The 2006 London Latin American Film Festival was hosted once again at two of
central London's most popular cinema venues: The Renoir Cinema, The
Curzon Soho and The Curzon Mayfair. The doors opened to all things
Latin between 10-20 November including; art exhibitions, directors,
Q&A's and, of course, a wide representation of film making from
Cuba, through Costa Rica to Chile.
Chile 672 Street (Chile 672)
Saturday 11th Nov - 6.30pm - Curzon Mayfair Thursday 16th Nov - 8.45pm
- Curzon Mayfair
Dir.Pablo Bardouil & Franco Verdoia; Argentina, 2006, 102 mins,
Colour.
Cast: Jose Luis Alfonzo, Patrizia Camponovo, Maria Lorenzutti, Erica
Rivas, Dora Baret, Lito Cruz.
With neighbours like these, who needs enemies? Nelson teeters between
saving his marriage and seducing a young girl... Malena is nearly ready
for her close up... Silvia's placid life is about to be overturned by
a young man's unsolicited attentions... scarlet woman Simona is getting
the sharp edge of everyone's tongue... A storm is about to break over
672 Chile Street!
I Remember (Eu Me Lembro)
Sunday 12th Nov - 8.30pm - Curzon Mayfair
Dir. Edgard Navarro; Brazil , 2006, 120 mins, Colour Cast: Lucas Valadares,
Fernando Neves, Arly Arnaud, Analu Tavares, Wilson Mello, Rita Assemany.
A tale of the generation growing up through the turbulent 60's and 70's,
from director Edgard Navarro. Through the eyes of the protagonist, we
experience Catholic guilt, the growing pangs of adolescence, alongside
the transforming power of the civil rights movement, feminism, sexual
liberation and the atmosphere of revolt amongst students and workers.
AWARDS: Best Film, Best Script, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting
Role, Best Soundtrack; Brasilia Film Festival.
Roots Time
Tuesday 14th - Nov - 6.30pm - Curzon Mayfair
Dir. Silvestre Jacobi, Jamaica/Argentina, 2006, 77mins, Colour.
Cast: Woolton Harrison, Llewelyn Samuda, Luis Christie, Brenda Finlayson.
Jah Bull and Baboo are two itinerate Rastas selling records from town
to town in rural Jamaica . By chance they pick up their favourite radio
DJ, Farmer Roots who is racing to get his sick girlfriend to hospital.
. The two friends, who do not believe in traditional medicine because
of their Rastafarian principles, convince Farmer Roots to take his girlfriend
to a renowned herbal doctor, Bongo-Hu. However, finding him turns out
to be much more difficult than they expected and gives rise to all kind
of adventures along the way. Picaresque poetry.
AWARDS: Best Film 2006 Portobello Film Festival.
Fugue (Fuga)
Friday 10th Nov - 8.45pm - Curzon Mayfair Saturday 18th Nov - 6.30pm
- Renoir
Dir.Pablo Larrain, Chile / Argentina, 2005, 110 mins, Colour Cast: Benjamin
Vicuna, Gaston Pauls, Hector Noguera, Alfredo Castro, Maria Izquierdo,
Willy Semler, Paulina Urrutia, Marcial Tagle, Mateo Iribarren, Francisca
Imboden, Luis Dubo, Hector Morales, Alejandro Trejo.
Composer Montalban is unable to finish the sublime piece of music which
is entwined inextricably with the murder of his sister, nor can he relinquish
it. The dilemma has driven him mad. Many years later, the untalented
musician Ricardo Coppa sets out to find Montalban and to complete the
fatal opus. Unaware of the dangers ahead, his band sets out on their
nightmarish mission. Through an amalgam of brilliant art direction,
music and a wonderfully muted and controlled palette of colours, Fuga
convincingly creates a fictional world of its own ¯ a unique hell!
Nippon E Yokoso
Thursday 16th Nov - 7.00pm - Curzon Mayfair Dir. Pablo Aldrete, Mexico,
2006, 76 mins, Colour
Cast: Yoko Honaga, Nacho Sanchez.
This is the journey of two people and their attempt to escape from reality.
