Cinema Tropical, in partnership with Museum of the Moving Image, is proud to present the 2016 edition of the Cinema Tropical Festival celebrating the year's best Latin American film productions. The Cinema Tropical Festival will feature the winners of the 6th Cinema Tropical Awards that were announced at a special ceremony at The New York Times Company headquarters few weeks ago.
These winning films represent the vitality and the artistic excellence of contemporary Latin American cinema, and the festival offers a great platform for local audiences to discover the renewed and exciting world of the film production coming out from the region.
All screenings at: MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE 36-01 35 Avenue, Astoria, NY (718) 777-6888 / www.movingimage.us
Friday, February 26, 7pm | Buy Tickets MALA MALA (Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini, USA/Puerto Rico, 87 min. In Spanish and English with English subtitles) Winner - Best U.S. Latino Film
The critically acclaimed Mala Mala explores the intimate moments, performances, friendships and activism of trans identifying people, drag queens and others who defy typical gender identities in Puerto Rico. The film features Ivana, an activist; Soraya, an older sex-change pioneer; Sandy, a prostitute looking to make a change; and Samantha and Paxx, both of whom struggle with the quality of medical resources available to assist in their transition. Hailed as "sensitive and thoughtful” by the New York Times and winner of the audience award for documentary film at the Tribeca Film Festival, Mala Mala affirms that the quest to find oneself can be both difficult and beautiful. A Strand Releasing release. Q&A with filmmakers, reception to follow .
Saturday, February 27, 12:30pm | Buy Tickets INVASIÓN (Abner Benaim, Panama/Argentina, 2014, 93 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) New York Premiere Winner – Best Documentary
Using reenactments and interviews, filmmaker Abner Benaim documents the collective memory -as well as the selective amnesia- of his fellow Panamanians around the 1989 U.S. invasion to overthrow General Manuel Noriega. The lives of the people of the Central American nation were deeply shaken by the American military incursion. Invasion–Panama’s first film to be submitted for the Best Foreign Language Oscar– is a witty and engaging documentary that talks about the perils of sovereignty, democracy and endangered virtues of today’s ultra-capitalist world. The film not only explores the mechanisms in which memory is turned into history, but holds a mirror to the present to show how the recent past shapes the current Panama.
Saturday, February 27, 3pm | Buy Tickets IXCANUL (Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala/France, 2015, 93 min. In Kaqchikel and Spanish with English subtitles) Winner – Best First Film
Winner of the Berlinale’s Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize–the top honor ever won by a Central American film–Ixcanul marks the auspicious debut of Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante. The film follows María (played by María Mercedes Coroy), a 17-year-old Mayan girl who lives and works in a coffee plantation that sits at the base of an active volcano in Guatemala. Although Maria dreams of going to the 'big city,' her condition as an indigenous woman does not permit her to change her destiny, and an arranged wedding is waiting for her. A snake bite forces her to go out into the modern world where her life is saved, but at a steep price. Ixcanul is a beautiful and poignant meditation on the clash between tradition and modernity. A Kino Lorber release..
Saturday, February 27, 5pm | Buy Tickets EL INCENDIO | THE FIRE (Juan Schnitman, Argentina, 2015, 95 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) New York Premiere Nominated – Best First Film
On the way to closing the contract on their first home, Lucía and Marcelo withdraw a hundred thousand dollars in cash from their bank. The seller can’t make it to the signing and it gets postponed to the next day. Frustrated, they head back to their old place and put the money away. The next 24 hours will unveil the true nature of their love, the crisis they are in, and the violence within themselves. “A riveting chamber piece of subtle shifts and evenhanded power struggles (Variety), Schnitman’s debut feature film was the winner of the Best Film Award at the Transylvania Film Festival.
Saturday, February 27, 7pm | Buy Tickets VIDEOFILIA (Y OTROS SÍNDROMES VIRALES) | VIDEOPHILIA (AND OTHER VIRAL SYNDROMES) (Juan Daniel F. Molero, Peru/USA, 2015, 102 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) U.S. Premiere Nominated – Best First Film
The first Peruvian film to ever win the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival, Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes) follows Luz, a teenage misfit from Lima who meets online Junior, a weird slacker who is obsessed with conspiracy theories, Mayan prophecies of the end of the world, and underground porn. They try to hook up in the real life but supernatural events start to unfold to guide their destinies. Set in Lima, Juan Daniel F. Molero’s exhilarating debut fiction film is a playful mashup of internet cafes, slackers, not-so-innocent schoolgirls, amateur porn, Google Glass, acid trips and guinea pigs as extras in an exorcism. Q&A with filmmaker.
Sunday, February 28, 4:30pm | Buy Tickets JAUJA (Lisandro Alonso, Argentina/Denmark/France/Mexico, 2014, 108 min. In Danish and Spanish with English subtitles) Winner – Best Fiction Film
An astonishingly beautiful and gripping Western starring Viggo Mortensen, Jauja begins in a remote outpost in Patagonia during the late 1800s. Captain Gunnar Dinesen has come from abroad with his fifteen year-old daughter to take an engineering job with the Argentine army. Being the only female in the area, Ingeborg creates quite a stir among the men. She falls in love with a young soldier, and one night they run away together. When Dinesen realizes what has happened, he decides to venture into enemy territory, against his men’s wishes, to find the young couple. Featuring a superb performance from Mortensen, Jauja (the name suggests a fabled city of riches sought by European explorers) is the story of a man’s desperate search for his daughter, a solitary quest that takes him to a place beyond time, where the past vanishes and the future has no meaning. A Cinema Guild release. .
Designed with the goal of fomenting critical dialogue while serving as both an educational and promotional tool, the TropiChat series is a ground-breaking multi-platform project that combines interactive public events with traditional television programming and innovative web content.
The first component of the TropiChat series are the public events, presented in collaboration with some of New York's finest cultural institutions, they feature informal conversations between Latin American filmmakers covering a broad range of topics—from the work of a particular director to pressing issues facing the industry—while encouraging audience participation and interaction.
To date, Cinema Tropical has worked in collaboration with the New Museum, the Americas Society, the King Juan Carlos I Center at New York University, and The Museum of Modern Art, assuring access to a diverse audience and allowing increased exposure for both the participants and collaborating institutions.
Each TropiChat event features a renowned Latin American filmmakers working at the vanguard of national industries in the region. So far we've presented Argentinean directors Martín Rejtman (The Magic Gloves) and Daniel Burman (The Empty Nest), Mexican director Fernando Eimbcke (Lake Tahoe) as well as Brazilian director Bruno Barreto (Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands) and documentary master Eduardo Coutinho (Edifício Master).
In an effort to foster cross-cultural dialogue and deepen the connections between the Anglo- and Latin American industries, recent TropiChats have also featured North American directors such as Ira Sachs(Forty Shades of Blue; Married Life) and film scholars such as Gavin Smith, editor of Film Comment.
TropiChat: Latin-o-American
Presented as part of the 14th edition of the Havana Film Festival in New York
Monday, April 15, 2013, 8pm Instituto Cervantes 211 East 49th Street, New York City http://nyork.cervantes.es/ / (212) 308-7720
A special edition of the TropiChat series featuring four accomplished Latino filmmakers living in New York City. The discussion, moderated by Cinema Tropical's Carlos A. Gutiérrez, will focus on the opportunities and limitations for Latino artists in the U.S. and in Latin America.
Participants:
Roberto Busó-García was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He has written, directed and produced six short films, a dramatic mini-series and two feature-length films for more than 18 years. He has served as a member of the jury of the Colombia and Puerto Rico Film Funds, the New York International Latino Film Festival, the American Black Film Festival and the Puerto Rico International Film Festival. In 2012 he premiered his debut feature Los condenados / The Condemned, which had a theatrical run in Puerto Rico and more recently in New York and Los Angeles, distributed by Strand Releasing. He worked as a film acquisitions executive in New York and was responsible for bringing award-winning Spanish-language shows like "Epitafios" to US audiences through HBO.
Paola Mendoza, was named one of Filmmaker Magazine 25 New Faces of Independent Film. She was most recently tapped to write and direct the film Half of Her for ITVS. She also helmed the documentary La Toma, which was commissioned by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Tribeca Film Institute. Mendoza made her narrative directorial debut with Entre Nos, which had its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival where it was awarded Honorable Mention and it went on to win over ten awards at film festivals around the world. Mendoza also directed the feature length documentary Autumn's Eyes, which made its world premier at the SXSW Film Festival. Mendoza most recently finished writing her debut novel entitled The Ones Who Don't Stay which will be published by Penguin Books in the Spring of 2013.
Bernardo Ruiz was born in Mexico, but grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He studied documentary photography with Joel Sternfeld at Sarah Lawrence College. For the past decade has worked as a journeyman director/producer for a variety of media outlets, including PBS, National Geographic, Planet Green and MTV, among others. In 2007, he founded Quiet Pictures in order to make independent documentaries. His debut film through Quiet was a commission, American Experience: Roberto Clemente (PBS, 2008) winner of the Alma Award for Outstanding Made for Television Documentary. Reportero is Ruiz's first documentary feature.
Argentine-born, New York-based writer, director and producer Julia Solomonoff holds an MFA in Film from Columbia University (where she currently teaches Film Directing). Hermanas, her debut feature film, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2005. Her most recent feature film is El último verano de la boyita / The Last Summer of La Boyita. She also has written and directed five short films—which have earned her prestigious awards from the DGA and FIPRESCI. In addition to her own work, she has collaborated with such well-regarded directors as Luis Puenzo, Carlos Sorín, and Martin Rejtman, and worked as First Assistant Director on Walter Salles’ The Motorcycle Diaries. Also the producer of numerous documentaries in Latin America, such as Alejandro Landes' Cocalero, Julia co-produced Brazilian director Julia Murat’s debut film Found Memories.
TropiChat: Film as Social Change, the Case of Rio's Favelas
Presented in partnership with VOCES, Latino Heritage Network of the New York Times Company Sponsored by Ketel One Vodka. Media Sponsor: BrazilNYC Presented as part of Premiere Brazil! 2012 organized by the Museum of Modern Art and the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival.
The New York Times 15th Floor Conference Center July 16, 2012
As part of the 10th anniversary of Premiere Brazil! organized by The Museum of Modern Art and the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, Cinema Tropical and VOCES, the Latino Heritage Network of The New York Times Company, present a special roundtable with the directors of 5 x Favela: Now by Ourselves and 5 x Pacificação (Peace), and special guests.
The directors, all of them active members of their communities who have been involved in different stages with social operations in their favelas: Cidade de Deus, Complexo do Alemão, Vidigal and Vigario Geral, will be discussing and debating the recent operation of UPP (Pacifying Police Units), a new concept elaborated and implemented by José Mariano Beltrame, the Secretary of Security for the State of Rio de Janeiro. It is a major operation carefully orchestrated so that each favela would be rid of drug dealers and have installed a new police unit, capable of connecting and be closer to the favela citizens.
This was an operation being held over the last year and a half which made news all over the world. It is meant to change the image of Rio, as well as the conditions of life and security in the city at large, also offering the communities the possibility of integration and empowerment.
Panelists: Carlos Diegues, producer; Luciano Vidigal, filmmaker; Rodrigo Felha, filmmaker; José Beltrame, Security Secretary, State of Rio de Janeiro. Moderator: Larry Rohter, The New York Times
TropiChat: Pedro González-Rubio
Presented in partnership with King Juan Carlos I Center at NYU and Reverse Shot
King Juan Carlos I Center at NYU May 12, 2011
TropiChat presents a talk with Mexican filmmaker Pedro González-Rubio (Toro Negro, co-director; Alamar) interviewed by film journalist and curator Damon Smith. They discuss González-Rubio filmography, as well as the opportunities and challenges in filmmaking, within the context of the resurgence of Latin American cinema.
Presented as part of the film series 'In Focus: Cinema Tropical' (May 5 –16), organized by The Museum of Modern Art.
Pedro González-Rubio is a Mexican filmmaker born in Brussels. His initiation to visual arts came at the age of 16 while living in New Delhi. He studied media in Mexico before attending the London Film School. He worked as a cinematographer on the film Nacido sin (Born Without, 2007) by Eva Norvind. His directorial debut, Toro Negro (2005, co-director), received several awards including the Horizontes Award for Best Latin American film from the San Sebastian Film Festival and the Best Documentary Award at the Morelia Film Festival. Alamar is his feature film debut, which nonetheless remains true to real life. The film has won numerous awards including the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival, The Jury Award for Best Iberoamerican Film at the Miami Film Festival and the Best Film Prize at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival.
Damon Smith is a New York-based film journalist and curator. He has written features, profiles, and reviews for Time Out New York, The Boston Globe, Reverse Shot, Senses of Cinema, Bright Lights Film Journal, The Boston Phoenix, Cinema Scope, and many other publications. Currently the Head of Curation/Story R&D at Thought Engine Media Group, he is also a biweekly columnist at Filmmaker Magazine, co-producer of the Reverse Shot Talkies/Direct Address video-interview series, and the editor, most recently, of Michael Winterbottom: Interviews (University Press of Mississippi, 2010)
Additional support provided by The Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative and the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York. Special thanks to Laura Turégano and Sumie García.
TropiChat: Lourdes Portillo and Natalia Almada
Presented in partnership with the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP)
NALIP Conference April 13, 2011
Few weeks ago filmmakers Lourdes Portillo and Natalia Almada joined for a public conversation as part of the 12th edition of the annual conference of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), that took place in Newport Beach, California. The conversation was titled as"Identity & Aesthetics: Creative Choices Based on Cultural Background" with the aim at looking at how one's culture affects an artist's point of view and vision. The discussion was centered on the effects of culture, and how one express oneself through one's media work.
