hasta nunca

eva — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:32:50 +0000

An extraordinary melding of vérité-style stories shot on the streets of Montevideo, strung around the central narrative of a popular radio DJ who is searching for meaning in his life. The harsh and evocative city is revealed through beautiful cinematography as the film pokes tentative fingers into some of the darker recesses of Uruguay’s past and present life.

Smuggled

eva — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:30:44 +0000

The harrowing story of 10-year-old Miguel’s illegal entry into the US is recounted in flashback as he is being interrogated for shoplifting. The suffering of Miguel (Ramsess Letrado) and his young mother (Denisse Bon) is portrayed in a hard-hitting, but never sentimental way.

Not so modern times / Tiempos menos modernos

eva — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:27:36 +0000

Payaguala, a Tehuelche shepherd, lives a solitary and contented life in the wilds of Patagonia, indifferent to the mining and tourist industries gradually encroaching upon his world: until a visitor helps him to set up a solar-powered television (a ‘gift’ from the government). With a wry, satirical glee, the film explores the devastating consequences as Payaguala’s peaceful existence is gradually corroded by this un-looked- for new arrival.

In the city of fury / En la ciudad de la furia

eva — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:08:37 +0000

Merciless hit man Max needs help in uploading his “terror videos” (footage of murders, posted on YouT ube to intimidate rival drug gangs). Unsuspecting wedding video-maker , Rafael, ends up teaching Max a lesson in compassion and forgiveness.

Goodbye Cruel World / Adios Mundo Cruel

eva — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 22:50:35 +0000

A very creative comedy in which innocent and simple-minded Angel loses his job in an insurance company and, with no job in sight, has to look for new ways to earn a living. Inadvertently, he becomes involved with a gang of thieves and a series of crazy money-making schemes they come up with. Naïvely, Angel doesn’t seem to be able to deduce that they are
anything more than well-meaning strangers, helping him out: or, even more to the point, that, as criminals, they are totally incompetent! He agrees to take the lead in a heist that promises to make him both rich and famous; or so he believes.

This uncompromising, hilarious, dark comedy has already won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at this year’s Santa Cruz Film Festival, and deservedly so. Restrained and observant direction allows the
script and the highly talented cast plenty of scope to develop the wry humour which emerges from a basically desperate situation affecting millions worldwide, today.