Venice Classics, the section of the Italian film festival dedicated to the world premiere of the best recent restorations of film classics, has announced the screening of two restored Latin American films as part of its 2019 lineup: The 1955 Mexican film The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz / Ensayo de un crimen by Luis Buñuel and the 1966 Cuban film The Death of a Bureaucrat / La muerte de un burócrata by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea.
Starring Ernesto Alonso, Miroslava, and Rita Macedo, The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz tells the story of wealthy Archibaldo, who is a potential serial killer. This might be the result of a childhood incident: his governess caught him trying on some of his mother's clothes and scolded him. He wished the governess dead, and she was immediately killed by a stray bullet from a revolution raging outside the window. Conflating violent death with sexual desire, the adult Archibaldo plots to murder numerous women, but his elaborate schemes are constantly thwarted. Buñuel’s film has been restored by the Cineteca Nacional México in collaboration with the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Producción Cinematográfica.
The Death of a Bureaucrat, presented as a joint restoration between the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Archive) and Cinemateca de Cuba, follows a young man in his attempt to fight the system in an entertaining account of bureaucracy amok and the tyranny of red tape.
The 76th Venice International Film Festival will be held on the Lido from August 28 to September 7, 2019,