The occasion was a great opportunity for both groundbreaking filmmakers to share perspectives and opinions. The conversation was moderated by Carlos A. Gutiérrez, co-founding director of Cinema Tropical.
Click here to hear the podcast.
TropiChat: Patricio Guzmán
Presented in partnership with Americas Society
Americas Society March 17, 2011
Legendary Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán engages in a conversation with Gabriela Rangel (Director of Visual Arts, Americas Society) and Carlos A. Gutiérrez (Co-Founder and Director, Cinema Tropical) on the subject of Guzmán's documentary practice and his most recent film Nostalgia for the Light, winner of the prize as Best Documentary at the European Film Academy Award.
Patricio Guzmán was born in Santiago, Chile. He studied documentary filmmaking while attending the Official Cinematography School in Madrid. Guzmán is renowned for his long and impressive career as a documentary filmmaker, most notably for his film La batalla de Chile, a four and 1/2 hour documentary on the end of Salvador Allende's government. The film was nominated by Cineaste magazine as "one of the ten best political films in the world." Guzmán is founder and director of the International Documentary Festival of Santiago (FIDOCS). He also currently teaches documentary film classes in Europe and Latin America. For more information on Patricio Guzmán click here.
Nostalgia for the Light. For his new film Guzmán travels 10,000 feet above sea level to the driest desert on earth for this remarkable documentary. Here, the sky is so translucent that it allows astronomers to see the boundaries of our universe. Yet the Atacama Desert climate also keeps human remains intact: pre-Columbian mummies; explorers and miners; and the remains of disappeared political prisoners. Women sift the desert soil for the bones of their loved ones, while archaeologists uncover traces of ancient civilizations and astronomers examine the most distant and oldest galaxies. Melding celestial and earthly quests, Nostalgia for the Light is a gorgeous, moving, and deeply personal odyssey. For more information on the film click here.
Special thanks to Icarus Films, Jonathan Miller, Livia Bloom, and Sumie García.
TropiChat: Sebastián Silva interviewed by Dennis Lim
Presented in partnership with VOCES, Latino Heritage Network of the New York Times Company
The New York Times, 15th Floor Conference Center October 14, 2010
Sebastián Silva (born in Santiago Chile in 1979) is a multifaceted artist whose body of work includes painting, illustration and popular music. After graduating from Catholic school in Santiago, Silva studied filmmaking at the Escuela de Cine de Chile for a year before leaving to study animation in Montreal. While eking out a living selling shoes, Silva mounted the first gallery exhibition of his illustrations and started his band CHC who have since gone on to record three albums. Silva's second illustration show brought him in contact with Hollywood but a frustrating period in Los Angeles spent pitching to Steven Spielberg and others netted no tangible results. Fleeing Hollywood, Silva initiated two more musical projects, "Yaia" and "Los Mono", both picked up for distribution by Sonic360 and released in the US and the UK, and exhibited his art work in New York while writing the script for what would become his first feature La Vida me mata. Back in Chile, Silva recorded a solo album and directed La Vida me mata. Released in 2007, the film was a critical success, garnering multiple awards including Best Film from the Chilean Critics Circle. Setting aside a script based on his disastrous trip to Hollywood, Silva wrote and directed La nana / The Maid in February of 2008. His second feature film won numerous prizes internationally including the 2009 Sundance Film Festival's World Cinema Jury Prize Dramatic and World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Acting, and was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Foreign Language Film. His new film Gatos viejos / Old Cats (co-directed with Pedro Peirano) just had its World premiere in the 48th edition of the New York Film Festival.
Dennis Lim is a New York based critic and editor. He is the founding editor of Moving Image Source, the online publication and research resource of the Museum of the Moving Image. He writes regularly for The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, and was a film critic at The Village Voice from 1998 to 2006, as well as its film editor from 2000 to 2006. He is also the editor of The Village Voice Film Guide (Wiley, 2006). A member of the National Society of Film Critics, he is currently a member of the New York Film Festival selection committee and he teaches in the Cultural Reporting and Criticism graduate program at New York University.
TropiChat: Latin-O-American with Natalia Almada, Alex Rivera and Cruz Ángeles
Presented in partnership with NALIP-NY.
Presented as part of Latinbeat 09 organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
The Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center September 10, 2009
Natalia Almada owns Altamura Films, an independent documentary film production company, and is a freelance documentary film editor. She has been a Fellow of the New York Foundation for the Arts and of the MacDowell Colony. Her work has been supported by the Guggenheim Foundation, Creative Capital and the Sundance Institute. A native of Mexico who spent her childhood on both sides of the border, Almada received an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. She lives and works in both Mexico City and Brooklyn, New York.
Cruz Ángeles was born in Mexico City and raised in South Central Los Angeles. His feature film directorial debut, Don't Let Me Drown, premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival in competition for the Grand Jury Prize and garnered enthusiastic reviews. The film won the Audience Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Lee Marvin Best Feature Narrative Award and the James Lyons Award for Best Editing at the Woodstock Film Festival. Cruz was recently nominated for a Gotham Award in the Breakthrough Director category.
Alex Rivera is a New York based digital media artist and filmmaker. His first feature film, Sleep Dealer, premiered at Sundance 2008, and won two awards, including the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Rivera is a Sundance Fellow and a Rockefeller Fellow. His work, which addresses concerns of the Latino community through a language of humor, satire, and metaphor, has also been screened at The Berlin International Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, The Guggenheim Museum, PBS, Telluride, and other international venues.
TropiChat: Fernando Eimbcke interviewed by Gavin Smith
Presented in partnership with the New Museum, Film Movement and the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York.
The New Museum July 11, 2009
Fernando Eimbcke was born in Mexico City in 1970, and completed his cinematography studies in 1996 at the Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos. His work includes several short films and music videos. In 2004, he wrote and directed his first feature film Temporada de patos (Duck season), which was featured in the 43rd Critics' Week at Cannes 2004, and nearly ninety international festivals. Co-written with Paula Markovitch, his most recent film, Lake Tahoe, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and has won numerous awards internationally.
Gavin Smith is the editor of the Film Comment Magazine.
Eduardo Coutinho is one of Brazil's greatest documentary filmmakers who is highly regarded for his formally distinguished and innovative style. His influential works highlight the storytelling abilities of ordinary people in films of rare beauty and impact. Coutinho's favorite theme throughout his filmography has been the investigation of the fine line between fiction and reality. He has received numerous awards for his documentaries, which include Twenty Years Later - Man Labeled to Die, (1964/1984), filmed over a period of two decades, Master, a Building in Copacabana (2002), Babilônia 2000 (2000), Metalworkers (2004),The End and the Beginning (2005) and Playing (2006). His screenwriting credits include Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976). Premiere Brazil includes a retrospective of eight seminal works by Coutinho including the world premiere of his most recent film Moscou (2009).
Bruno Barreto has been making feature-length films since he was seventeen years old and remains one of Brazil's most accomplished and popular directors. Son of producers Luiz Carlos and Lucy Barreto he made his directing debut with Tati, Brazil's official entry at the 1973 Moscow Film Festival and was 22 when he scored an international hit with Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands (1977), a comedy based on the Jorge Amado novel starring Sonia Braga. Barreto's English-language directorial debut, the political thriller A Show of Force (1990), was followed by Carried Away (1996), starring Amy Irving and Dennis Hopper. In 1997 Barreto made Four Days in September, a film about the 1969 kidnapping of the US Ambassador to Brazil, Charles Elbrick (Alan Arkin) which was nominated for an Academy Award Best Foreign Film. In Brazil his romantic comedy Bossa Nova (2000), also starring Irving, was followed by The Marriage of Romeo and Juliet (2005) and Caixa Dois (2007). Premiere Brazil is presenting the New York premiere of his most recent film Last Stop 174 (2008) based on the real life tragedy of the 2000 hijacking of bus 174 in Rio de Janeiro.
Photos by Ana Bernstein.
Special thanks to Mariela Hardy and Gabriela Rangel (Americas Society), Jytte Jensen (The Museum of Modern Art) and Ilda Santiago (Rio Film Festival).
TropiChat: Daniel Burman interviewed by Ira Sachs
Presented in partnership with NYU's King Juan Carlos I Center and sponsored by BOMB Magazine.
King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center at New York University March 9, 2009
Daniel Burman, born in Buenos Aires in 1973, is one of the central figures of today's New Argentine Cinema. He began his work as a filmmaker in 1993 with the documentary ¿En qué estación estamos? A couple of years later, he launched his own production company together with Diego Dubcovsky, BD CINE, and produced his first feature-length picture as director, Un crisantemo estalla en Cincoesquinas (A Chrysanthemum Burst in Cincoesquinas. His feature films Esperando al Mesías (Waiting for the Messiah), Todas las azafatas van al cielo (Every Stewardess Goes To Heaven), El abrazo partido (The Lost Embrace) and Derecho de familia (Family Law) have all successfully participated in the most important film festivals around the world including Berlin, Sundance, Toronto and Venice, and have garnered him numerous prizes. In 2004 he acted as co-producer of Walter Salles' acclaimed movie Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries), and his most recent film Empty Nest (El nido vacío) –starring Cecilia Roth (All About My Mother) and Oscar Martínez–about a married couple who try to redefine their relationship after their children grow, was released last spring in the U.S. by Outsider Pictures.
Ira Sach. His most recent film, Married Life, screened at the 2007 Toronto and New York Film Festivals and was released by Sony Pictures Classics on March 7th, 2008. His previous film, Forty Shades of Blue, received the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. His first feature, The Delta, was screened at the Toronto, Sundance and Rotterdam Film Festivals. Sachs was the recipient of the Emerging Talent Award at the 1997 Los Angeles Outfest and in 1999, was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship.
... .
Photos by Natalia Fidelholtz.
Special thanks to Paul Hudson (Outsider Pictures) and Steven Beeman (Falco Ink).
The first decade of the 21st century has witnessed an unexpected and astonishing film renaissance throughout Latin America. Largely influenced and inspired by the so-called New Argentine Cinema, and propelled by creative hybrid models of production, a young and enthusiastic generation of filmmakers is drastically changing how the region sees and represents itself on the big screen. Founded in 2001 by Carlos A. Gutiérrez and Monika Wagenberg, Cinema Tropical has played a major role in introducing U.S. audiences to this burgeoning Latin American cinema. The New York–based nonprofit media arts organization began distributing, programming, and promoting Latin American film at the outset of the biggest boom in Latin American cinema in decades, and this series presents standout examples by some of the region's most accomplished and innovative contemporary filmmakers.
Organized by Jytte Jensen, Curator, Department of Film, with special thanks to Mary Jane Marcasiano, Tatiana García, Amber Shields, and Mara Behrens.
Historias extraordinarias (Extraordinary Stories)
(Mariano Llinás, Argentina, 2008, 245 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Three unconnected tales featuring main characters known only as X, Z, and H, respectively, branch out into a labyrinth of plots and subplots in a vast narrative that moves from a small town in Argentina to Africa and back. Llinás's four-hour film is the single most accomplished work in recent Argentine cinema, an audacious celebration of the art of storytelling in cinema. With Walter Jakob, Agustín Mendilaharzu, Llinás.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011, 2:00pm (Introduced by Llinás); Thursday, May 5, 2011, 6:00pm (Introduced by Llinás); Friday, May 6, 2011, 3:00 pm; Saturday, May 7, 2011, 1:00pm; Sunday, May 8, 2011, 4:00pm; Monday, May 9, 2011, 4:00pm
Turistas
(Alicia Scherson, Chile, 2009, 105 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) After a heated argument on their way to vacation, Carla, a woman in her mid-30s, is ditched by her husband, so she decides to continue the trip by herself. She arrives at a lush National Park, where a series of incidents and encounters send on a personal adventure. Scherson's enticingly fresh take on the road movie is a resonant meditation on emotion. With Aline Kuppenheim, Marcelo Alonso, Diego Noguera.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011, 7:00pm (Introduced by Scherson); Saturday, May 14, 2011, 2:00pm (Introduced by Scherson)
Trópico de Cáncer (Tropic of Cancer)
(Eugenio Polgovsky, Mexico, 2004, 52 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) The powerful documentary Trópico de Cáncer is a meticulous account of the perilous conditions faced by a group of families living in the arid desert. In their quest for survival, they hunt animals to sell on the highway. Visually astonishing and with a surprising narrative drive, Polgovsky's documentary debut—along with his follow-up film The Inheritors—has established him as one of Mexico's most promising documentarians.
Thursday, May 5, 2011, 4:00pm; Saturday, May 14, 2011, 2:00pm
Copacabana
(Martín Rejtman, Argentina, 2007, 56 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Taking the annual celebration of the Virgin of Copacabana in a Bolivian neighborhood in Buenos Aires as its point of departure, Rejtman's first incursion into nonfiction filmmaking is a sober, meticulous portrait of Argentina's Bolivian community. Featuring minutely detailed mise-en-scène and minimal dialogue, Rejtman's work is playfully structured in reverse, as the film begins with the festivities, follows with the rehearsals, and ends with the immigrants' original journey from Bolivia.
Entrenamiento elemental para actores (Elementary Training for Actors)
(Martín Rejtman, Federico León, Argentina, 2009, 52 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Rejtman, a longtime Cinema Tropical favorite (the organization released his films Silvia Prieto and The Magic Gloves), is often referred to as the father of New Argentinean Cinema. In this sharp, witty featurette about a theater workshop for children lead by a fervent professor, Rejtman remains true to the deadpan minimalist humor that distinguishes his earlier work. With Fabián Arenillas, Ulises Bercovich, Luca Damperat.