They meet under different circumstances: Naoko tells the story of her
last voyage through life; Daniel is in Japan to see Mexico play in the
football world cup. Naoko follows Daniel through the streets of Tokyo
and into the tube where she steals Daniel's wallet. Daniel chases after
her, but is unable to spot her in the crowds. Upon checking the wallet
she realises that she has made a mistake, pick pocketing the wrong man.
Soon Naoko's boss would be looking for her all over Tokyo . There is
a chase in the tube, but she manages to escape, joining Daniel on his
trip around Japan while she figures something out. Eventually Mexico
loses the match against the USA . Naoko, realising that this might be
the end of the journey, decides to take Daniel to a forest where they
can find the magic that will take their pain away, and…
Rooms For Tourists (Habitaciones
Para Turistas)
Sunday 19th Nov - 4.30pm - Renoir
Dir. Adrian Garcia Bogliano; Argentina, 2004, 90 mins, Black and White.
Cast: Jimena Krouco, Elena Siritto, Mariela Mujica, Brenda Vera, Victoria
Witemburg.
This stylish and gruesome first feature from Adrián García
Bogliano borrows heavily from the classic ‘70's slasher genre
for it sense of isolation and meance as well as from Argento and Fulci
for its visual panache. Five young Portenas, all strangers, are stranded
for the night in a remote and bleak satellite town near Buenos Aires
. A rooming house run by two apparently mild-mannered brothers is the
only alternative to sleeping rough... bad decision!
American Visa
Friday 10th Nov - 6.30pm - Curzon Mayfair Tuesday 14th Nov - 8.30pm
- Curzon Mayfair
Dir. Juan Carlos Valdivia; Bolivia/Mexico, 2005, 100 mins, Colour.
Cast: Demian Bichir, Kate del Castillo, Roberto Barbery, Alberto Etcheverry.
One of headline thrillers of the Festival this year is Juan Carlos Valdivia's
“American Visa”in which a Bolivian academic finds himself
swept up in a world of political, criminal and sexual intrigue. Being
denied a US visa proves to be the start of a chain of life-changing
events for Professor Mario Alvarez, viz: staging a hold up of the American
consulate and falling in love with a beautiful, young prostitute (Blanca,
played by Kate del Castillo). High octane drama at the ideological cutting
edge.
AWARDS: Best Screenplay Ariel Awards 2006, Nomination to Best Actress
Ariel Awards 2006.
Regarding Buenos Aires (A Propósito
De Buenos Aires)
Saturday 18th Nov - 4.30pm - Renoir
Dir. Manuel Ferrari, Alejo Franzetti, Martín Kalina, Cecilia
Libster, Francisco Pedemonte, Clara Picasso, Matìas Piñeiro,
Juan Ronco, Andrea Santamaría, Malena Solarz & Nicolás
Zukerfeld; Argentina, 2006, 82 mins, Colour.
Cast: Maria Abadi, Mariana Chaud, Inés Efron, Milagros Gallo,
Guillermo García Faure, Water Jakob.
A cast of young characters pursue their disparate yet interwoven narratives,
roaming over the surface of the sepulchre that is Buenos Aires ; over
the bones of the patriarchs encased in marble, over the bones of the
murdered entombed under concrete. The uniting theme is the search for
identity, the need of each generation to reinvent itself in a city which
has never known itself except as conduit between an alien interior and
a distant continent, 10 000 ocean miles away. Searching through words
(words in letters, books, vast libraries of words) they seek desperately
to define the soul of the city, but ultimately, they find their cultural
inheritance has shallow roots which entwine and choke one another, bounded
in, as they are, by impenetrable strata of ossified histories. The 11
separate directors involved have achieved a remarkable continuity of
style: the deliberate pace of the unfurling tableaux and the bald video
texture of the cinematography creep under the skin of the viewer as
the lost youths wander the width of land hemmed in between the great
river and the endless sea.
Virgin Rose (Una Rosa De Francia)
Sunday 12th Nov - 6.15pm - Curzon Mayfair
Dir. Manuel Gutierrez Aragon, Spain, 2005, 100 mins. Colour
Cast: Jorge Perugorria, Alex Gonzalez, Broselinda Hernandez, Ana Cecilia
de Armas.
