Jun
9
to Sep 9

Cinema Brasileiro at the New York Botanical Garden

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Cinema Brasileiro

Presented as Part of ‘Brazilian Modern:
The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx

June - September 2019
New York Botanical Garden


As part of the exhibit “Brazilian Modern: The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx.” taking place Saturday, June 8 – Sunday, September 29, 2019 at the New York Botanical Garden, Cinema Tropical has curated an exciting series of award-winning films and documentaries—some of them to be screened for the time in the U.S.—, which will explore themes central to Roberto Burle Marx’s creative life and times. Various screenings will feature discussions with directors following the film.

Programmed by Mary Jane Marcasiano, organized by Pilar D. Garrett.

All screenings at
Ross Hall at New York Botanical Garden
2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY
(718) 817-8700 / www.nybg.org
Screenings included in exhibit admission.

Click here for complete information


LANDSCAPE FILM: ROBERTO BURLE MARX (Filme Paisagem: Um Olhar Sobre Roberto Burle Marx, João Vargas Penna, Brazil, 2018, 74 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles) Filmmaker João Vargas Penna in attendance The life and works of Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) are portrayed in this documentary. The film presents his ideas and memories through a succession of sensorial landscapes that refer to the trajectory of the painter, sculptor, and landscape architect who designed squares and gardens in cities like Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília and Recife - most of them marked by native plants of Brazil that form his signature, undulating patterns. Sunday, June 9, 2pm

LANDSCAPE FILM: ROBERTO BURLE MARX
(Filme Paisagem: Um Olhar Sobre Roberto Burle Marx, João Vargas Penna, Brazil, 2018, 74 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)

Filmmaker João Vargas Penna in attendance

The life and works of Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) are portrayed in this documentary. The film presents his ideas and memories through a succession of sensorial landscapes that refer to the trajectory of the painter, sculptor, and landscape architect who designed squares and gardens in cities like Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília and Recife - most of them marked by native plants of Brazil that form his signature, undulating patterns.

Sunday, June 9, 2pm

THIS IS BOSSA NOVA ( Coisa Mais Linda: Historias e Casos da Bossa Nova , Paulo Thiago, Brazil, 2007, 126 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles) This Is Bossa Nova presents a historical, musical, and informative look into the birth of bossa nova in the 1950s, following the movement to its peak in 1962 when it became a definitively international phenomenon after a Carnegie Hall concert in New York City. Offering exclusive interviews and performances by Roberto Menescal, Carlos Lyra, João Donato, Alaíde Costa, Johnny Alf, Kay Lira, Leny Andrade, Chris Delano, Joyce, Sergio Ricardo, Billy Blanco - all participants of the era and some contemporary followers— This Is Bossa Nova contains archival images of concerts and international performances of both those Brazilian and foreign artists who participated in the bossa nova movement. Saturday, June 15, 2pm

THIS IS BOSSA NOVA
(Coisa Mais Linda: Historias e Casos da Bossa Nova, Paulo Thiago, Brazil, 2007, 126 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)

This Is Bossa Nova presents a historical, musical, and informative look into the birth of bossa nova in the 1950s, following the movement to its peak in 1962 when it became a definitively international phenomenon after a Carnegie Hall concert in New York City. Offering exclusive interviews and performances by Roberto Menescal, Carlos Lyra, João Donato, Alaíde Costa, Johnny Alf, Kay Lira, Leny Andrade, Chris Delano, Joyce, Sergio Ricardo, Billy Blanco - all participants of the era and some contemporary followers—This Is Bossa Nova contains archival images of concerts and international performances of both those Brazilian and foreign artists who participated in the bossa nova movement.