Copacabana and Entrenamiento are shown together. Friday, May 6, 2011, 8:00pm (Introduced by Rejtman, New York premiere); Sunday, May 15, 2011, 5:30pm (New York premiere)
Toro negro
(Pedro González-Rubio, Carlos Armella, Mexico, 2005, 87 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Toro Negro delves deep into the life of Fernando Pacheco, a hapless young bullfighter who fights not in big arenas but at parties in small Mayan communities in the Yucatán Peninsula. Fernando is heartwarming and honest, but he's also an alcoholic, prone to violent outbursts and impulsive behavior. González-Rubio (director of the acclaimed Alamar) and Armella show Fernando's raw human passion and conflicts from a disturbingly intimate distance.
Saturday, May 7, 2011, 8:00pm; Friday, May 13, 2011, 7:00pm
25 Watts
(Pablo Stoll, Juan Pablo Rebella, Uruguay, 2001, 94 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of 25 Watts, Stoll and the late Rebella's debut, which consolidated Uruguay's influential role in the recent revitalization of Latin American cinema. A wry, fresh, and funny slacker comedy shot in black and white in Montevideo, 25 Watts launched Control Z Films, the production company created by Stoll, Rebella, and Fernando Epstein that initiated a prolific and exciting period for young Uruguayan filmmakers. With Daniel Hendler, Jorge Temponi, Alfonso Tort.
Sunday, May 8, 2011, 1:30 pm; Monday, May 16, 2011, 8:00 pm
Santiago
(João Moreira Salles, Brazil, 2006, 80 min. In English, Portuguese with English subtitles) The filmmaker interviews his family's remarkable Brazilian butler, a complex, cultured man adept in diplomatic missions and scholarly research. Presented in collaboration with Cinema Tropical and Tribeca Film Festival.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011, 6:00pm; Sunday, May 15, 2011, 3:30pm
Una semana solos (A Week Alone)
(Celina Murga, Argentina, 2008, 110 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Murga's follow-up to her acclaimed Ana and the Others follows a group of kids in a gated community in suburban Buenos Aires who are left alone while their parents are on holiday. Murga's film is a subtle exploration of class and childhood. With Natalia Gómez Alarcón, Manuel Aparicio, Mateo Braun.
Thursday, May 12, 2011, 4:30 pm (Introduced by Murga); Saturday, May 14, 2011, 8:00 pm (Introduced by Murga)
El vuelco del cangrejo (Crab Trap)
(Oscar Ruiz Navia, Colombia, 2009, 95 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Daniel, a mysterious man from the city, arrives in an isolated village on Colombia's Pacific coast and gets a temporary job to raise enough money to move on. During his stay, he encounters the local Afro-Colombian traditions and sees how they're challenged by recently arrived neighbors. Featuring stunningly beautiful cinematography, Navia's debut feature exemplifies the best of the up-and-coming Colombian cinema movement. With Rodrigo Vélez, Arnobio Salazar Rivas, Jaime Andrés Castaño.
Thursday, May 12, 2011, 8:00 pm; Monday, May 16, 2011, 4:00 pm
O ceu de Suely (Love for Sale/Suely in the Sky)
(Karim Aïnouz, Brazil, 2006, 88 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles) Aïnouz, one of the filmmakers at the forefront of contemporary Brazilian cinema, follows his internationally successful debut Madame Satã with a very different portrait of an indomitable survivor. Returning to her hometown in poverty-stricken northeastern Brazil, Hermila (Guedes) awaits the arrival of her boyfriend, but her spunk and zest for life take on an increasingly desperate edge when it becomes clear that he will not be coming. The director's major achievement is making the soulful decency of the townspeople and the rich colors of the empty landscape an integral part of the characterization of Hermila, who remains likeable despite even her most desperately miscalculated actions. With Hermila Guedes, Maria Menezes, Georgina Castro.
Friday, May 13, 2011, 4:30 pm; Sunday, May 15, 2011, 1:00 pm
Cinema Tropical, in partnership with Museum of the Moving Image, is proud to present the 2015 edition of the Cinema Tropical Festival celebrating the year's best Latin American film productions. The Cinema Tropical Festival will feature the winners of the 5th Cinema Tropical Awards that were announced at a special ceremony at The New York Times Company headquarters few days ago.
These winning films represent the vitality and the artistic excellence of contemporary Latin American cinema, and the festival offers a great platform for local audiences to discover the renewed and exciting world of the film production coming out from the region.
Special thanks to Alex García and Sandro Fiorin, FiGa Films; Richard Matson, Matson Films; Pascale Ramonda; Paulina Portela and Pablo Mazzola, OBRA Cine.
All screenings at: THE MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE 36-01 35 Avenue, Astoria, NY (718) 777-6888 / www.movingimage.us
Friday, February 6, 7pm | Buy Tickets EL LUGAR DEL HIJO | THE MILITANT (Manuel Nieto Zas, Uruguay/Argentina, 120 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Winner – Best Latin American Film of the Year
Co-produced by acclaimed Argentinean filmmaker Lisandro Alonso (Jauja), the second feature film by Uruguayan director Manuel Nieto Zas is "a powerful and thought-provoking film" (The Hollywood Reporter) and a poignant meditation on legacy. The film tells the story of Ariel (played by non-professional actor Felipe Dieste), a university student involved in militant leftist activism who is faced with some difficult decisions when his father suddenly dies, leaving him in charge of their troubled ranch and forcing him to take on the role of a middle class bourgeois. Set in 2002 –the year of a major financial crisis in the small South American nation– The Militant is “a cinematic essay on the grasp and the limits of activism” (Howard Feinstein, Screen Daily).
Saturday, February 7, 3pm | Buy Tickets PURGATORIO: A JOURNEY INTO THE HEART OF THE BORDER A film by Rodrigo Reyes (US/Mexico, 2013, 86 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Winner – Best U.S. Latino Film (ex aequo)
Hailed as an “exquisitely crafted film with poetic overtones and a wide sweeping vision” by documentary filmmaker Alan Berliner, Rodrigo Reyes’ provocative essay film reimagines the U.S./Mexico border as a mythical place comparable to Dante’s purgatory, and leaving politics aside, he takes a fresh look at the brutal beauty of the border and the people caught in its spell. By capturing a stunning mosaic of compelling characters and broken landscapes that live on the both sides of the border, Reyes –one of Filmmaker Magazine’s New Faces of Independent Cinema– reflects on the flaws of human nature and the powerful absurdities of the modern world. An unusual border film in the auteur tradition of caméra-stylo, Purgatorio ultimately becomes a fable of humanity, an epic and visceral experience with powerful and lingering images.
Saturday, February 7, 6pm | Buy Tickets LAS MARTHAS A film by Cristina Ibarra (US, 68 min. In Spanish and English with English subtitles) Winner – Best U.S. Latino Film (ex aequo) Q&A with filmmaker Cristina Ibarra
The annual debutante ball in Laredo, Texas is unlike any other in the country. In 1939, the Society of Martha Washington was founded to usher each year's debutantes (called "Marthas") into proper society at the Colonial Pageant and Ball. The girls' attendants also dress as figures from America's colonial history and participate in traditional ceremonies. The centerpiece of the festivities is the Martha Washington Pageant and Ball, when the girls are presented in elaborate dresses that take up to a year to create. Celebrated as “a striking alternative portrait of border-town life” (New York Times), Cristina Ibarra’s Las Marthas, follows two Mexican American girls carrying this gilded tradition on their shoulders during a time of economic uncertainty and tension over immigration.
Tuesday, February 25, 9pm | Buy Tickets LAS NIÑAS QUISPE | THE QUISPE GIRLS (Sebastián Sepúlveda, Chile/France/Argentina, 2013, 80 min. In Spanish with English subtitles). Winner - Best First Film
“In the remote, almost primeval world of a nearly isolated Chilean mountainscape in 1974, three goat-herding sisters survive, somewhat rootlessly after the death of a fourth sister. Pinochet’s rise to power is a distant echo, and the new dictator’s edict against herding threatens their meager livelihood. The aging matriarch, Justa, is suspicious of the clothing salesman who visits occasionally; the youngest sister, Luciana, holds on to her romantic desires. Using a mix of actors (including Catalina Saavedra from The Maid) and non-actors, including Digna Quispe, the real sisters’ niece, this mesmerizing film, based on a true and tragic story, tells an intimate tale against a stark yet magnificent landscape. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival as part of Critics’ Week.” – First Look
Tuesday, February 25, 9pm | Buy Tickets EL ROSTRO | THE FACE (Gustavo Fontán, Argentina, 2013, 64 min. In Spanish with English subtitles). New York Premiere. Winner – Best Director, Fiction Film
Directed by Gustavo Fontán –an accomplished Argentine filmmaker whose work is little known in this country– The Face is a lyrical and personal film shot in stunning black and white, where past and present, fiction and non-fiction mix together. A man who sails alone approaches an island on the Paraná River. Once he lands, he’s no longer alone. He shares a meal with another man –his father. There will also be a woman. And some kids. And nature, in the form of birds, plants, and the river, which is always present through its quietness and constant flowing. Fontán’s elegant and enigmatic feature film, was a selection of the Rome Film Festival, and was awarded the Best Director prize at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (BAFICI).
l.........................................With theSupport of:.................................. Media Sponsor:...............
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Cinema Tropical, in partnership with Village East Cinema, is proud to present the third annual edition of the Cinema Tropical Festival celebrating the year's best Latin American film productions. The Cinema Tropical Festival will feature the winners of the 4th Cinema Tropical Awards that were announced at a special ceremony at The New York Times Company headquarters few days ago.
These winning films represent the vitality and the artistic excellence of contemporary Latin American cinema, and the festival offers a great platform for local audiences to discover the renewed and exciting world of the film production coming out from the region.
The Cinema Tropical Festival is presented in partnership with Village East Cinema and VOCES, Latino Heritage Network of The New York Times Company. The Cinema Tropical Festival is sponsored by HBO and Hôtel Americano. Media Sponsors: Cinelatino, Remezcla, and LatAm Cinema. Community Partner: United Latino Professionals Social Network.
Special thanks to Cinema Guild, Strand Releasing, Film Movement, Taskovski Films, and Icarus Films.
All screenings at:
VILLAGE EAST CINEMA
189 Second Avenue (at 12th Street), New York City (212) 529-6998 / www.villageeastcinema.com / Tickets: $14
Monday, February 24, 7pm | Buy Tickets TANTA AGUA (Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, Uruguay, 102 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Winner – Best First Film Intro by Co-Producer Tania Zarak
What could be worse than being 14 and on vacation with your father, stuck indoors during a seemingly endless rainstorm? Alberto and his two children, Lucia and Federico, set off to a hot springs resort for a short vacation. Alberto, who doesn't see his kids much since the divorce, refuses to allow anything to ruin his plans. But the springs are closed until further notice due to heavy rains, and Lucia's adolescent rebellion clashes against her father's enthusiastic efforts for family quality time. Winner of multiple awards at different international film festivals, the debut feature film by the directing duo of Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, extends the artistry of recent Uruguayan cinema.
Monday, February 24, 9pm | Buy Tickets LA CHICA DEL SUR / THE GIRL FROM THE SOUTH A film by José Luis García (Argentina, 2012) Winner for Best Director (Documentary)
Chance took photographer and filmmaker José Luis García to North Korea in July 1989 to attend the International Youth and Student Festival in Pyongyang, soon after the Tian’anmen massacre. But what seemed to be just another meeting of socialist delegations from all over the world –through one of the most impenetrable borders of the old communist world– becomes García’s obsession when South Korean peace activist Im Su-kyong shows up and revolutionizes the event by announcing she will cross the border by foot to go back to her country. Twenty years after recording that fascinating period with his Super VHS camera, García decides to go back through the footsteps of that enigmatic woman. Zigzagging and explosive, La chica del sur is marked by a unique life in the middle of the hurricane of history, but also by the eye –and a voice reflecting on its own process– of a filmmaker who sees in one character the condensation of everything he believes to be worth filming.
Tuesday, February 25, 7pm | Buy Tickets WONDER WOMEN! THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN SUPERHEROINES (Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, US, 2012, 65 min. In English) Winner – Best U.S. Latino Film (ex aequo) Intro by Producer Kelcey Edwards
Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines traces the fascinating evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman. From the birth of the comic book superheroine in the 1940s to the blockbusters of today, Wonder Women! looks at how popular representations of powerful women often reflect society’s anxieties about women’s liberation. Wonder Women! goes behind the scenes with Lynda Carter, Lindsay Wagner, comic writers and artists, and real-life superheroines such as Gloria Steinem, Kathleen Hanna and others, who offer an enlightening and entertaining counterpoint to the male-dominated superhero genre.
Tuesday, February 25, 9pm | Buy Tickets MOSQUITA Y MARI (Aurora Guerrero, US, 2012, 86 min. In English) Winner – Best U.S. Latino Film (ex aequo)
Mosquita y Mari, Aurora Guerrero's assured directorial debut and a Sundance official selection, is a coming of age story that focuses on a tender friendship between two young Chicanas. Yolanda and Mari are growing up in Huntington Park, Los Angeles and have only known loyalty to one thing: family. When Mari moves in across the street from Yolanda, they maintain their usual life routine, until an incident at school thrusts them into a friendship and into unknown territory. As their friendship grows, a yearning to explore their strange yet beautiful connection surfaces. Lost in their private world of unspoken affection, lingering gazes, and heart-felt confessions of uncertain futures, Yolanda's grades begin to slip while Mari's focus drifts away from her duties at a new job. Mounting pressures at home collide with their new-found connection, forcing them to choose between their obligations to others and staying true to themselves.
