Theatre of War by Lola Arias
The Museum of Modern Art has announced the full festival lineup for Doc Fortnight 2019, its annual showcase of outstanding and innovative nonfiction film. The 18th annual showcase, which runs from February 21 to 28, 2019, includes an international selection of more than 17 documentary features, predominantly directed by female filmmakers, including three Latin American features, two from Argentina and one from Peru.
MoMA will host the New York premiere of Lola Arias’ acclaimed Teatro de guerra / Theatre of War. Since 1833, jurisdiction over the Falkland/Malvinas Islands has been the source of major controversy—so much so that in 1982, this ongoing debate resulted in war. Over the course of three months nearly 1,000 British and Argentine soldiers lost their lives in a war for sovereignty. Blurring the lines between reality and fiction, this unorthodox documentary focuses on the damaging effects the Falklands War had on six of its soldiers. Through the use of theatrical performance, reenactment, music, and storytelling, Theatre of War revisits a kind of universal turmoil.
MoMA will also screen the Argentine film La extraña: Notas sobre el (auto) exilio / The Stranger: Notes on [Self] Exile by Javier Olivera. Based on the writings of Atahualpa Yupanqui and Marcelo Viñar, this dreamlike documentary addresses what it means to belong to a place. Through philosophical motifs and abstract compositions, La Extraña confronts the potential dissociation with one’s own sense of being.
Rounding up the Latin America feature is the Peruvian film Volver a ver / To See Again by Judith Vélez Aguirre. Between 1982 and 2000, the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) waged a guerilla war in Peru, becoming one of the most brutal terrorist groups of the 20th century. The conflict began in the Ayacucho region, where many Andean people were victimized and killed. Photographers Vera Lentz, Alejandro Balaguer, and Oscar Medrano managed to capture the horror and pain this war caused—and now, years later, they revisit the subjects and locales captured in their photos. Volver a ver tells a story that is not often told, about the tragedies that took place in Peru for nearly two decades, using the lens of art to reveal memories that question an official history that elides the indigenous contribution to the peace process.
Additionally MoMA’s Doc Fortnight will screen the Brazilian short film A Singular Garden by Monica Klemz, the Peruvian short films The Offering by Guille Isa and Bill Silva andTakehara by Jarot Mansilla, and the Cuban/Spain short Hablando con Dios by Glenda León.
