Oscuro Animal by Felipe Guerrero
The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Cinema Tropical announce the second annual Neighboring Scenes, a showcase of contemporary Latin American cinema screening 15 films from nine countries, which will take place January 26-31 at the Walter Reader Theater in New York City.
Exhibiting the breadth of styles, techniques, and approaches employed by Latin American filmmakers today, the festival highlights impressive recent productions from across the region. Featuring titles from Paraguay, Peru, and the Dominican Republic for the first time, as well as films from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, Neighboring Scenes celebrates the expanding range of contemporary Latin American filmmaking in its second edition.
“This year, we are pleased to highlight several emerging filmmakers, with many fantastic debut and second films in a range of styles—from political thriller and bleak comedy to observational documentary,” said Film Society of Lincoln Center Programmer at Large Rachael Rakes. “Furthermore, half of the works on this year's slate are directed or co-directed by women, who have been critically underrepresented in the region previously.”
Opening Night is the New York premiere of Joaquin de Paso’s feature debut Panamerican Machinery, a Buñuelian satire that takes place behind the locked doors of a dysfunctional factory in Mexico City. Shot on expired film stock, de Paso’s film strikes its absurdist tone with deliberately dated, hazy visuals, courtesy of first-time cinematographer Fredrik Olsson. Closing the festival is the U.S. premiere of New Directors/New Films 2015 alumnus Lukas Rinner’s (Parabellum) second film, A Decent Woman, in which a deadpan maid finds liberation by joining a camp of nudists located near the home she cleans.
This year’s lineup also includes the North American premiere of Laura Huertas Millán’s Black Sun, an intimate portrait of the filmmaker’s aunt as she battles drug addiction and reflects upon her career as an opera singer; Lina Rodriguez’s This Time Tomorrow, a quiet coming-of-age story in which the “fragile changeability of family life is beautifully and painfully captured” (Variety); a 50th anniversary screening of Brazilian auteur Glauber Rocha’s Cinema Novo masterwork Terra em Transe; and more.
Rounding up the lineup are Dark Animal / Oscuro animal by Felipe Guerrero from Colombia, Jesús by Fernando Guzzoni, from Chile, El limonero real by Gustavo Fontán from Argentina, The Long Night of Francisco Sanctis / La larga noche de Francisco Sanctis by Andrea Testa & Francisco Márquez from Argentina, Site of Sites / El sitio de los sitios by Natalia Cabral & Oriol Estrada, from the Dominican Republic, Surire by Bettina Perut & Iván Osnovikoff from Chile, The Last Land / La última tierra by Pablo Lamar from Paraguay, and Where I Grow Old / A cidade onde envelheço by Marília Rocha, from Brazil.