Wednesday, February 26, 7pm | Buy Tickets EL ALCALDE / THE MAYOR (Emiliano Altuna, Carlos F. Rossini, and Diego Osorno, Mexico, 2012, 81 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Winner – Best Documentary
Winner of the Best Documentary prize at the Cartagena and the Baja Film Festivals, El alcalde is an engrossing portrait of Mexican millionaire Mauricio Fernandez, a larger-than-life and frequently controversial politician who is the mayor of Latin America's wealthiest municipality. He presents himself as an active ruler who is capable of cleaning his municipality of the drug cartels presence without questioning the methods he uses to achieve it. El alcalde describes the wild times of a country that is marked by violence and the complete discredit of the ruling class.
Wednesday, February 26, 9pm | Buy Tickets POST TENEBRAS LUX (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Germany/Netherlands, 2012, 155 min. In Spanish, English, and French, with English subtitles) Winner – Best Director (Fiction Film)
"Post Tenebras Lux ("light after darkness") is a new autobiographical feature from acclaimed director Carlos Reygadas (Silent Light), winner of the Best Director prize at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Ostensibly the story of an upscale, urban family whose move to the Mexican countryside results in domestic crises and class friction, it’s a stunningly photographed, impressionistic psychological portrait of a family and their place within the sublime, unforgiving natural world. Reygadas conjures a host of unforgettable, ominous images: a haunting sequence at dusk as Reygadas’s real-life daughter wanders a muddy field as farm animals loudly circle and thunder and lightning threaten; a glowing-red demon gliding through the rooms of a home; a husband and wife visiting a swingers’ bathhouse with rooms named after famous philosophers. By turns entrancing and mystifying, Post Tenebras Lux palpably explores the primal conflicts of the human condition." – Film Forum
Thursday, February 27, 7pm – Q&A with filmmaker | Buy Tickets VIOLA (Matías Piñeiro, Argentina, 2012, 65 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Winner – Best Fiction Film
Directed by Matías Piñeiro, one of Argentina's most sensuous and daring new voices, Viola is a mystery of romantic entanglements and intrigues among a troupe of young actors in a small theater in Buenos Aires performing Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." Acclaimed by the New York Times' Manohla Dargis as "a triumph of narrative imagination and bottom-line ingenuity," the film landed on several top best lists of the year.
Thursday, February 27, 9pm | Buy Tickets EL OTRO DÍA / THE OTHER DAY (Ignacio Agüero, Chile, 120 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Special Jury Mention – Best Director, Documentary
The home of acclaimed Chilean filmmaker Ignacio Agüero is filled with objects that speak to both his family's history and to the tumultuous history of his country. Seeking to make a quiet, personal film centered on his home and his memories, it is fitting that The Other Day begins when a ray of sunlight shines on a photograph of his parents. Agüero turns the tables on his uninvited guests, and asks them if he may knock on their doors too. His spontaneous excursions into their neighborhoods and homes broaden the film's scope, bringing different aspects of contemporary Chilean society into the picture. Interweaving these threads, collapsing past and present, interior and exterior, the film is an elegant reflection on layers of history, and ways they are reflected in families and communities. The film was awarded with the Best Documentary prize at the Guadalajara Film Festival and Best Chilean Film at FIDOCS.
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New York City, September 11 – October 1, 2013 Presented by Cinema Tropical, NYU CLACS and NACLA
Cinema Tropical, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University (NYU CLACS), and the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) present Chile: 40, a special film series observing the 40th anniversary of the Chilean coup d’etat. The September 11, 1973 event overthrew the democratically-elected government of Salvador Allende and installed the notorious dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, lasting until 1990 and having immense international consequences. Chile: 40 will present six different programs in different parts of the city and in conjunction with other organizations featuring recent and older films showcasing different aspects of the aftermath and of legacy of the coup in the South American country and internationally from 1973 to the present. The series will feature the work of Ignacio Agüero, one of the leading Latin American documentary filmmakers, who will travel to New York to present his films.
Special Guest: Ignacio Agüero is an award-winning Chilean filmmaker, writer, and producer. He is one of the leading documentary filmmakers in Latin America. He has also acted in films, including some directed by Raul Ruiz. Agüero was one of the directors of the 1988 “No” political television advertisements that contributed to the end of Pinochet’s reign. He served as the first president of the Documentary Filmmaker’s Association of Chile, of which he is a founding member. Retrospectives of Agüero’s body of work have been held in Santiago, Lima, and the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BAFICI). Programmed by Jerónimo Rodríguez and José Miguel Palacios.
Additional support provided by: The Department of Cinema Studies at NYU, Columbia Global Centers - Latin America (Santiago), The Hispanic Institute at Columbia University, and The MA in Film Studies Program at Columbia University. Special thanks to Livia Bloom (Icarus Films), and Steve Holmgren (UnionDocs).
Full Schedule
Wednesday, September 11, 6:30pm New York University: Cinema Studies, Michelson Theater Room 648, 721 Broadway, New York, NY / Queries: ss162@nyu.edu Presented by the Colloquium for Unpopular Culture
"9/11/1973: THE PUBLIC LIFE OF AN ENDLESS DAY." Selection of short films: Brises / Breezes (Enrique Ramirez, 2008, 13 min.); September 11th (Claudia Aravena, 2002, 6 min.); Somos + (Pedro Chaskel & Pablo Salas, 1985, 16 min.); No + (Colectivido Acciones De Arte, Cada, 1983, 6 min.); Mitburger! - Zum Gedenken An Salvatore Allende/ Fellow Citizens (Gerhard Scheumann & Walter Heynowski, 1974, 8 min.); La Derniere Interview De Salvador Allende (Rtb, 1973, 5 min.); Gonzalo Millan Reading "La Ciudad", An Excerpt From Blue Jay, Notas Del Exilio (Leopoldo Gutiérrez, 2001, 2 min.). Panel discussion follows screening with filmmaker Ignacio Agüero, writer Diamela Eltit, professor Carl Fisher, and PhD candidate José Miguel Palacios.
Thursday, September 12, 6pm Columbia University: Casa Hispánica 612 West 116th Street, Room 201, New York, NY / www.columbia.edu/cu/spanish Presented by The Hispanic Institute at Columbia University, Columbia Global Centers: Latin America (Santiago), the MA in Film Studies Program at Columbia University. NO OLVIDAR / NOT TO FORGET (Ignacio Agüero, Chile, 1982, 30 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) The women of the Maureira family tell of their experience searching for five men of their family all across Chile, after their arrest by the police, a few days after the military coup of 1973. After 6 years of searching, they found their relative’s bodies buried in a limestone mine, near their homes in Lonquén, a town near Santiago. Filmed secretely during the dictatorship, it was the first time in Chile that there was official evidence that a missing person was arrested and killed by state agencies, refuting the falsehood of all government information. Screening is followed by a conversation with filmmaker Ignacio Agüero and professors Richard Peña (Film Studies, Columbia University) and Nara Milanich (Institute for Latin American Studies, Columbia University).
Friday, September 13, 6pm New York University: King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center Auditorium 53 Washington Square South, New York, NY / www.clacs.as.nyu.edu Co-presented by Icarus Films
EL DIARIO DE AGUSTÍN / AGUSTÍN NEWSPAPER (Ignacio Agüero, Chile, 2009, 80 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) El Diario de Agustin is an expose on the media cover up of human rights abuses of the Pinochet dictatorship through its newspaper El Mercurio. This newspaper, belonging to the Edwards family for five generations, has been the most powerful and influential media source in Chile's history. The film chronicles the story of young journalists from Diario de Agustin who culled through the pages of El Mercurio to reveal disinformation, cover-ups, and the endorsement of human rights violations, providing a portrait of the recent past as seen through the eyes of young journalists today. Screening followed by discussion with the director and special guests.
Sunday, September 15, 7:30pm UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art 322 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY / www.uniondocs.org Co-presented by Icarus Films
AQUÍ SE CONSTRUYE / UNDER CONSTRUCTION (Ignacio Agüero, 2000, Chile, 58 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) This documentary by Ignacio Agüero, one of the most prominent documentarians to have emerged in Latin America in the past 30 years, is a cornerstone for understanding today's democratic Chile and the reverberations of the neoliberal model established during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. In a consumerist era in which everything is destroyed and replaced, Aguero’s gaze takes the stance of an anonymous war correspondent in an undeclared war where the battlefield is the city and its inhabitants never learn about the destruction of their past. Over a number of years, this intimate documentary builds a portrait of a neighbor who observes the demolition of the house next door and the construction of a building on the same site, creating an illuminating account of what development and modernization mean for a country. Considered one of the most important films in the history of Chilean cinema, it captures the devastating and revealing passage of time, subtly piecing together a puzzle about the impact of urban change. Conversation with director moderated by film critic Jerónimo Rodríguez follows screening.
Thursday, September 19, 6pm New York University: King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center Auditorium 53 Washington Square South, New York, NY / www.clacs.as.nyu.edu EL MOCITO / THE YOUNG SERVANT (Jean de Certeau and Marcela Said, 2011, Chile, 70 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Jorgelino is a farm worker in the south of Chile. For many years he worked as an agent of the repressive machinery of General Pinochet´s regime. Jorgelino was the servant who brought the cups of coffee in the middle of torture sessions, the one who fed the prisioners and disposed of their bodies. Twenty years later he is being taken to court and being forced to remember. El Mocito is a psycological portrait of a human being destroyed by his past. A man who participated in the horrors and crimes of the Pinochet dictatorship and that today takes conscience and looks for redemption. Conversation with special guests follows screening.
Tuesday, October 1, 6pm New York University: King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center Auditorium 53 Washington Square South, New York, NY / www.clacs.as.nyu.edu NEWEN MAPUCHE: THE FORCE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND (Elena Varela López, Chile, 120 min. In Spanish and Mapuche with English subtitles) The documentary recounts the story of the Mapuche people, an indigenous community of the south of Chile; a story of their struggle to reclaim their land and the consequences of the policies of repression applied by the Chilean State. With this setting of conflict, and the murder of Alex Lemun, a young Mapuche, the filmmaker Elena Varela embarks on an investigational journey with one purpose: to tell the story of the last 10 years of struggle of the Mapuche community. The police detain Elena and they confiscate her film material. The filmmaker, now living the political persecution in her own skin, narrates the story from her experience. Introduced by Mapuche journalist Pedro Cayuqueo and indigenous film scholar Amalia Cordova.
Cinema Tropical, in partnership with 92YTribeca, is proud to present the second annual edition of the Cinema Tropical Festival celebrating the year's best Latin American film productions. The Cinema Tropical Festival will feature the winners of the Cinema Tropical AWARDS that were announced at a special ceremony at The New York Times Company headquarters few days ago.
These winning films represent the vitality and the artistic excellence of contemporary Latin American cinema, and the festival offers a great platform for local audiences to discover the renewed and exciting world of the film production coming out from the region.
The Cinema Tropical Festival is presented in partnership with 92YTribeca and VOCES, Latino Heritage Network of The New York Times Company. The Cinema Tropical Festival is presented by Cinelatino and sponsored by Hôtel Americano and the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York. Additional support provided by the Rolex Institute. Community Partner: United Latino Professionals Social Network.
Special thanks to Cinema Guild, Axolote Cine, CAT & Docs, Errante Producciones and Alpha Violet.
*Please note. Due to the winter storm, the screenings originally scheduled for 2/8, have been rescheduled for Friday, February 15.
Friday, February 15, 2013, 7pm THE LAST CHRISTEROS | LOS ÚLTIMOS CRISTEROS A film by Matías Meyer (Mexico/Netherlands, 2011, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Winner – Best Director, Feature Film BUY TICKETS
"The final days of a band of 1930s Christian rebels in the central Mexican wilderness are depicted with majestic stoicism in Matias Meyer's elegant ode to independence" - Robert Koehler, Variety.
“In 1926, the Mexican government began the strict enforcement of the anti-clerical laws dictated in the 1917 Mexican Constitution, and it introduced an array of new measures against demonstrations of faith. This religious persecution, aimed mostly at Roman Catholics, sparked the Cristero War, a conflict waged mostly by peasants against the well-trained Mexican army. Although the Cristero War officially took place between 1926 and 1929, groups of men continued fighting for their right to worship freely for several years afterward. Matias Meyer's third feature film, The Last Christeros, retells the story of these tenacious men, resolved to openly uphold their beliefs, even in the face of certain death.” – Toronto International Film Festival
Friday, February 15, 2013, 9pm THE STUDENT | EL ESTUDIANTE A film by Santiago Mitre (Argentina, 2011, 110 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Winner – Best First Film BUY TICKETS
"An intelligent, engrossing portrayal of politics as a game, an addiction, and a vicious cycle (...) a truly universal political thriller." - Dennis Lim, Artforum
“Politics is a game, a seduction, and a vicious cycle in Santiago Mitre’s gripping, fine-tuned debut, the story of Roque (Esteban Lamothe), a university student who falls for a radicalized teacher and organizer (Romina Paula) and soon finds himself entangled with Buenos Aires campus activists, in a world as heated and byzantine as the one inhabited by the student revolutionaries of the mythic 1960s. Anchored by Lamothe’s nuanced, charismatic performance, The Student complicates the classic bildungsroman narrative of education and disillusionment, emphasizing the endless adaptability—or malleability—of its protagonist. An urgent attempt to grapple with the legacy of Peronism in present-day Argentina, the film abounds with telling details and rich local color. But it’s also a truly universal political thriller, one that illuminates the conspiratorial pleasure, the ruthless hustle, and the moral fog of politics as it is practiced.” – New York Film Festival
All films in Spanish or Portuguese with English subtitles
Please note, CANÍCULA (Jose Álvarez, Mexico, 2011) winner of the prize for Best Director, Documentary Film, will be screened at MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight on February 21 & 22.