Simon, a ruthless people trafficker, specialises in ferrying illegal
immigrants from Cuba then abandoning them on an island just off-shore
from the promised land. This time his luck runs out and he is chased
by a US patrol boat; his life is saved by Andres, a young member of
his crew, who is, himself, wounded. Simon owes Andres an eternal debt
of gratitude... but will this stand him in good stead when he falls
for Simon's girl Marie? Then, when Andres and Marie try to escape to
New York , Simon will go to any lengths to stop them.
Postscript (Posdata )
Friday 17th Nov - 8.45pm - Renoir
Dir. Rafael Escolar, Argentina/Spain, 2006, 94 mins, Colour
Cast: Joaquim De Almeida, Emilio Gutierrez Caba, Simon Andreu, German
Palacios, Fernando Albizu, Silvia Casanova, Jing Jing Xu.
Is it fate that a lonely old woman who has lost everything and whose
only family is a canary sits down across from a Vietnamese girl who,
although barely out of childhood, has been sold to an old Spanish peasant?
Is it sheer coincidence that a forty-years-old security guard who has
never made a decision in his life and is now about to get married should
sit behind a young insurance salesman obsessed by a promotion? Is it
chance that two men married to the same woman are coming from her funeral,
without nothing to do but remember their lives with her under the same
roof? Or perhaps they were all predestined to be in the same carriage,
in the middle of a cold, dark tunnel; held there under the protection
of Abel, a strange man who seems to know the lives of each and every
passenger, their deepest secrets, those they would never reveal.
AWARDS: Best Script 9th Malaga Film Festival.
Broken Sky (El Cielo Dividido)
Saturday 11th Nov - 8.45pm - Curzon Mayfair Sunday 19th Nov - 6.20pm
- Renoir
Dir. Julian Hernandez, Mexico, 2006, 140 mins, Colour.
Cast: Miguel Angel Hoppe Canto, Fernando Arroyo, Alejandro Rojo, Klaudia
Aragon, Clarisa Rendon.
The passionate relationship between Gerardo and Jonas is disrupted by
the arrival of the mysterious Bruno. Jonas' infatuation with the elusive
stranger gives rise to complex repercussions for the couple, like overlapping
ripples on the surface of a pond. Writer and director Hernández
applies his inimitable touch to a classic love-triangle story which
slowly unfurls into a delicately nuanced exploration of the intricate
interplay of love, sex and fidelity.
The Temptations Of Brother
Sebastian
Wednesday 15th Nov - 8.00pm - Curzon Mayfair
Dir. Jose Araujo; Brazil, 2006, 147 mins, Colour
Cast: Rodolfo Vaz, Marcus Miranda, Luthyane D Montmartre, Aury Porto,
Roberto Diogenes, Roberto De Exu.
The year 2030. Brazil is reduced to toxic ruins in the aftermath of
war and ecological disaster. The Church has returned to the age of evangelism
and martyrdom. Brother Sebastian prepares for his ordination but wrestles
with self doubt: he recounts the story of his early life, the shame
of having been assaulted as a child, the carnality of his passion for
the beautiful Brother Gabriel, and the torments he suffers at the hands
of the devil incarnate, Lord Bat, and his sidekick, Debo. Driven to
the very edge, Sebastian finally achieves expiation and is absolved
of his sins by Father Sanctus. He then goes on, accompanied by his newly
righteous cohort, Lord Bat, to sally forth and rid the world of fear,
via beatification by dint of time travels back to Ancient Rome. Confused?
Don't worry! Just sit back as the beautifully realised and utterly bizarre
visuals unfold and prepare to lose yourself in a world of sin, mysticism,
heavenly visions, blood, and much, much more!
AWARDS: Best Feature and Best Production Design, Ceara Film Festival.
DOCUMENTARIES
Mestre Leopoldina
Friday 10th Nov - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho
Dir. Rose Le Creta, Brazil, 2006, 52 mins, Colour.
