The Chilean directors Patricio Guzmán and Pablo Larraín will premiere their newest films as part of the official competition of the 65th edition of the Berlinale.
Documentarian master Guzmán will be premiering El botón de nácar / The Pearl Button (pictured left) a documentary essay about the sea, the longest border in Chile. With its 2,670 miles of coastline and the largest archipelago in the world, the country presents a supernatural landscape. In it are volcanoes, mountains and glaciers. In it are the voices of the Patagonian Indigenous people, the first English sailors and also those of its political prisoners. Some say that water has memory. film shows that it also has a voice.
El Club / The Club, Larrain’s follow-up to the Oscar nominated No, tells the story of four priests that live together in a secluded house in a small, seaside town. Each of them has been sent to this place to purge sins from the past. They live according to a strict regime under the watchful eye of nun, when the fragile stability of their routine is disrupted by the arrival of a fifth man, a newly disgraced companion, bringing with him the past they thought they had left behind.
In total, four Latin American films will be representing Latin American in the Berlinale’s main slate. As it was previously announced, the Guatemalan film Ixcanul (pictured right) by Jayro Bustamante will also be in competition, marking a first time for the Central American country. Additionally British director will be presenting the feature film Einsenstein in Guanajuato, a co-production with Mexico.
The Panorama section of the festival will have a plentiful Latin American representation with nine productions. The main program of the Panorama section will open with the Brazilian production Sangue azul / Blue Blood by Lirio Ferreira, while the Mexican film 600 millas / 600 Miles by director Gabriel Ripstein will open the Panorama Special program.
Other Latin American titles include Jia Zhang-ke, um homem de Fenyang / Jia Zhang-ke, a Guy from Fenyang by Walter Salles from Brazil; Nasty Baby by Chilean director Sebastián Silva; Ausência / Absence by Chico Teixeira and Que horas ela volta? / The Second Mother by Anna Muylaert, both from Brazil; the Argentinean films Mariposa / Butterfly by Marco Berger, and Juan Schnitman’s El incendio / The Fire; and the Uruguayan documentary film El hombre nuevo / The New Man by Aldo Garay, which had been previously announced.
In the Forum section, films from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico will have either their world or international premiere. The lineup features Beira-Mar / Seashore by Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon from Brazil; Brasil S/A / Brazilian Dream by Marcelo Pedroso; H. by Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia, and Argentina/USA production; La maldad / Evilness by Joshua Gil from Mexico; Mar by Dominga Sotomayor from Chile; La mujer de barro / The Mud Woman by Sergio Castro San Martín also from Chile; and Violencia / Violence by Jorge Forero from Colombia.
Two Latin American feature films -in their world premiere- will represent the region in the Generation section of the festival: the Guatemalan La casa más grande del mundo / The Greatest House in the World by film Ana V. Bojórquez and Lucía Carreras, and the Argentinean film El Gurí / The Kid by Sergio Mazza.
Additionally, Latin American is the focus of this year’s NATIVe, the Berlinale special series on indigenous cinema. Under the title “A Journey into Indigenous Cinema - From Zacatecas to Patagonia” the program will feature 18 fictional and documentary films made between 1986 and 2014.
The series will open with the stunning documentary Eco de la Montaña / Echo of the Mountain by Mexican director Nicolás Echevarría, and it will also feature the world premiere of the Venezuelan film Lo que lleva el río / Gone with the River by Cuban director Mario Crespo.
The 65th edition of the Berlinale will take place February 5-15 in Germany.
