The Dance of the 41 by David Pablos
The San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) has announced its full lineup for this year's hybrid format edition, set to take place from Friday, April 9 to Sunday, April 18 with both online and in-person events. All live screenings and performances will take place at the Fort Mason Flix drive-in theater.
The program for this year’s 64th edition includes a diverse selection of U.S. Latinx and Latin American productions with titles representing Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and the United States in both the narrative feature and feature-length documentary sections.
Among the narrative features is the Mexican-Brazilian co-production Dance of the 41 / El baile de los 41 by Mexican director David Pablos, a forbidden love story that details a real-life society scandal that roiled early 20th-century Mexico. Also from Mexico is Angeles Cruz's Nudo Mixteco, a powerful drama that converges around a village’s yearly festival and the upheaval created when three people who left decide to return home.
Issues of representation and performance take center stage in Mexican-Canadian director Nicolás Pereda's ninth film Fauna, a wry feature that follows a couple on a road trip to visit her dysfunctional family.
Also programmed is the U.S.-Mexican co-production Son of Monarchs / Hijo de monarcas, winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at this year’s edition of Sundance. The debut feature by French-Venezuelan director Alexis Gambis stars Tenoch Huerta (Güeros, Narcos) and tells the story of Mendel, a scientist who dedicates his career to studying the monarch butterflies of Michoacán, Mexico.
Another promising debut feature comes in the form of Colombian writer-director Nicolás Rincón Gille's Valley of Souls / Tantas almas, a powerful drama that presents actor Arley de Jesús Carvallido Lobo in an unforgettable role as a fisherman searching for his sons' bodies after paramilitaries abduct them amidst Colombia's civil conflict.
Lastly, Los Angeles-based filmmakers Angelique Molina and Kelley Kali are set to present their film I'M FINE (Thanks for Asking), following single mom Danny as she races through COVID-era Pacoima, CA, on roller skates trying to amass an apartment deposit.
Among the selection of feature-length documentaries are Italian-Nicaraguan director Roberto Salinas’ Cuban Dancer, a captivating investigation of a teenage ballet dancer’s extraordinary talent and drive as they emigrate to Florida to start their studies anew; Luciana Kaplan's The Spokeswoman / La vocera, a powerful documentary in which Maria de Jesús Patricio, known as Marichuy, is the first indigenous woman to run for Mexico's president; and Puerto Rican documentarian Mariem Pérez Riera’s Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, an archival delight that has Rita Moerno recall the highs and lows of her 70-year film career.
Rounding out the section is U.S. Latinx director David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg’s We Are as Gods, a deep dive into the life of Stewart Brand, Bay Area icon and founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, as he continues to shape culture and technology through his progressive and unconventional approach to the environment and wildlife conservation.
The San Francisco International Film Festival kicks off on April 9, 2021. Check out these Latin American titles, and the entire lineup, at sffilm.org.