Famous as one of the oldest and most accomplished practitioners of the
capoeira, at 72 years of age, Master Leopoldina stills embodies the
grace and philosohical resonance of the art. Originally derived from
Bantu and Yoruba traditions shipped over with the slaves to the port
of Rio de Janeiro, the capoeira, which combines the physical and mental
discipline of a martial art with the exuberance of dance, has long held
great significance as a form of subtle defiance preserving, as it does,
the proud culture of the oppressed under the very noses of the oppressors.
Fruit Of Labour
Monday 13th Nov - 8.45pm - Curzon Mayfair
Dir. Pepe Urquijo, USA / Mexico, 2005, 54 mins, Colour.
Fruit of Labour shines a light on the old-fashioned innocence of one
man's pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. Following Chago's seemingly
mundane daily routine of selling fruit uncovers a complicated world
of people, politics and power. Faced by threats, harassment, confiscation
and unemployment, Chago responds with patience, persistence and ingenuity.
Loving Maradona (Amando A Maradona)
Sunday 12th Nov - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho
Dir. Javier Vazquez; Argentina, 2006, 75 mins, Colour.
“Loving Maradona” takes us on a journey spanning Naples
, Barcelona and Switzerland , as well as Latin America from Cuba to
Patagonia , tracing the life story of Diego Maradona and paying homage
to the passion he has inspired in his fans all over the world. Based
around an interview with the great man himself, this stylish documentary
takes a close look at Diego's relationship with Cuba . It also goes
out its way to record some of the more extreme and eccentric forms of
devotion he inspires; the mass popularity of the Maradona tattoo, for
example, or the group of 500 fans who now celebrate Christmas on October
30th! Lively, intelligent filmmaking: the perfect antidote to the World
Cup.
Saint Cayetano, The Saint Of The People
(Saint Cayetano, El Santo De La Gente)
Wednesday 15th Nov - 6.30pm - Curzon Mayfair Dir. Lino Pujia; Argentina
, 2006, 68 mins, Colour.
What links a 15 th Century, Venetian intellectual and cleric with the
popular politics of 20 th Century Argentina? This documentary explores
how Gaetano de Thiene, absorbed, with charitable works, religious orthodoxy
and mysticism to become an iconic figure for the working class of Buenos
Aires and Argentina, through the decades of Peronism and Junta. The
film first examines the life of Gaetano and his socio-political significance
in the context of his times. Then, with the use of fascinating archive
material, the mass immigration of Italian labour into Argentina. The
subsequent struggles for the soul of the nation are also documented.
From this, emerges a telling account of the ambiguous position of ‘Saint
Cayetano' as both figurehead for the oppressed masses and, for the ruling
classes, as a useful means of distracting the people: a very Argentinean
story. The film ends with amazing footage of the simultaneous celebrations
of Saint Cayetano in Naples and in Buenos Aires including the pilgrimage
of more than a million Argentineans to the Church of San Cayetano.
Until the Last Stone (Hasta la Última
Piedra)
Monday 13th Nov - 6.30pm - Curzon Mayfair
Dir. Juan Jose Lozano, Colombia/ Switzerland, 2006, 58 mins. Colour.
Delving deep below all the perfunctory and sensationalist clichés
about Colombia , this is a tribute to life and peaceful resistance.
It is a portrait of peasant farmers struggling to farm their land in
the face of military and paramilitary violence without, themselves,
resorting to the gun. Louise Winstanley of Peace Brigades International
(PBI) will introduce “Until the Last Stone.” PBI sends unarmed
observers to live within rural communities in Colombia , thereby challenging
the culture of impunity on the part of the aggressors who threaten the
organisers of peaceful resistance with murder. Louise will talk about
this work as well as the wider Human Rights situation.
Our America (Nuestra América)
Monday 13th Nov - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho
Dir. Kristina Konrad, Switzerland , 2005, 84 mins, Colour.
Documentary exploring memories of the Sandinista Revolution of the 1980's
in Nicaragua . The film reflects upon the hopes and aspirations of that
brief period, when one small country dared to stand against the might
of the USA , to promote social justice and the rights of women, and
to proclaim the existence of a different kind of America .