Past Screenings:
Saturday, February 9, 2013, 6pm THE LIFEGUARD | EL SALVAVIDAS A film by Maite Alberdi (Chile, 2011, 67 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Winner - Best Documentary Film
“Meet Mauricio, a lifeguard on a popular Chilean beach. Driven by fierce dedication to safety rules and regulations, Mauricio frustrates beachgoers and his seemingly lackadaisical colleagues as much as they frustrate him. Bathers are scolded, complaints are filed, accusations are made—all contributing to a simmering feud with Jean-Pierre, Mauricio’s chief rival and detractor. First-time filmmaker Maite Alberdi brings it all to life with a vibrant palette, tactile depth of field, and a surprisingly suspenseful day at the beach.” – Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Saturday, February 9, 2013, 7:30pm NEIGHBORING SOUNDS | O SOM AO REDOR A film by Kleber Mendonça Filho (Brazil, 2012. In Portuguese with English subtitles) Winner - Best Fiction Film
A palpable sense of unease hangs over a single city block in the coastal town of Recife, Brazil. Home to prosperous families and the servants who work for them, the area is ruled by an aging patriarch and his sons. When a private security firm is reluctantly brought in to protect the residents from a recent spate of petty crime, it unleashes the fears, anxieties and resentments of a divided society still haunted by its troubled past. Kleber Mendonça Filho's Neighboring Sounds is a thrilling debut by a major new voice in world cinema.
With the support of the Rolex Institute
TRIBUTE TO EVA NORVIND June 12 & 13, 2012
Presented by Cinema Tropical in partnership with NYU's Deutsches Haus and Scandinavia House. Additional support by the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York
The late Eva Norvind, aka Ava Taurel (born in Norway to Russian prince Paul Chegodayef Sakonsky and Finnish sculptress Johanna Kajuanus), was a larger-than-life figure, an unconventional and controversial sexual pioneer whose life incredibly intersects with many random places and very unusual facets: from becoming Mexico’s Marilyn Monroe; to studying film and human sexuality and at New York University (NYU); and ultimately becoming New York City’s most famous dominatrix. Norvind died at the age of 62, on May 14, 2006, drowning in the waters of Oaxaca, Mexico.
This special tribute presented by Cinema Tropical, the Deutsches Haus at NYU and Scandinavia House, features a screening of Didn’t Do It For Love, the documentary film that renowned German filmmaker Monika Treut made about Eva’s life, as well as Born Without, the documentary film that Norvind directed and that was completed by her daughter Nailea after Norvind’s sudden death. The film, which went to win the Best Documentary Award at the Mexico City (FICCO) and Vancouver Film Festivals, tells the story of handicapped Mexican street musician José Flores.
Special thanks to Nailea Norvind, Paul Marchant (First Run Features), and María Elena Cabezut (Mexican Cultural Institute of New York).
Tuesday, June 12, 6:30pm - Deutsches Haus at New York University 42 Washington Mews / http://deutscheshaus.as.nyu.edu / (212) 998-8660
DIDN'T DO IT FOR LOVE Directed by Monika Treut, Germany, 1997, 80 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. With: Eva Norvind, Jan Baracz, Rene Cardona Jr., José Luis Cuevas, Nicolá Echevarría, Juan Ferrara, José Flores, Juan José Gurrola.
A fascinating look into the incredible life of sexual revolutionary Eva Norvind, alias Mistress Ava Taurel, born Eva Johanne Chegodaieva Skonskaya, the daughter of a Russian prince and a Finnish sculptress in Trondheim, Norway. The film recounts the phases in her adventurous life-story: from the early success as a showgirl in Paris and Québec, as a Nordic Marilyn Monroe in the Mexican B-movies of the sixties, and finally, as the most famous dominatrix in New York during the Eighties. Eva Norvind studied Forensic Psychology to be able to help sexual offenders as well as a way of searching for the dark secret of her own sexuality. It is the story of an odyssey through the wilderness of sexuality that has not yet reached its destination. Screening followed by discussion with special guests actress Naian González Norvind (Eva's granddaughter) and Mexican writer/film critic Naief Yehya.
Wednesday, June 13, 7pm - Scandinavia House 58 Park Avenue (at 38th Street) / www.scandinaviahouse.org / (212) 779-3587
NACIDO SIN | BORN WITHOUT Directed by Eva Norvind, Mexico, 2008, 86 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. With: José Flores, Graciela Flores, Nicolás Echevarría, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Nailea Norvind.
“José Flores was born without arms and with stunted legs that render him only three feet tall, but his outsized personality makes his physical attributes the least interesting thing about this complex man. A Mexico City street musician, doting husband, and father of six (with a seventh on the way), Flores navigates the world with few concessions to his disability and with an unbridled appetite for life. As unconventional as he may seem, his history is even more unexpected; charismatic from an early age, he has been a respected occasional actor in Mexican art cinema, including appearances in Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain (1973) and the seminal Cabeza de Vaca (directed by Nicolás Echevarría, 1991). Flores is also, improbably, a bit of a ladies’ man. Directed by Norvind, and completed by her daughter after Norvind’s death, this intimate portrait doesn’t shy away from some of the more salacious details of Flores’ life.” – Los Angeles Film Festival. Screening followed by discussion with special guest actress Naian González Norvind (Eva's granddaughter).
Cinema Tropical, in partnership with 92YTribeca, is proud to launch a new annual festival celebrating the year's best Latin American film productions. The Cinema Tropical Festival will feature the winners of the Cinema Tropical AWARDS that were announced at a special ceremony at The New York Times' headquarters last December. These winning films represent the vitality and the artistic excellence of contemporary Latin American cinema, and the festival offers a great platform for local audiences to discover the renewed and exciting world of the film production coming out from the region.
The Cinema Tropical Festival is presented by Cinelatino and Dish LATINO, and sponsored by The Lift and The Mexican Cultural Institute of New York.
Special thanks to New Yorker Films, Strand Releasing, Icarus Films and El Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica.
Saturday, January 21, 2012, 6:30pm OCTUBRE Winner – Best Feature Film (Daniel and Diego Vega, Peru, 2010, 83 min.)
Clemente, a moneylender of few words, is a new hope for Sofía, his single neighbor, devoted to the October worship of Our Lord of the Miracles. They're brought together over a newborn baby, fruit of Clemente's relationship with a prostitute who's nowhere to be found. While Clemente is looking for the girl's mother, Sofía cares for the baby and looks after the moneylender's house. With the arrival of these beings in his life, Clemente has the opportunity to reconsider his emotional relations with people. Octubre, the first feature film from Peruvian brothers Daniel and Diego Vega, is a deadpan dark comedy incorporating influences ranging from Jim Jarmush and Aki Kaurismaki to Robert Bresson, and winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival-Un Certain Regard. A New Yorker Films release.
Saturday, January 21, 2012, 8:30pm LEAP YEAR | AÑO BISIESTO Winner – Best Director, Feature Film (Michael Rowe, Mexico, 2010, 94 min.)
Michael Rowe's debut feature film, winner of the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival tells the story of Laura, a young journalist living an isolated life in a cramped Mexico City flat, who is not lucky in love. The banality of her daily life stands in stark contrast to her nightly pursuit of sex and love. These short-lived affairs barely take the edge off her isolation, but then she meets the brooding, would-be actor Arturo. Their chemistry ignites feelings in Laura that leave her deeply troubled. The two embark on an increasingly dangerous sadomasochistic relationship in which pleasure, pain and love merge. Their physical relationship seems headed for a very dark place as her secret past resurfaces, pushing Arturo to the limit in this intense, powerful and at times deeply unsettling movie. A Strand Releasing release.
Sunday, January 22, 2012, 1pm NOSTALGIA DE LA LUZ | NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT Winner – Best Documentary. (Patricio Guzmán, 2010, France/Germany/Chile, 90 min.)
Winner of numerous international prizes and included in many best-of-the-year lists (including The Village Voice, indieWIRE, Reverse Shot, Houston Chronicle, Slant Magazine), Patricio Guzmán's latest film is a meditation on memory, history and eternity. Chile's remote Atacama Desert, 10,000 feet above sea level, provides stunningly clear views of the heavens. But it also holds secrets from the past—preserved corpses, from pre-Columbian mummies to recent explorers, miners and disappeared political prisoners. In this otherworldly place, earthly and celestial quests meld: archaeologists dig for ancient civilizations, women search for their dead and astronomers scan the skies for new galaxies. An Icarus Films release.
Sunday, January 22, 2012, 3pm THE TINIEST PLACE | EL LUGAR MÁS PEQUEÑO Winner – Best Director, Documentary Film, and Best First Film (Tatiana Huezo, Mexico, 2011, 104 min.)
Hailed as "one of the most impressive debuts by a Mexican filmmaker" by Robert Koehler (Variety), Huezo's remarkable film tells the story of Cinquera, a tiny place nestled in the mountains amidst the humid jungle that was ravaged by the bloody civil war that swept El Salvador between 1980 and 1992. The powerful and hypnotic documentary depicts a community that has learned to live with its sorrow, an annihilated town that re-emerges through the strength and deep love of its inhabitants for the land and people. With a lyrical eye, Huezo interweaves the simplicity of the town's present life with tragic testimonies of the past. The Tiniest Place is ultimately a story of resilience, hope and the ability of the human being to reinvent himself after surviving a tragedy.
All films in Spanish with English subtitles, in 35mm.
Presented by Sponsored by
Co-presenting Partners:
Panel discussion: 'From Buñuel to González Iñárritu: The Pitfalls of the National Cinema Debate'
Thursday, February 17, 7pm Americas Society 680 Park Avenue (at 68th Street)
The concept of 'national cinema' has been key in the emergence and development of film studies. Yet for all the talk and discussion around this concept, more often than not, it has failed to understand the intercultural and international nature of cinema. In the case of Mexican and Spanish cinema, the debate on what constitutes national cinema has been circulating the same unresolved concerns at least since Buñuel worked in Mexico decades ago.
Taking the case that this year's Mexico's submission to the Academy Awards is Alejandro González Iñárritu's Biutiful (starring Spanish actor Javier Bardem and shot entirely in Barcelona), whilst Spain submitted Icíar Bollaín's También la lluvia / Even the Rain (shot in Bolivia and starring Mexican actor Gael García Bernal), this panel will bring to the forefront the limitations on the debate of the 'national cinema' focusing in particular on the interrelation between Spanish and Mexican cinema.
Panelists:
Gerard Dapena is a scholar of Hispanic Cinemas and Visual Culture. He has published and lectured on different aspects of Spanish and Latin American film and art history and taught at a number of colleges in the U.S.
Daniel Loría. Daniel Loría's writing on cinema and the film industry has appeared in indieWIRE and Not Coming to a Theater Near You. He holds an M.A. in cinema studies from New York University and a B.A. in the same field from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Paul Julian Smith is Distinguished Professor in the Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Program at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He is the author of fifteen books including: Amores Perros (BFI 2003), Desire Unlimited: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar (Verso, 2001) and Spanish Screen Fiction: Between Cinema and Television (Liverpool UP, 2009). He is a regular contributor to Sight & Sound and Film Quarterly.
Moderated by Carlos A. Gutiérrez, Director of Cinema Tropical.
Cinema Tropical and Ambulante present four Latin American films Documentary Fortnight 2011: MoMA's International Festival of Nonfiction Film and Media The Museum of Modern Art February 16 – 28, 2011
Cinema Tropical and Ambulante, the celebrated nonprofit organization created by Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, and Pablo Cruz, have partnered with The Museum of Modern Art to present four films as part of the 10th edition of Documentary Fortnight, its annual showcase of recent nonfiction film and media. As centerpiece of this year's festival is Nostalgia for the Light (2010, France/Spain/Chile), from master filmmaker Patricio Guzmán, widely respected for his documentaries about Chile (The Battle of Chile, The Pinochet Case), and who will be making his first trip to New York in many years for this New York premiere of his new film.
The other Latin American films that form part of this year's festival selection are Criada (2009, Argentina) directed by Matías Herrera Córdoba an emotional portrait of an 53-year-old Mapuche indigenous woman who works as a criada (raised maid) as she goes about her everyday routine; Un día menos (One Day Less, 2009 Mexico), Dariela Ludlow's first feature documentary shot with beautiful cinematography is about an elderly couple in their 80s and 90s that live from day to day in anticipation of the next visit from their extended family; and El ambulante (The Peddler, 2009 Argentina), directed by Eduardo de la Serna, Lucas Marcheggiano, Adriana Yurcovich. A film about filmmaking, The Peddler follows a man as he travels to small towns throughout Argentina to make dramatic films with the local townspeople. Dariela Ludlow and Eduardo de la Serna will travel to New York to present their work.
