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(Sergio Teubal, Argentina, 2011, 93 min.) In Spanish with English subtitles)
In 1983, as seven years of dictatorship come to an end in Argentina, democracy blossoms in an out-of-the-way village with the birth of its 501st inhabitant- officially turning the community into a "town," entitled to elect its own mayor. Unctuous local scion Hidalgo is hot for the post. Smelling a rat, Baldomero- the town's much loved natural leader with the habitually tapping digit of the title- decides to oppose him but soon turns up dead. His brother, shopkeeper Folrencio, vows to avenge his murder and keeps Baldomero's index finger in a jar as a remembrace. But Baldomero, including his unexpectedly potent pointer, continues to be an example to the community, which defies crooked elections and interloping powers to go resolutely its own way. Based on real events- an incorporating amusingly frank reminscences from several real-life protagonists- director Sergio Teubal's smoothly realized, beautifully acted and altogether charming dramatic comedy pokes fun at small town ways while celebrating the model citizens made of true democratic values.
Friday, February 3, 6:30pm; Wednesday, February 8, 7:30pm
EL PREMIO/ THE PRIZE
 (Paula Markovitch, Argentina/ Mexico, 2011, 99 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
An anxious young mother and her precocious daughter flee Buenos Aires for the temporary seclusion of a ramshackle cottage along the windy, cloud-covered sand dunes of an Argentine beach, in the years of the dictatorship and its notorious Dirty War (1975-1983). As her mother busies herself burying incriminating books or listening for news from the radio with a sad stoicism, restlessly curious and bored 7-year-old Cecilia (an utterly natural and captivating Paula Galinelli Hertzog) joins the second-graders at a nearby school overseen by a kindly teacher. What begins as a wonderfully observed childhood idyll, however, soon becomes contaminated by the larger political crisis, as the teacher recruits Cecilia and her classmates for a patriotic essay contest sponsored by the army—the very people that may have already disappeared Cecilia’s father. Filmmaker Paula Markovitch draws on autobiography as well as a remarkable instinct for capturing the lacunae of childhood’s social and psychological worlds in this delicately framed, exquisitely acted and engrossingly atmospheric drama about innocence in illicit times.
Friday, February 3, 8:30pm; Wednesday, February 8, 7:30pm
RISCADO / CRAFT
 (Gustavo Pizzi, Brazil, 2010, 85 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Bianca manages a precarious living as a talented but underemployed actress in Rio de Janeiro by performing for private events dressed as Marilyn Monroe, Carmen Miranda and other female movie icons. No longer in her 20s, the gnawing thought she has missed her chance troubles Bianca even as she perseveres with stoical good cheer and single-minded dedication to her craft. When, during an audition for a Brazilian/French film production, the details of her life inspire the director to recast the project around her experience, it looks like not only her big break but redemption for years of struggle and social marginality. But the world may still prove too insecure and arbitrary for even one as gifted, hardworking and deserving as Bianca. Driven by Karine Teles’s remarkably sure and affecting performance, the deliberately understated tone and rich visual strategy of Gustavo Pizzi’s debut feature make for an enveloping drama as aesthetically choice as it is resolutely down-to-earth. Craft charms and unsettles in the very ordinariness—including the everyday tragedy—it so palpably locates in the working world of art.
Friday, February 3, 6:30pm; Monday, February 6, 7:30pm
GORDO, CALVO Y BAJITO/ FAT, BALD, SHORT MAN
 (Carlos Osuna, Colombia, 2011, 97 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Lonesome, middle-aged virgin Antonio Farfan is picked on and ridiculed as a matter of course, whether by coworkers or his bullying mooch of a brother who only calls when he needs money. As almost the only uncorrupted employee of a notary’s office in Bogotá, his status improves a bit when a confident and scrupulous reformer (who, oddly enough, looks very much like Farfan) replaces his outgoing boss. But the unbecoming man of the title has problems stemming from deep-seated shyness and insecurity that are only partly assuaged by the interest his new boss takes in his doppelganger. Joining almost by accident a self-improvement group, Farfan slowly confirms what the pleasingly undulating lines of this sly and involving animated story explicitly illustrate: Everything is in motion, and change is all but inevitable. The question, in Carlos Osuna’s warmly irresistible feature, becomes what use one might make of it.
Friday, February 3, 8:30pm; Thursday, February 9, 7:30pm
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