The Cubaraui Women
Wednesday 15th Nov - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho Dir. Antonio Marquez, Spain,
2006, 50 mins, Colour.
A truly captivating documentary revealing an extraordinary cultural
interchange that is rarely reported. Every year young Muslim women born
in the camps of Sub-Saharan Africa travel to Cuba to study; barely out
of adolescence they are suddenly exposed to a radically different world.
Often, they stay to complete an entire education up to Master's Degree
level. After more than a decade immersed in an atmosphere of salsa,
beach life, and intellectual quest, they return to Africa .... The film
looks at the motivations of the women in leaving their homes at such
a young age, as well as their reasons for returning. Equally fascinating
is the examination of their adaptation back to the Islamic culture of
their desert homeland after a vivid education in such an ideologically
contrasting setting.
Acts Of Men (Atos Dos Homens)
Monday 13th Nov - 8.45pm - Curzon Mayfair
Dir. Kiko Goifman , Brazil / Germany , 2005, 75 mins Colour.
Institutional violence is the everyday reality for the inhabitants of
Brazil 's poorest quarters. Goifman's film was intended to document
the stories of people who have survived massacres carried out by death
squads comprised of racketeering police officers. However, on the eve
of filming, a fresh massacre was carried out in Baixada Fluminense:
29 people killed, including the old, children and teenagers, the highest
death toll to date in Rio de Janeiro . In the light of events, the film,
inevitably, became the story of this massacre. One crew documented the
immediate aftermath, putting their lives at risk from the professional
killers still on the streets. Later came the filming of a series of
extremely powerful interviews with survivors, giving a rare voice to
the unofficial version of events, from those in the firing line. Dignified
and not voyeuristic, this film cannot properly be described. It must
be seen.
It's Not Easy (No Es Fácil)
Tuesday 14th Nov - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho
Dir. Gustavo Gama Rodrigues, Brazil / UK, 2006, 24 mins, Colour.
Two Cuban mothers, from contrasting socio-economic backgrounds, tell
of their lives in the tranquil town of Cienfuegos , torn between their
love of their homeland and their anguish at the economic flight of all
their children to other counties. Unsentimental, moving and beautifully
intimate.
The Fists Of A Nation (Los
Puños De Una Nación)
Thursday 16th Nov - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho Dir. Pituka Heilbron, Panama,
2006, 75 mins, Colour and Black & White,
A profound investigation of the need of oppressed peoples to create
iconic heroes, the documentary explores the phenomenon of Panamanian
Roberto ‘Stone Hands' Duran, the greatest London Latin American boxer
of all time. Through archive material and exclusive interviews with
Sugar Ray Leonard, this film examines the parallels between Duran's
meteoric career and the history of conflict between the USA and Panama.
The People Of This Land (Los
Pueblos De Esta Tierra)
Tuesday 14th Nov - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho
Dir. Sean Orr, Peru / Bolivia / Mexico / UK, 2006, 39 mins, Colour.
In recent years, the uprising of the indigenous people of Mexico in
the Zapatista movement has hit the headlines and entered the global
consciousness. Here, the documentary makers examine the continuing oppression
suffered by indigenous populations in Latin America but also focus upon
the renewed sense of hope and resistance flowering in Peru , Bolivia
, Mexico and across the continent. The film features an exclusive interview
with Professor Noam Chomsky about the invigorating effect of the Zapatista
uprising on indigenous peoples in their struggle to put and end to a
century of neo-colonial economic domination and the violence visited
upon them as a consequence.
Theatre People (Teatreros)
Friday 10th Nov - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho
Dir.Eduardo Cardoso , Spain , 2005, 25 mins. Colour.
... Theatre is the love of my life.
AWARDS: Special Mention; International Festival of Digital Cinema Sant
Sarduni , Spain
Forbidden Wedding
Friday 17th Nov - 6.30pm - Renoir
Dir. Flavia Fontes , Brazil , 2001, 56 mins, Colour.