CRIADA. 2009. Argentina. Directed by Matías Herrera Córdoba. 53-year-old Hortensia lives in El Puesto, a small town in the northwest of Argentina in a verdant region at the foot of a mountain range between two rivers. Born in Patagonia as a member of the Mapuche indigenous group, she was taken at the age of 13 to Catamarca to become a maid. Since that time she has been part of one family and, like many criadas (raised maids), is not free. This portrait builds in emotional power as she silently goes about her everyday routine. In Spanish; English subtitles. 75 min. U.S. premiere. Sunday, February 20, 5:30pm; Monday, February 21, 4:30pm
NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT | NOSTALGIA POR LA LUZ. 2010. France/Germany/Chile. Directed by Patricio Guzmán. Guzmán's portrait of Earth among the heavens was shot at 10,000 feet above sea level, in South America's Atacama Desert, where astronomers study the night sky and secrets are buried. The arid climate and salt deposits preserve pre-Columbian mummies alongside relics of the political prisoners of the Pinochet regime who were assassinated and buried there. As astronomers consider the night sky and relatives search for loved ones in the desert sands, this hauntingly beautiful film reveals that life here is both eternal and finite. In Spanish; English subtitles. 90 min. An Icarus Films Release. New York premiere. Introduction and discussion with Patricio Guzmán. Monday, February 21, 8pm
Un día menos (One Day Less). 2009. Mexico. Directed by Dariela Ludlow. In the home they built in Acapulco, Carmen and Emetrio, an elderly couple in their 80s and 90s, live from day to day in anticipation of the next visit from their extended family. This intimate story captures their resilience and frailty, and the meaning of existence near the end of life. Ludlow's first feature documentary, shot with beautiful cinematography, poignantly captures the love and tensions of a couple as well as the solitary struggles they must face. 76 min. New York premiere. Introductions and discussions with Ludlow. Wednesday, February 23, 4:30pm; Thursday, February 24, 8pm
EL AMBULANTE | THE PEDDLER2009. Argentina. Directed by Eduardo de la Serna, Lucas Marcheggiano, Adriana Yurcovich. A film about filmmaking, The Peddler follows a man as he travels to small towns throughout Argentina to make dramatic films with the local townspeople. For the price of meals and a month's accommodations, he works with local authorities, recruits actors, devises a plot, ingeniously creates set pieces, and shoots the film; the entire town becomes involved. Once the film is screened, he packs his bags and heads for another town. In Spanish; English subtitles. 84 min. New York premiere. Introductions and discussions with Eduardo de la Serna. Wednesday, Februrary 23, 8pm; Thursday, February 24, 4:30pm
All screenings at The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters The Museum of Modern Art 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019 / (212) 708-9400 / www.moma.org
-->This summer, Instituto Cervantes partners with Cinema Tropical to present films from the organization's celebrated film collection, showcasing the diversity of Latin American production over the past few years. Verano Tropical will feature eight films from different Latin American countries including a wide variety of genres, from ingenious comedies to highly stylized dramas and stirring documentaries.
All film (digitally) screened in their original language with English subtitles.
FREE ADMISSION
All screenings at:
Instituto Cervantes at Amster Yard 211 - 215 East 49th Street, New York City
Wednesday, July 7, 6:30pm HISTORIAS DE FÚTBOL | SOCCER STORIES (Andrés Wood, Chile, 1997, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Just in tune with the 2010 edition of the World Cup, the 'Verano Tropical' film series kicks off with Andrés Wood acclaimed soccer film. Some say in Latin America, football (soccer to the US) is the center of everything. Soccer Stories uses this incredibly favored sport to explore a diverse Chilean geography and culture and link three Chilean lives: a third-division player from Santiago de Chile is handed a life-changing offer; a boy living in the Calama Desert must face making a bold sacrifice; and a football fan stuck in a remote corner of the southern island of Chiloé is given an unexpected chance to experience another kind of passion. Intro by film critic and writer Naief Yehya.
Wednesday, July 14, 6:30pm SUITE HABANA (Fernando Pérez, Cuba/Spain, 2003, 80 min.) A poetic homage to the city of Havana, this breathtaking film portrays Cuba's capital as no other art form has before. A loving and melancholic picture over a 24 hour period of life of this city, the film follows ten ordinary Habaneros as they go about their daily routine. There is no dialogue and no need for it either; music and natural sound accompany the multiplicity of images that weave a unique and intimate picture of a city full of contradictions and contrasts, a city of accomplished and frustrated dreams. Edited like a musical composition, Suite Habana oscillates between documentary and fiction. The ten characters range from ages 10 to 97, and represent the diversity of groups that form the city's social fabric. Each of them follows a narrative, and we follow their transformations as the workday ends and they prepare themselves to welcome the night, which brings about the daily renewal of this exceptional and fascinating city.
Wednesday, July 21, 6:30pm LA DESAZÓN SUPREMA: RETRATO INCESANTE DE FERNANDO VALLEJO | THE SUPREME UNEASINESS: INCESSANT PORTRAIT OF FERNANDO VALLEJO (Luis Ospina, Colombia, 2003, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Colombian biographer, linguist, filmmaker, novelist, musician and biologist Fernando Vallejo came to global acclaim through filmmaker Barbet Schroeder's adaptation of his novel, "Our Lady of the Assassins." Vallejo's writing has been praised for its force and rigor, and critics have singled him out as one of the leading Latin American authors. Considered a provocateur by many for his politically incorrect and bold accusations, he is nonetheless an essential critic of the atrocities committed in his beloved country, from which he was forced to exile (he has lived in Mexico over 20 years). An intimate and extraordinary documentary about an eccentric iconoclast.
Wednesday, July 28, 6:30pm EL PERRO (Carlos Sorín, Argentina, 2004, 96 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) "Lovely! flawlessly directed by Carlos Sorin" — A.O. Scott, The New York Times In this warm-hearted and poignant road movie, a man and a dog embark on a delightful adventure across the stunningly beautiful Argentine Patagonia. Fifty-two-year-old Juan is laid off when the gas station where he has worked for the last 20 years is sold. Unemployed, middle-aged, unskilled, his luck turns in a most unexpected way. An elderly widow with little money gives Juan her late husband's dog, Lechien, as payment for repairing her car, but Lechien ends up being not just any dog; he is a pure breed Dogo Argentino, a potential dog show winner who may hold the key to Juan's future in his paw.
Wednesday, August 4, 6:30pm MI VIDA DENTRO | MY LIFE INSIDE (Lucía Gajá, Mexico, 2007, 120 min. In Spanish and English with English subtitles) "In January 2003, 21-year-old Rosa Estela Olera Jiménez, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico working as a nanny in Austin, Texas, is brought to trial for the homicide of 21-month-old Bryan Gutierrez, a young boy who died under mysterious circumstances while in her care. The prosecution is relentless in its demonization of Jiménez, a soft-spoken mother of two who was working to one day buy her mother a house and build a better life for herself in the land of opportunity. With a sweeping, lyrical focus, the film encompasses the obstacles, prejudices and Sisyphean struggles faced by many Mexican migrant workers who leave their lives behind to pursue the American dream. A powerful and heart-wrenching documentary, My Life Inside alternates between tense courtroom drama and moving personal profile, providing a cautionary tale about the experience of outsiders in the United States." – Hot Docs Film Festival. Presented as part of the 'Indocumentales / Undocumentaries: The US/Mexico Interdependent Film Series.'
Wednesday, August 11*, 6:30pm HERMANAS | SISTERS (Julia Solomonoff, Argentina/Spain, 2005, 88 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Natalia and Elena Levin, two sisters forced to separate as teenagers in 1975, right after Natalia's militant boyfriend Martin was disappeared by the military dictatorship, reunite in 1984 in a country foreign to both of them. Natalia, who has been living in exile in Spain, travels to visit Elena, who has just moved to suburban Texas with her husband and son. It's been nine years since they've seen each other and Natalia arrives eager to rebuild the ties of family love that she has missed so much. When she finds out that Elena has brought along the manuscript of their deceased father's last novel, Natalia reads it with anticipation that soon becomes trepidation – the unpublished novel unveils the story of their family during the dictatorship. Exploring the secrets and silences of a family and a society that lived under a decade of fear, complicity with the dictatorship and concealment, Solomonoff debuts with a compelling story in a film that shines with exceptional performances by Valeria Bertuccelli and Ingrid Rubio. *Q&A with filmmaker
Wednesday, August 18, 6:30pm HASTA EL ÚLTIMO TRAGO CORAZÓN | TILL THE LAST DROP… MY HEART (Beto Gómez, Mexico, 2006, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) A declaration of love to Mexico and its cultural roots through the women who gave their voices and essence to Mexican music. This endearing documentary features the legendary Chavela Vargas, along with Lila Downs, Astrid Hadad, Eugenia Leon, La Negra Graciana, Iraida Noriega, and Chayito Valdéz, all of who share their intimacies, memories of their lives, their pain and feelings, and above all, their music.
Wednesday, August 25, 6:30pm DÍAS DE SANTIAGO (Josué Méndez, Peru, 2004, 83 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) Selected by over 80 Film Festivals worldwide and winning no less than a dozen prestigious awards, Josué Méndez´s extraordinary debut explores the tragic impossibility of a war veteran to re-integrate into civilian life. 23-year old Santiago (Pietro Sibille, in a "volcanic performance," Variety) returns home, weary from years of jungle fighting, searching for hope. But his native Lima has become a less than welcoming place. Unable to get a job or credit, or afford an education, misunderstood by his family, wife and friends whom he finds decadent and distant, Santiago's estrangement from an increasingly hostile and chaotic world deepens, as his anger and frustration rise. Through a powerful and original style of narration, Méndez vividly examines the effects of war upon those who carry it out.
Cinema Tropical, Film Movement, 92YTribeca and
the Consulate General of Colombia in New York present
the NY Premiere of Ciro Guerra's Award-Winning Colombian feature film
LOS VIAJES DEL VIENTO / THE WIND JOURNEYS
Starring renowned musician Marciano Martínez,
the film features the richness of Colombian popular Vallenato music
Thursday and Friday, May 27 & 28, 2010, 7pm
92YTribeca
200 Hudson Street (at Canal Street) / (212) 601-1000
LOS VIAJES DEL VIENTO / THE WIND JOURNEYS A film by Ciro Guerra, Colombia, 2009, 117 min.
In Spanish, Bantu, Wayunayky and Ikn with English subtitles. Cast: Marciano Martínez (Ignacio Carrillo), Yull Nunez (Fermín Morales), Agustín Nieves (Nine), Erminia Martínez (Mujer Guajira), José Luis Torres (Meyo).
For most of his life, Ignacio Carrillo (played by the prominent Vallenato composer Marciano Martínez) has traveled the villages of northern Colombia, playing traditional songs on his accordion, a legendary instrument said to have once belonged to the devil. He eventually married and settled in a small town, leaving the nomadic life behind. But after the traumatic death of his wife, he vows to never play the accursed accordion again, and embarks on one last journey to return the instrument to its rightful owner.
On the way, Ignacio is followed by Fermín, a spirited teenager determined to become his apprentice. Tired of loneliness, Ignacio accepts the young man as his pupil and together they traverse the vast Colombian terrain, discovering the musical diversity of Caribbean culture. Hardened by a life of solitude, Ignacio tries to discourage Fermín from following in his footsteps, but destiny has different plans for them.
Cinema Tropical and 92YTribeca celebrate Ten Years of New Argentine Cinema
November 12 & 14, 2009 92YTribeca 200 Hudson St. (at Canal St.)
Despite the recent success of Lucrecia Martel's The Headless Woman, U.S. art-house audiences remain largely unfamiliar with the remarkable dynamism and vitality of the Argentinean cinema of the past decade. Cinema Tropical partners with 92YTribeca to pay tribute to the great influence and creative output of the cinema of this South American country featuring the work of four key filmmakers of this generation. In addition to Martel's astonishing debut feature La Ciénaga, the series also includes equally seminal works by three other Argentine writer/directors that any respectable cinephile should be familiar with: Martín Rejtman, Pablo Trapero and Adrián Caetano.
The series is sponsored by New York Loft Hostel. It is also made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Special thanks to Juan A. Figueroa, Daniela Bajar and Guido Herzovich.
All films are in Spanish with English subtitles. All prints are 35mm.
Thursday, November 12, 7pm BOLIVIA Written and directed by Adrián Caetano. Argentina. 2001, 75 min. With Freddy Flores, Rosa Sánchez, Óscar Bertea, Enrique Liporace. "Packs a wallop" — V.A. Musetto, New York Post.
A starkly realistic story of an illegal immigrant from Bolivia who lands a job with a greasy spoon on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, poignantly depicts the world of poverty, racism and casual violence that characterize his newfound reality. Bolivia is an urgent and timely drama of life in Argentina, a nation that at the time of the film's release was immersed in a massive crisis reaching unprecedented poverty levels, vast unemployment, bankruptcy, and a dramatically shrinking economy. The second feature by Adrián Caetano, which was awarded the Young Critic's Award at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, manages to be both powerful and understated.
Thursday, November 12, 9pm SILVIA PRIETO Written and directed by Martín Rejtman. Argentina, 1999. 92 min. With Rosario Bléfari, Valeria Bertucelli, Gabriel Fernández Capello, Mirtha Busnelli. "Rejtman reveals a mastery of his minimalist style." — The Los Angeles Times
A minimalist deadpan comedy involving drifting characters and objects, the film focuses on Silvia Prieto, a rather unexceptional young woman who on her 27th birthday resolves to make some changes in her life – changes that bring out a few eccentricities. When she discovers that there are other women with her name, she develops a bizarre obsession with the "other" Silvia Prieto, an obsession that has to do with unraveling the riddle of her own identity. Written and directed by Martín Rejtman, credited as the precursor of the New Argentine Cinema, Silvia Prieto was hailed by The Los Angeles Times as a "refreshingly venturesome film," and is a witty meditation on what it means, or doesn't mean, to be yourself.
Written and directed by Pablo Trapero. Argentina, 1999. 90 min.
With Luis Margani, Adriana Aizemberg, Daniel Valenzuela.