Saturday, June 15, 2pm

REACHING FOR THE MOON ( Flores Raras , Bruno Barreto, Brazil, 2013, 118 min. In Portuguese and English with English subtitles) Academy Award nominated filmmaker Bruno Barreto returns with a sophisticated tale of an unlikely romance between two extraordinary artists, set against the backdrop of political upheaval and a clash of cultures. Grappling with writer’s block, legendary American poet Elizabeth Bishop (Miranda Otto) travels from New York City to Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s to visit her college friend, Mary (Tracy Middendorf). Hoping to find inspiration on Mary’s sprawling estate, Elizabeth winds up with much more—a tempestuous relationship with Mary’s bohemian partner, architect Lota de Macedo Soares (Glória Pires), that rocks the staid writer to her foundation. Alcoholism, geographical distance and a military coup come between the lovers, but their intimate connection spans decades and forever impacts the life and work of these two extraordinary artists. The attraction of two polar-opposite women has rarely been so volatile and so erotically charged on the big screen. Friday, June 21 and Saturday, June 22, 2pm

REACHING FOR THE MOON
(Flores Raras, Bruno Barreto, Brazil, 2013, 118 min. In Portuguese and English with English subtitles)

Academy Award nominated filmmaker Bruno Barreto returns with a sophisticated tale of an unlikely romance between two extraordinary artists, set against the backdrop of political upheaval and a clash of cultures. Grappling with writer’s block, legendary American poet Elizabeth Bishop (Miranda Otto) travels from New York City to Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s to visit her college friend, Mary (Tracy Middendorf). Hoping to find inspiration on Mary’s sprawling estate, Elizabeth winds up with much more—a tempestuous relationship with Mary’s bohemian partner, architect Lota de Macedo Soares (Glória Pires), that rocks the staid writer to her foundation. Alcoholism, geographical distance and a military coup come between the lovers, but their intimate connection spans decades and forever impacts the life and work of these two extraordinary artists. The attraction of two polar-opposite women has rarely been so volatile and so erotically charged on the big screen.

Friday, June 21 and Saturday, June 22, 2pm

VINICIUS (Miguel Faria Jr., Brazil/Spain, 2005, 121 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles) Vinicius de Moraes (1913-1980) was a cultural force—the sublime poet of the quotidien, author of over 400 poems and 400 song lyrics—and a man who married nine times. He co-wrote The Girl from Ipanema and many other samba and bossa-nova standards. His play Orfeu da Conceição was adapted into the Oscar-winning 1958 film Black Orpheus, for which he also co-wrote several classic songs. To celebrate the life and work of a multifaceted creator—playwright, poet, partner of the most important names of MPB and, above all, an enlightened personage of the country's cultural history—director Miguel Faria Jr. has brought together an incomparable cast of partners, interpreters, friends and rare archival images to reconstruct Vinicius' genial simplicity with the spontaneity, humor, and freedom of friends conversing in a bar. Saturday, July 6, 2pm

VINICIUS
(Miguel Faria Jr., Brazil/Spain, 2005, 121 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)

Vinicius de Moraes (1913-1980) was a cultural force—the sublime poet of the quotidien, author of over 400 poems and 400 song lyrics—and a man who married nine times. He co-wrote The Girl from Ipanema and many other samba and bossa-nova standards. His play Orfeu da Conceição was adapted into the Oscar-winning 1958 film Black Orpheus, for which he also co-wrote several classic songs. To celebrate the life and work of a multifaceted creator—playwright, poet, partner of the most important names of MPB and, above all, an enlightened personage of the country's cultural history—director Miguel Faria Jr. has brought together an incomparable cast of partners, interpreters, friends and rare archival images to reconstruct Vinicius' genial simplicity with the spontaneity, humor, and freedom of friends conversing in a bar.

Saturday, July 6, 2pm

THAT MAN FROM RIO ( L'homme de Ri o, Philippe de Broca, France/Italy, 1964, 112 min. In French, Portuguese, and English with English subtitles) A blow dart-wielding thug snatches a rare statuette from the Musée de l’Homme; anthropologist Jean Servais (Rififi) is kidnapped in broad Parisian daylight; serviceman Jean-Paul Belmondo begins his 8-day leave by changing to civvies in a Métro entrance and witnesses fiancée Françoise Dorléac (Catherine Deneuve’s sister, killed in a car accident 3 years later) getting kidnapped herself–and then the chase begins: by motorcycle, shoe leather, flight to Rio de Janeiro sans ticket or passport, airport baggage carrier, cable car, pink car complete with green stars and a rumble seat, water skies, Amazon river boat, seaplane, jungle vine… all shot in breathtaking widescreen and color. Even as Dorléac, rescued, is kidnapped again, Belmondo performs his own blood-curdling stunts against that sugar loaf Rio skyline and across that under-construction unearthly architecture of Brasilia (even parachuting almost into the jaws of a hungry croc). Saturday, July 20, 2pm