Director Fontes specialises in beautifully crafted documentaries, MY
FATHER THE CLOWN, I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME and RIGHTS FOR ALL among
others which tell deceptively simple, human stories, but which resonate
with wider social and political meanings. When she read about Hedir,
Antonio de Brito, a paraplegic who had been refused permission to be
married by the Catholic Church in Brazil owing to his impotence, she
determined to document his shocking situation. Travelling to his hometown
she managed, using digital video and a minimal crew, to reach to the
very heart of this highly personal and politically sensitive story,
through interview material with the couple, their families and neighbours
and with the local priests. The result is a documentary which is as
profound as it is moving..
AWARDS: Audience Award For Best Documentary - Projections International
Film Festival, Honorable Mention - Philadelphia International Film Festival,
Award Of Excellence - Brasa Film Festival.
Echoes
Friday 17th Nov - 6.30pm - Renoir
Dir. Estefania Muniz , Spain , 2006, 24 mins, Colour Cast: Merce Llorens,
Ara Malikian, Elena Suarez.
Elena is a dressmaker who works at home with traditional methods. She
lives alone with Paula, her only child. Owing to her past, Elena must
learn the act of forgiving others' intolerance and herself. In a world
where everything we see is a mirror of what we are, reaching for an
absolute truth is, at best, an illusion. Ecos is a metaphor of The Zohar.
AWARDS: Best music; International Festival of Digital Cinema of Sant
Sarduni , Spain .
The Crane And The Giraffe (La
Grúa Y La Jirafa)
Saturday 11th Nov - 8.45pm - Curzon Mayfair Sunday 19th Nov - 6.20pm
- Renoir
Dir. Vladimir Bellini, Argentina, 2006, 2 mins, colour Is it love....?
SHORTS
Short Films From Peru
Casting
Wenesday 15th - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho
Dir. Gerardo Ruiz Minan, Peru, 2002, 18 mins, Colour
Cast: Pietro Sibille, Carlos Garcia Rossell, Nadia Velasquez.
Over the course of a year, this lively short follows aspiring actor
Marco Luna Vaggionari from one audition to the next as he struggles
to carve out a career for himself and, finally, to take charge of his
own destiny.
AWARDS: Best actor Buenos Aires Fim Festival, Best actor Lima Film Festival.
Angel's Fire (Fuego De Ángel)
Monday 13th - 6.30pm - Curzon Mayfair
Dir. Marcelo Bukin, Spain / Peru , 2006, 13 mins, Colour.
Angel, 8 years old, makes bricks all day long. This forced labour and
the extreme and inhuman conditions are the key to understanding his
life, his friends and his brutal environment. Amidst the hopelessness
of this poor community in Puno, Perú, beside Lake Titicaca, the
adults sometimes turn to alcohol and physical aggression against their
children.
Mauris From Titicaca (Mauris
Del Titicaca)
Tuesday 14th - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho
Dir. Marcelo Bukin, Spain / Peru , 2006, 11 mins, Colour. By the remote
shore of Lake Titicaca , a charming family of 6 brothers and sisters
makes ends meet by fishing. Surrounded by danger and disease, these
children learn to keep on smiling as they try to survive.
Welcome To Poptun (Bienvenidos
A Poptun)
Monday 13th - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho Dir. Marcelo Bukin, Spain / Peru
, 2006, 11 mins, Colour.
This is the story of three children who live in the city of Poptun ,
a remote and picturesque village in Guatemala . Their childhood is spent
offering shoe shine services. The few coins they earn buy what scant
food is available. Home is no refuge from their misery as they fall
prey to the violence of drunken parents.
Email To Mum (Email A Mamá)
Wenesday 15th - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho Dir. Gerardo Ruiz Minan, Peru,
2004, 2 mins, Colour.
A young student emails her mum about her exciting university life...
AWARDS: Best Short Film Sao Paulo Film Festival.
Bread (Pan)
Sunday 12th - 4.30pm - Curzon Soho
Dir. Marcelo Bukin, Spain / Peru , 2006, 5 mins, Colour.
Edwin and Edson, 9 and 11 years old, work crushing rocks with their
father in a mine. However, remarkably, their intense working conditions
have not destroyed their love for life.
