The Museum of Modern Art has selected four Latin American films for its annual ‘The Contenders’ film series, featuring a select group of influential and innovative films made in the past year that the museum believe will stand the test of time. The four Latin American films selected this year are the Brazilian films The Edge of Democracy / Democracia em Vertigem by Petra Costa and The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão / A Vida Invisível de Eurídice Gusmão by Karim Aïnouz, the Colombian film Monos by Alejandro Landes, and End of the Century / Fin de siglo by Lucio Castro. Costa, Landes, and Castro are expected to attend the screenings for Q&A sessions with the audience.
Merging the personal and the political, in The Edge of Democracy Costa (Elena, Olma and the Seagull) delves to the heart of her country’s unfolding identity crisis, examining widespread institutional corruption while connecting her own family’s complex political and industrial past to Brazil’s current crisis. Capturing a unique historical moment, The Edge of Democracy examines the complex forces at play that erode one system and replace it with another.
As a child in 1985, director Costa saw democracy take root in Brazil following years of authoritarian rule under a military dictatorship. Gaining unprecedented access to working-party leaders Lula da Silva and his protégée Dilma Rousseff, Costa traces the downfall of both democratic leaders following corruption scandals that resulted in the impeachment of Rousseff and the imprisonment of da Silva.
Winner of the top prize for Best Film in the Un Certain Regard competition at the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Aïnouz’s The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão / A Vida Invisível de Eurídice Gusmão has been selected as Brazil’s Oscar candidate.Billed as a ‘tropical melodrama,’ the film is set in Rio de Janeiro in 1950 and follows Euridice, 18 and Guida, 20, two inseparable sisters. They live at home, and each has a dream: becoming a renowned pianist, or finding true love. Because of their father, they are forced to live without one another. Separated, they will take control of their destiny, while never giving up on their hope of being reunited. The film has been acquired for U.S. distribution by Amazon.
The Colombian Oscar candidate Monos, Landes’ awe-inspiring third feature (Cocalero, Porfirio) is a breathtaking survivalist saga set on a remote mountain in Latin America. The film tracks a young group of soldiers and rebels—bearing names like Rambo, Smurf, Bigfoot, Wolf and Boom-Boom—who keep watch over an American hostage, Doctora. The teenage commandos perform military training exercises by day and indulge in youthful hedonism by night, an unconventional family bound together under a shadowy force known only as The Organization. After an ambush drives the squadron into the jungle, both the mission and the intricate bonds between the group begin to disintegrate. Order descends into chaos and within Monos the strong begin to prey on the weak in this vivid, cautionary fever-dream.
Director Landes examines the chaos and absurdity of war from the unique perspective of adolescence, recalling Lord of the Flies and Beau Travail in a way that feels wholly original. Landes brings together a diverse young cast of both seasoned professionals (including Hannah Montana's Moisés Arias) and untrained neophytes and thrusts them into an unforgiving, irrational and often surreal environment where anything can happen—even peace.
In his alluring debut feature, Lucio Castro offers both a sun-soaked European travelogue and an epic, decades-spanning romance. When Ocho (Juan Barberini), a 30-something Argentine poet on vacation in Barcelona, spots Javi (Ramón Pujol), a Spaniard from Berlin, from the balcony of his Airbnb, the attraction is subtle but persistent. After a missed connection on the beach, a third chance encounter escalates to a seemingly random hookup. But are these two merely beautiful strangers in a foreign city or are they part of each other’s histories—and maybe even their destinies?
Castro deliberately parses out mystery after mystery, leading the audience on a journey of discovery as the two leading men discover themselves and each other. With sumptuous lensing of a Barcelona summertime and tangible chemistry between the actors, End of the Century is a love story that echoes across time.
‘The Contenders’ will take place November 7, 2019 – January 8, 2020 at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
