Alanis by Anahí Berneri
The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Cinema Tropical announce the third annual edition of Neighboring Scenes, a 17-film showcase of recent Latin American cinema, celebrating two decades of an impressive cinematic reemergence in the region, which will take place February 28 - March 4 in New York City.
Featuring productions from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Mexico in their U.S. or New York premiere with eight filmmakers in attendance, this year's Neighboring Scenes is programmed by Carlos A. Gutiérrez, Executive Director of Cinema Tropical, and Cecilia Barrionuevo, Programmer of the Mar del Plata Film Festival,
This year’s lineup includes the international premiere of a new restoration of Pizza, Beer, and Cigarettes (1998), celebrating its 20th anniversary. Bruno Stagnaro and Adrián Caetano’s landmark film, which follows a pair of less than talented thieves, launched the New Argentine Cinema movement that has continued inspiring Latin American filmmakers for generations.
Highlighting impressive recent productions from across the region, this selective slate of premieres exhibits the breadth of styles, techniques, and approaches employed by Latin American filmmakers today. Neighboring Scenes spans a wide geographic range, featuring established auteurs as well as fresh talent from the international festival scene. “This year’s selection playfully breaks away from traditional notions of national cinema, as many of the featured filmmakers are working in places other than their countries of origin,” says co-programmer Barrionuevo.
Opening night offers the U.S. premiere of Anahí Berneri’s award-winning Alanis, an unflinching portrait of a young mother eking out a living as a prostitute in Buenos Aires. Unfolding over the course of three days, Berneri’s “quietly radical” (Variety) fifth film explores the challenges of urban life as an immigrant woman, and is anchored by Sofía Gala’s fearless performance.
Other highlights in this year’s lineup include such festival favorites as Niles Atallah’s formally daring Rey, which won the Special Jury Prize at Rotterdam; Santiago Mitre’s political thriller The Summit, an Un Certain Regard selection from Cannes, featuring an impressive international cast; and Fellipe Barbosa’s around-the-world travelogue Gabriel and the Mountain, a two-time prizewinner at Cannes Critics’ Week.
The festival also features documentaries about Mexican fishermen (Ruins, Your Realm), showgirls of the ’70s and ’80s (Beauties of the Night), and the colonialist history of Easter Island (Solitary Land); adaptations of Dostoevsky (António, One, Two, Three) and Hans Christian Andersen (The Little Match Girl); and a number of debut features including visual artist Adrián Villar Rojas’s The Theater of Disappearance, a cinematic reimagining of his acclaimed Metropolitan Museum of Art rooftop installation.