"Remarkable for the tenderness and tenacity it shares with its memorable protagonist." — Amy Taubin, Village Voice
A new variant on Neo-realism, Pablo Trapero's multiple award-winning feature debut paints a portrait of working class life that is simultaneously gritty and poetic. The film follows the changing fortunes in the life of Rulo, an unemployed suburban man, who tries to earn a living as a crane operator. Rulo is a likeable, pot-bellied 50 year-old who had a brief taste of success as a young rock musician. Now, with both an elderly mother and a musician son to support, Rulo plunges into a hazardous and arduous work of heavy metal construction. Directed with an unusual combination of aesthetic freshness and emotional soundness Trapero's first film became a key work in the current resurgence of Argentine cinema.
Saturday, November 14, 8:30pm
LA CIÉNAGA
Written and directed by Lucrecia Martel. Argentina, 2001, 102 min.
With Mercedes Morán, Graciela Borges, Martín Adjemián.
"Superb filmmaking." — J. Hoberman, Village Voice
February in Argentina's Northeast can be uncomfortably hot and humid. Bodies become sluggish and sticky... and tensions rise. Mecha is in her 50's and must deal with four accident-prone teenagers, a husband who dyes his hair and the tedious problem of sullen servants. Nothing that a few drinks can't cure. Tali is Mecha's cousin. She has four noisy small children and a husband who loves his house, loves his kids, and loves to hunt. Mecha and her family spend their summers at a country estate whose glory has long faded, and where the two families, reunited by an accident, will attempt to survive a summer from hell. With uncompromising talent, Martel's astonishing feature debut — which preceded the celebrated films The Holy Girl and The Headless Woman — brilliantly depicts the decadence of the Argentine middle-class through this family's story.
Cinema Tropical and BAMcinématek present ¡Go Uruguay!
October 16 - 18, 2009 BAM Rose Cinemas 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
One of the smallest countries in South America, Uruguay now boasts one of the finest young film scenes in Latin America. This is a rare opportunity to discover the revitalized cinema of Uruguay. Co-programmed by Carlos Gutierrez.
In the past few years Uruguay has developed a group of young filmmakers who have shed light on recent political and social changes in the country. Despite winning key prizes in the most renowned film festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Rotterdam, AFI), many of the films by this young generation of Uruguayan directors have largely been off the radar. This series offers a rare opportunity for New York audiences to discover the revitalized cinema of Uruguay.
Uruguay continues to make its modest yet vigorous presence in Latin American cinema providing a stable location for local film production. Last year the country produced a record-breaking number of sixteen feature films. Uruguayan influences can also be seen in its neighboring Argentinean cinema within the work of director Israel Adrián Caetano, [(Pizza, Beer and Smokes (1998); Bolivia (2001); and Chronicle of an Escape (2006)], and the actor Daniel Hendler who is perhaps best known to international audiences for his work with director Daniel Burman (The Lost Embrace (2004), Family Law (2006)].
A key force in the revitalization of Uruguayan cinema has been producer/editor Fernando Epstein who, through his acclaimed production company Control Z Films (co-founded directors Pablo Stoll and the late Juan Pablo Rebella), has established creative and alternative modes of production—often in coproduction with other countries—fostering the development of local talent and artistic creation. Epstein will be in attendance during ¡Go Uruguay! program.
Supported, in part, by the Embassy of the United States in Montevideo, Uruguay. The series is made also possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Special thanks to Nahir Lois, Robert Zimmerman, Embassy of the United States of America in Montevideo, Uruguay; Consul General Adriana Lissidini, Karla Enseñat, Consulate General of Uruguay in New York; Martin Papich, Mariana Rizzo, Instituto de Cine y Audiovisual del Uruguay; Santhosh Daniel, Chris Wiggum, Global Film Initiative; Rebeca Conget, Cambria Matlow, Claire Weingarten, Film Movement; Clemence Taillandier, Zeitgeist Films; Sandro Fiorin, Alex Garcia, Cristina Garza, FiGa Films; Sergio Gándara, Patricia Méndez, Parox; Alan Shapiro.
All films are in Spanish with English subtitles. All prints are 35mm unless noted.
Friday, October 16, 7pm GIGANTE Directed by Adrián Biniez, Uruguay/Argentina, (2009), 85 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. New York Premiere. Pritn courtesy of Film Movement. With Horacio Camandule, Leonor Svarcas, Diego Artucio "Impeccable…[with] inherent charm." — The Hollywood Reporter
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize Silver Bear, the Alfred Bauer Prize and the Best First Feature Award at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival, Biniez's promising debut feature film Gigante tells the story of Jara, a shy and lonely 35-year-old security guard at a supermarket on the outskirts of Montevideo. He works the night shift, monitoring the surveillance cameras of the entire building. One night Jara discovers Julia, a 25-year-old cleaning woman, through one of the cameras and is immediately attracted to her. Night after night, he watches her on the cameras while she works. Soon he starts following her after work: to the cinema, the beach and even to a date with another man. Jara's life becomes a series of routines and rituals around Julia, but eventually he finds himself at a crossroad and must decide whether to give up his obsession or confront it. *A Q&A with director Adrián Biniez and producer Fernando Epstein will follow the 7pm screening.
Saturday, October 17, 4:30pm 25 WATTS Directed by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, Uruguay, 2001, 94min. In Spanish with English subtitles With Daniel Hendler, Jorge Temponi, Alfonso Tort "Wins you over with its good nature ands its charm."— indieWIRE
A surprise hit at the 2001 Rotterdam Film Festival, 25 Watts marked the auspicious debut for the Uruguayan duo Pablo Stoll and the late Juan Pablo Rebella that consolidated Uruguay's participation in the recent revitalization of Latin American cinema and launched a prolific and exciting period for young Uruguayan directors. A wry, fresh, and funny Montevideo slacker comedy, 25 Watts portrays the monotonous lives of Leche, Javi, and Seba who wander around the neighborhood with nothing to do but drink beer, smoke, talk about girls, and interact with picturesque characters from the barrio. A Q&A with producer Fernando Epstein will follow the 4:30pm screening.
Saturday, October 17, 6:50pm LA PERRERA | THE DOG POUND Directed by Manuel Nieto Zas, Uruguay/Argentina/Spain/Canada, 2006, 108min. In Spanish with English subtitles. New York Premiere With Pablo Riera, Martín Adjemian, Sergio Gorfain "Humorous chronicle of a year of trouble and sexual misery, achieves an odd mixture of triviality in its apparent purpose, of stylistic elegance and radical pessimism." — Liberation
Desperate and unfortunate, lazy and hesitant, David, a 25-year-old, has failed as a student and lost the scholarship that financially supported him in the capital city. Now he must pass an exam that will take place in a year if he wants this grant to continue. In order prepare, David has come to live at La Pedrera, a small beach town where his father has given him the mission of building a house during the winter. This is the story of the construction as well as David's tragicomic fight to survive in a world where there are as many dogs as men and few women and where no one wants to work. Nieto Zas' debut feature film was named "Best Uruguayan Film of 2006" by the Association of Film Critics of Uruguay. A intro with producer Fernando Epstein will precede the 7pm screening.
At 9:15pm
El baño del Papa (The Pope's Toilet), (2007), 97min, Uruguay/France/Brazil, in Spanish with English subtitles
Directed by César Charlone, Enrique Fernández
With César Troncoso and Virginia Melo,
"Towers supreme!…alternately heartbreaking and hilarious."—The Village Voice
It's 1988, and Melo, an Uruguayan town on the Brazilian border, awaits the visit of Pope John Paul II. 50,000 people are expected to attend, and the most humble locals believe that selling food and drink to the multitude will make them rich. Petty smuggler Beto thinks he has the best idea of all –he decides to build a WC in front of his house and charge for its use. His efforts bring about unexpected consequences, and the final results will surprise everyone. El baño del Papa is a touching, humorous and poignant story from director-scriptwriters Enrique Fernández and noted cinematographer César Charlone who was Oscar-nominated for City of God.
Sunday, October 18, 4pm STRANDED: I'VE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED ON THE MOUNTAINS | VENGO DE UN AVIÓN QUE CAYÓ EN LAS MONTAÑAS Directed by Gonzalo Arijón, France/Uruguay, 2008, 126 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. "Superb…a cinematic tour de force... One of the great tales of human survival... stranded… packs a knock-out punch."— Variety
It is one of the most astonishing and inspiring survival tales of all time. On October 13, 1972, a young rugby team from Montevideo, Uruguay, boarded a plane for a match in Chile—and then vanished into thin air. Two days before Christmas, 16 of the 45 passengers miraculously resurfaced. They had managed to survive for 72 days after their plane crashed on a remote Andean glacier. Thirty-five years later, the survivors return to the crash site—known as the Valley of Tears—to recount their harrowing story of defiant endurance and indestructible friendship. Previously documented in the 1973 worldwide bestseller Alive (and the 1993 Ethan Hawke movie of the same name), Stranded is a visually breathtaking and crafted film that includes riveting detail by documentary filmmaker (and childhood friend of the survivors) Gonzalo Arijón with a masterful combination of on-location interviews, archival footage, and reenactments.
Sunday, October 18, 6:15pm WHISKY Directed by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll Uruguay/Argentina/Germany/Spain, 2004, 94min. In Spanish with English subtitles. With Andrés Pazos, Mirella Pascual, Jorge Bolani "Delicious. A slightly absurd comedy about intimacy and solitude. Funny and gently narrated, Whisky marveled the audience with the confidence of its melancholic humor." — The Los Angeles Times
Jacobo is the dull and gravely serious owner of a sock factory. Every day, he follows the same routine—he gets up, drives to the factory, and meets his manager Marta, a frumpy, quiet, middle-aged worker who is loyal to the factory and her boss. Their dull routine is broken by the impending arrival of Jacobo's younger brother, Herman, who lives in Brazil. Jacob then allows himself to ask Marta for help to cope with the situation. Hence, between absurdity and melancholy, as well as daily life and farce, the movie subtly portrays the clumsiness of these characters, so different from one another, while they try to hide their resentment and friction. Whisky—Rebella and Stoll's remarkable follow-up feature to 25 Watts which screens at BAM on Saturday—was awarded with numerous prizes including the International Critics' Award at Cannes Film Festival. Whisky is presented with the Global Film Initiative.
Sunday, October 18, 9:15pm MATAR A TODOS | KILL THEM ALL Directed by Esteban Schroeder Uruguay/Argentina/Chile, 2007, 97min. In Spanish with English subtitles. With Roxanna Blanco, Claudio Arreondo, Jorge Bolani "Roxana Blanco gives a robust performance" — The New York Post
When democracy starts to spread across a weakened Latin American dictatorship, a man flees through the forest of a Uruguayan seaside resort. He is from Chile and hides at a police station of the town. He desperately announces that he has been kidnapped, that someone wanted to kill him. The charges reach Judge Santacruz, who asks his assistant, lawyer Julia Gudari, to help with the investigation. She finds that the police have tried to erase all traces of the case and that the Embassy of Chile is no help either. Julia also discovers that this Chilean citizen is a biochemical engineer who worked secretly for Pinochet. As Matar a todos continues, a dark story begins to unravel which involves her directly—both her father, General Gudari, and her brother, Ivan, are part of the alliance and will do everything they can to keep Julia away from the truth.
In the past decade, Latin America has witnessed the emergence of a new generation of democratically-elected left-wing leaders who in most cases have already made history just by winning the presidential elections of their countries. Moreover, and by breaking up with local political inertias, these leaders have helped establish a new political landscape throughout the region. Seen from afar, this political phenomenon appears to have given rise to a homogenous and consistent regional block, however most of these leaders have emerged from the diverse and some times conflicting traditions of the Left in Latin America and from disparate local contexts.
Cinema Tropical has created ¡Revolución! The New Latin American Left an original film series presenting seven documentary films about most of these leaders -nearly all of which made during their electoral campaigns. The aim is to open a constructive and engaging dialogue about the similarities, differences, challenges, and risks of the variegated expressions of the contemporary Left in Latin America, while discussing the immediate and long-term future of the region.
Programmed by Carlos A. Gutiérrez and organized in collaboration with Alejandra Leal.
VENEZUELA:
THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED
| A film by Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain| Ireland, 2007, 74 min. In Spanish with English subtitles
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is a powerful and dramatic film about the charismatic and controversial Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez. It charts the seven-months run-up to the dramatic attempt to overthrow him in April 2002 and provides an eyewitness account of the coup d'etat and the extraordinary return to power of Chávez some 48 hours later. Unique footage of Chávez, a divisive and polarizing political icon, is assembled in this stirring documentary.
BRAZIL:
ENTREATOS | INTERMISSIONS
| A film by João Moreira Salles | Brazil, 2006, 117 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles
Entreatos follows Brazilian candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during the last leg of his fourth presidential bid in 2002 with unanticipated insight into the behind-the-scenes of this man's life, his family and his campaign. Entreatos shows us a sophisticated political polyglot, documenting his increasing moderation in order to appeal to a wider part of the electorate, and thus also revealing some the Brazilian political and social backgrounds that made him win the election.
ARGENTINA:
YO PRESIDENTE
| A film by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat | Argentina, 2006, 75 min. In Spanish with English subtitles
An unapologetic and unflinching historical summary of Argentina's recent political past presented through direct interviews with practically all Argentinean presidents since the country's return to democracy in 1983. Starring Carlos Menem, Fernando de la Rúa and Eduardo Duhalde, among others, Yo Presidente offers a sardonic, and at times hopeless, perspective of those in charge.
