Horizon by César Augusto Acevedo
The San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) begins this Thursday, April 17, showcasing various productions from Latin America, including films directed by filmmakers from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Panama, and Mexico.
Aiming to ensure independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive, SFFILM connects and inspires audiences, students and teachers, and filmmakers through film exhibitions, youth education, and artist development programs. This year's program includes thirteen bold cinematic statements from US Latinx and Latin America that represent groundbreaking filmmaking.
Six Latin American films —from Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Panama, and Mexico— and a U.S. Latinx feature are vying for this year’s Cine Latino Award, the competitive section co-presented by Cinema Tropical: Horizon / Horizonte by César Augusto Acevedo, Beloved Tropic / Querido trópico by Ana Endara, The Best Mother in the World / A melhor mãe do mundo by Anna Muylaert, The Last First Time / El fin de las primeras veces by Rafael Ruiz Espejo, Rains Over Babel / Llueve sobre Babel by Gala del Sol, The Hyperboreans / Los hiperbóreos by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña, and Mad Bills to Pay (Or Destiny, dile que no soy malo).
Horizon is a visually transcendent cinematic reverie that explores a mother and son, both ghosts, remorse as they reckon with their own transgressions during the decades-long conflict in Colombia. Only through great sacrifice will they mend the fragile bonds that bind them and perhaps find redemption.
Beloved Tropic, the subtle and atmospheric debut narrative film by documentarian Ana Endara, provides a window into the carefully observed relationship between two seemingly disparate women. Set in Panama City and starring acclaimed Chilean actress Paulina García (Gloria), Beloved Tropic explores the evolving relationship between two dissimilar lonely souls who form a touching and unexpected bond.
Brazilian director director Marianna Brennand makes a stunning narrative debut with Manas, a sobering drama inspired by 10 years of research into the struggles of women living on Marajó Island in the Amazon rainforest. Thirteen-year-old Tielle’s life seems carefree, although she misses an older sister who abandoned rural life for Rio. But appearances can be deceiving, as the area’s dense vegetation hides a dark family secret. A gripping story of the loss of innocence.
A teenager from a small Mexican town experiences firsts in love and sex during a trip away from home in Rafael Ruiz Espejo’s erotically charged first feature The Last First Time. At a college entrance exam in Guadalajara, Eduardo meets Mario and falls fast for the more sophisticated youth. In this cinematic coming-of-age story. The Last First Time is filled with angst and wonder as Eduardo finds himself through his drunken day in a new city.
Set in a retro-futuristic, queer tropical-punk twist on Dante’s Inferno, Rains Over Babel by Gala de Sol follows a group of misfits converging at Babel, a legendary dive bar that doubles as purgatory. Presiding over this liminal space is La Flaca—the city’s Grim Reaper—who challenges souls to gamble years of their lives in a daring bid to outwit Death Herself.
In The Hyperborean, actress and psychologist Antonia Giesen decides to film a script revealed by a voice within the mind of one of her patients. Seeking collaboration with the filmmaking duo León & Cociña, they craft a crossroads of theatre, science fiction, animation, and fabulated biopic, populated by parallel worlds and haunted by the shadow of a Chilean Nazi writer as a demonic figure.
In Mad Bills to Pay (Or Destiny, dile que no soy malo), Rico’s carefree Bronx summer is filled with chasing girls and selling homemade cocktails at Orchard Beach. But when his teenage girlfriend Destiny moves in with his family, his life spirals out of control. With the characters shifting rapidly between English and Spanish, director Joel Alfonso Vargas has crafted a debut of great verisimilitude and empathy.
I Dreamed His Name by Colombian filmmaker Ángela Carabalí will participate in the Documentary Competition. Through powerful and poetic storytelling, the film follows the director and her sister Juliana as they traverse Colombia’s Indigenous farmlands to investigate the disappearance of their father. Thirty years ago, the Afro-Latino farmer became a victim of the violence enveloping the country during a period of civil unrest. Now, as Ángela and Juliana probe their missing parent’s story, they encounter others who lost family members in similar circumstances.
Screening in the Family Friendly section of the festival, Hola, Frida!, directed by André Kadi and Karine Vézina, recreates the early life of Frida Kahlo with the brightness and whimsy of her famous oeuvre alongside some unexpected plot points. Through dazzling animation, the film portrays the artist's childhood in her hometown of Coyoacán, Mexico, where her interest in art and creativity begins.
The “World Cinema” section of the festival will present the Argentine film Magic Farm by Amalia Ulman, as a special SFFILM member screening. The film follows a media company’s inept crew as they travel to Argentina to profile a local musician but end up in the wrong country. As they collaborate with locals to fabricate a trend, unexpected connections form, all while a looming health crisis remains unacknowledged.
Having its North American premiere in the New Directors competition, Ernesto Martínez Bucio's The Devil Smokes / El diablo fuma tells the story of five siblings fending for themselves in the wake of parental abandonment. Employing an impressively diverse style with home movie footage that reflects the increasingly claustrophobic tension in a 1990s Mexican household. While the country eagerly awaits the second visit of Pope John Paul II, the Palacios López family wrangles with a different visitation, real or imagined.
Olivia & the Clouds / Olivia & las nubes, the directorial debut of Dominican filmmaker Tomás Pichardo Espaillat, will have its Bay Area premiere at the “Narratives: International” section of the festival. A poetic exploration of love, loss, and memory, the film follows the interconnected stories of Olivia, Ramón, Bárbara, and Mauricio as they struggle to relate to one another without fully understanding each other. This experimental animated film won Best Feature Film Award at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Junior Jury Award at the Locarno International Film Festival.
The 68th edition of the SFFILM will take place April 17–27, 2025 in San Francisco, California.