CHILE:
LA HIJA DEL GENERAL | THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER
| Afilm by María Elena Wood| Chile/Spain, 2006, 59 min. In Spanish with English subtitles
In 2006 Michelle Bachelet made history by becoming Chile's first woman president, despite being a socialist, single mother and agnostic in arguably one of South America's most conservative nations. Filmmaker María Elena Wood spent one year following Bachelet as she traveled through Chile on the campaign trail. Through the letters written by her late father, a general in the Chilean Air Force imprisoned after Pinochet seized power in 1973, we learn the trajectory of a middle-class Chilean family profoundly marked by the collapse of democracy. The General's Daughter tells the story of Michelle Bachelet's life, her surprising journey along the road to the presidency and documents a series of experiences that are emblematic to Chile's recent history.
BOLIVIA:
COCALERO
| A film by Alejandro Landes | Argentina/Bolivia, 2007, 94 min. In Quechua and Spanish with English subtitles
Born out of the US War on Drugs, an Aymara indian named Evo Morales ‚ backed by a troop of coca leaf farmers ‚ travels through Andes and Amazon in jeans and sneakers, leading a historic bid to become Boliviaís first indigenous president. Traveling alongside Morales and the Movement to Socialism party (MAS) as they campaign through remote mining towns and far-away peasant villages, Cocalero reveals scenery as diverse and fractured as the countryís people, painting a vivid picture of a political phenomenon while raising an open historical question.
MEXICO:
FRAUDE: MEXICO 2006
| A film by Luis Mandoki | Mexico, 2007, 117 min. In Spanish with English subtitles
A controversial documentary feature film from acclaimed director Luis Mandoki, Fraude, MÈxico 2006 follows the most recent presidential election in Mexico, which polarized the country and has continued to haunt the local political landscape. The film recapitulates ‚using in some instances footage from ordinary citizensómany of the irregularities, inconsistencies and misdeeds before, during and after this very contested election that ultimately raised issues about its validity and fairness.
SPECIAL EDITION: BRASIL SUMMERFEST Tuesday and Wednesday, July 23 & 24
Following record attendance numbers and critical praise for their second installment last summer, NYC’s premiere Brazilian music and arts festival BRASIL SUMMERFEST, returns July 20-27, 2013 to treat fans to a sampling of some of Brazil’s most dynamic music artists, demonstrating the richness and diversity of the country’s contemporary music scene. The weeklong festival will showcase a diverse array of styles from the traditional rhythms of samba, forro and bossanova to emerging contemporary scenes such as tecnobrega, Brazilian hip hop, indie, among others.For the 2013 Edition BRASIL SUMMERFEST will team up with Cinema Tropical’s popular Janeiro in New York / Music+Film Series to present three documentaries that show the varied styles and subjects of Brazilian music and its affect on the culture.
Tthe series is divided into two evenings that each represent completely different genres of Brazilian music: Brega (translated as cheesy) is the subject of the first evening’s two films. Vou Rifar Meu Coracão tells the story of this popular sentimental style of song through its composers, singers and loyal audience. The second film of the evening is Waldick, Sempre no Meu Coração, a documentary about Waldick Soriano, a laborer form the North East who becomes a star of this genre in the ‘60s.
The second evening’s film, Jorge Mautner / O Filho do Holocausto, portrays the opposite side of the coin of Brazilian music. Its subject is the intellectual artist/writer Jorge Mautner, whose worked is credited as shaping the Brazilian counter-culture in the 70’s and influencing the emergence of Tropicália.
Programmed by Béco Dranoff and Mary Jane Marcasiano.
FREE ADMISSION / All films in Portuguese with English subtitles
All screenings at:
Jazz Performance Space at New School University 55 West 13th Street, 5th Floor
Brasil Summerfestis a new music and arts festival launched in July 2011. The festival aims to showcase the richness and diversity of Brazil’s music scene with a special focus on contemporary artists. This includes traditional styles of samba, forro, bossanova, maracatu as well as new emerging ones such as novo-tropicalia, manguebeat, hip hop, indie and baile-funk. This weeklong festival was founded and curated by Petrit Pula, the GM of Nublu, the club and record label outpost in the East Village and co-curated by Erika Elliott, the Artistic Director at Central Park Summerstage and music producer Beco Dranoff. Each year, the festival presents a series of events in New York City in the month of July at high profile venues in including Central Park Summerstage, City Winery, Nublu, MoMA, Drom and S.O.B.s.
Tuesday, July 23, 7:15pm WALDICK, SEMPRE NO MEU CORAÇÃO Directed by Patricia Pillar | Brazil, 2007, 58 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles
Directed by actress Patrícia Pillar, Waldick, sempre no meu coração tells the story of the amazing career trajectory of Brega star Waldick Soriano, whose own life story reflects this popular genre of his music. Soriano was born in Bahia, where he lived and worked as a truck driver, prospector and manual laborer until he was 25. After moving to São Paulo in 1959, his first album was issued in 1960 and his style of dramatic, sentimental songs made him a star in Brazil.
Tuesday, July 23, 8:45pm VOU RIFAR MEU CORAÇÃO | I'll RAFFLE OFF MY HEART Directed by Ana Rieper | Brazil, 2011, 78 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles
I’ll Raffle off my Heart uses Brazilian sentimental and erotic imaginary based on the works of the most important composers of popular romantic music, a genre known as brega (cheesy). These songs create a true chronicle of romantic practices and the themes of the songs are very closely connected to the romantic dramas and experiences of real people who talk about their lives in this film. In addition to these individuals that open their hearts and tell their stories, the documentary also presents the composers and singers Agnaldo Timoteo, Amado Batista, Lindomar Castilho, Nelson Ned and Rodrigo Mell, from the new generation of brega music.
Wednesday, July 24, 7:15pm JORGE MAUTNER, O FILHO DO HOLOCAUSTO | JORGE MAUTNER, SON OF THE HOLOCAUST Directed by Pedro Bial, Heitor D'Alincourt | Brazil, 2012, 93 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles
Jorge Mautner - The Son of the Holocaust is not a documentary, it is an essay on the life of this artist who, in the 20th century, built the Brazilian culture of the 21st century. A visionary who foresaw and transformed into reality the exuberant future landscape of Brazilian music and culture, Mautner is better understood after this film which begins as a portrait of the artist as a young man and goes on to reveal the complexity of this life as a musician, poet, pop star and one of the most important philosophers of his generation.
PAST SEASONS
SPECIAL EDITION: VOICES FROM LATIN AMERICA
Presented in association with 92YTribeca
Cinema Tropical's "Music + Film Series" celebrates Carnegie Hall’s upcoming concert series Voices from Latin America with screenings of documentaries that honor the best of Latin American music and its rich diversity and legacy. The music and cultures of Brazil, Cuba, Mexico and Argentina will be represented through the work of iconic artists from each country.
Presented as part of Voices from Latin America (November 8 – December 11). This citywide festival, organized by Carnegie Hall, pays tribute to a region whose vibrant culture has influenced people around the world. With more than 60 events, the festival features music, dance, film, art, photography, and more. Voices from Latin America includes four weeks of events and exhibitions at Carnegie Hall and partner organizations throughout the city.
Thursday, November 15, 7pm HASTA EL ÚLTIMO TRAGO CORAZÓN | TILL THE LAST DROP MY LOVE Directed by Beto Gómez | Mexico, 2005, 100 min. In Spanish with English subtitles
A declaration of love to Mexico and its cultural roots through the women who gave their voices and essence to Mexican music. This endearing documentary features the legendary Chavela Vargas, along with Lila Downs, Astrid Hadad, Eugenia Leon, La Negra Graciana, Iraida Noriega and Chayito Valdéz, all of who share their intimacies, memories of their lives, their pain and feelings, and above all, their music. Co-presented with Mexico Now Festival.
Thursday, November 29, 7pm CAFÉ DE LOS MAESTROS Directed by Miguel Kohan | Argentina/Brazil, 2008, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NEW YORK PREMIERE.
Award-winning composer Gustavo Santaollala (Babel, Brokeback Mountain) takes us on a journey into the heart of Argentina’s world famous tango, introducing veterans from the golden age of the ’40s and ’50s as they prepare for a memorable concert at Buenos Aires’ renowned Teatro Colón.
Thursday, December 6, 7pm & 9pm MUSIC ACCORDING TO TOM JOBIM Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos | Brazil, 2011, 88 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles
Composer/performer Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim introduced Brazil and bossa nova to the world with “The Girl from Ipanema." He went on to write literally dozens of classic songs recorded by the international royalty of pop music. Legendary Brazilian director Nelson Pereira dos Santos has now created this loving, tuneful tribute to Jobim, featuring extraordinary renditions of Jobim standards by artists ranging from Judy Garland, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald to Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Chico Buarque and Lisa Ono. A veritable carnival of musical styles and approaches, all celebrating the unique artistry of Tom Jobim. — New York Film Festival.
Thursday, December 13, 7pm CALLE 54 Directed by Fernando Trueba | US, 2000, 105 min. In Spanish with English subtitles
From the director of Chico and Rita, Calle 54 is a 2000 documentary film about Latin jazz. With only minimal introductory voiceovers, the film consists of studio performances by a wide array of Latin Jazz musicians. Artists featured include Chucho Valdés, Bebo Valdés, Cachao, Eliane Elias, Gato Barbieri, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, Chano Domínguez, Jerry Gonzalez and Michel Camilo. The film takes its name from Sony Music Studios, where much of the film was shot, which was located on 54th Street in New York City.
Birds of Passage presents a lyrical journey through the everyday lives of two young Uruguayan songwriters. Ernesto Díaz and Yisela Sosa have moved to the capital, leaving behind their respective hometowns on the borders of Brazil and Argentina. After many years of composing songs that reflect their origins, both decide to explore new horizons and each seeks to fulfill the dream of recording a first album.
While Yisela struggles to reconcile the emerging possibilities of a career in Uruguay with her plans to move to Argentina, Ernesto confronts personal conflicts that threaten to sabotage his creative passion.
The film fuses the arts of documentary film and music, interweaving the songs and stories of these two young composers. With vérité cinematography and an unforgettable soundtrack, Birds of Passage explores the challenges of being a young artist and the art of searching, inside and outside of oneself.
Following the screening, Ernesto Díaz and Yisela Sosa will perform live in the cafe.
Friday, February 26, 7pm | Buy Tickets 
Saturday, February 27, 12:30pm | Buy Tickets
Saturday, February 27, 3pm | Buy Tickets
Saturday, February 27, 5pm | Buy Tickets
Saturday, February 27, 7pm | Buy Tickets
Sunday, February 28, 4:30pm | Buy Tickets
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Roberto Busó-García was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He has written, directed and produced six short films, a dramatic mini-series and two feature-length films for more than 18 years. He has served as a member of the jury of the Colombia and Puerto Rico Film Funds, the New York International Latino Film Festival, the American Black Film Festival and the Puerto Rico International Film Festival. In 2012 he premiered his debut feature Los condenados / The Condemned, which had a theatrical run in Puerto Rico and more recently in New York and Los Angeles, distributed by Strand Releasing. He worked as a film acquisitions executive in New York and was responsible for bringing award-winning Spanish-language shows like "Epitafios" to US audiences through HBO. 
Paola Mendoza, was named one of Filmmaker Magazine 25 New Faces of Independent Film. She was most recently tapped to write and direct the film Half of Her for ITVS. She also helmed the documentary La Toma, which was commissioned by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Tribeca Film Institute. Mendoza made her narrative directorial debut with Entre Nos, which had its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival where it was awarded Honorable Mention and it went on to win over ten awards at film festivals around the world. Mendoza also directed the feature length documentary Autumn's Eyes, which made its world premier at the SXSW Film Festival. Mendoza most recently finished writing her debut novel entitled The Ones Who Don't Stay which will be published by Penguin Books in the Spring of 2013.
Bernardo Ruiz was born in Mexico, but grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He studied documentary photography with Joel Sternfeld at Sarah Lawrence College. For the past decade has worked as a journeyman director/producer for a variety of media outlets, including PBS, National Geographic, Planet Green and MTV, among others. In 2007, he founded Quiet Pictures in order to make independent documentaries. His debut film through Quiet was a commission, American Experience: Roberto Clemente (PBS, 2008) winner of the Alma Award for Outstanding Made for Television Documentary. Reportero is Ruiz's first documentary feature. 
Argentine-born, New York-based writer, director and producer Julia Solomonoff holds an MFA in Film from Columbia University (where she currently teaches Film Directing). Hermanas, her debut feature film, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2005. Her most recent feature film is El último verano de la boyita / The Last Summer of La Boyita. She also has written and directed five short films—which have earned her prestigious awards from the DGA and FIPRESCI. In addition to her own work, she has collaborated with such well-regarded directors as Luis Puenzo, Carlos Sorín, and Martin Rejtman, and worked as First Assistant Director on Walter Salles’ The Motorcycle Diaries. Also the producer of numerous documentaries in Latin America, such as Alejandro Landes' Cocalero, Julia co-produced Brazilian director Julia Murat’s debut film Found Memories. 
Friday, February 6, 7pm | 
Saturday, February 7, 3pm | 
Tuesday, February 25, 9pm | 
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Monday, February 24, 9pm | 
Tuesday, February 25, 7pm | 
Wednesday, February 26, 7pm | 
Wednesday, September 11, 6:30pm
Thursday, September 12, 6pm
Friday, September 13, 6pm
Thursday, September 19, 6pm
Tuesday, October 1, 6pm
NACIDO SIN | BORN WITHOUT
Tuesday, July 23, 7:15pm
Tuesday, July 23, 8:45pm
Wednesday, July 24, 7:15pm