THAT MAN FROM RIO
(L'homme de Rio, Philippe de Broca, France/Italy, 1964, 112 min. In French, Portuguese, and English with English subtitles)

A blow dart-wielding thug snatches a rare statuette from the Musée de l’Homme; anthropologist Jean Servais (Rififi) is kidnapped in broad Parisian daylight; serviceman Jean-Paul Belmondo begins his 8-day leave by changing to civvies in a Métro entrance and witnesses fiancée Françoise Dorléac (Catherine Deneuve’s sister, killed in a car accident 3 years later) getting kidnapped herself–and then the chase begins: by motorcycle, shoe leather, flight to Rio de Janeiro sans ticket or passport, airport baggage carrier, cable car, pink car complete with green stars and a rumble seat, water skies, Amazon river boat, seaplane, jungle vine… all shot in breathtaking widescreen and color. Even as Dorléac, rescued, is kidnapped again, Belmondo performs his own blood-curdling stunts against that sugar loaf Rio skyline and across that under-construction unearthly architecture of Brasilia (even parachuting almost into the jaws of a hungry croc).

Saturday, July 20, 2pm

A CASA DO TOM: MUNDO, MONDE, MONDO (Ana Jobim, Brazil, 2007, 58 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles) Even the most loyal admirer of Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim, the most internationally-recognized Brazilian artist and the person most responsible for turning bossa nova into a global sensation, cannot imagine the surprises they will encounter in this film. In this extraordinarily personal documentary directed by his wife Ana Lontra Jobim, Jobim speaks about his love for the nature of the Mata Atlantica and its influence on his music. In fact, his Rio home, the title of this film, is built on the edge of Rio’s Botanic Gardens which rise up the slopes of Corcovado. Shot in New York, Rio, and the family ranch in Poço Fundo, and incorporating previously unreleased material, the film shows intimate family moments, the birth of famous songs, parties at home with other musicians, and even Jobim in pajamas leading an “expedition” in the woods. Saturday, August 3, 2pm

A CASA DO TOM: MUNDO, MONDE, MONDO
(Ana Jobim, Brazil, 2007, 58 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)

Even the most loyal admirer of Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim, the most internationally-recognized Brazilian artist and the person most responsible for turning bossa nova into a global sensation, cannot imagine the surprises they will encounter in this film. In this extraordinarily personal documentary directed by his wife Ana Lontra Jobim, Jobim speaks about his love for the nature of the Mata Atlantica and its influence on his music. In fact, his Rio home, the title of this film, is built on the edge of Rio’s Botanic Gardens which rise up the slopes of Corcovado. Shot in New York, Rio, and the family ranch in Poço Fundo, and incorporating previously unreleased material, the film shows intimate family moments, the birth of famous songs, parties at home with other musicians, and even Jobim in pajamas leading an “expedition” in the woods.

Saturday, August 3, 2pm

TEMPLO VERDE (Luiz Eduardo Lerina, Brazil, 2019, 58 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles) Templo Verde ( Green Temple ) has at its center a very special garden where thousands of plant species are sheltered, some endangered. Featuring the participation of landscape artist Cecilia Beatriz da Veiga Soares, biologists Gustavo Martinelli and Henrique Rajão, and nature photographer João Quental, the documentary guides us through the diversity and exuberance of the flora and fauna of Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Botanical Garden. The Garden is located between the Floresta da Tijuca (Tijuca Forest) and urban Rio de Janeiro, consequently provoking reflection on the fate of a rainforest surrounded by city, the risks and challenges for its conservation, and the need for public awareness in order to preserve what remains of the native flora and fauna of Rio's Mata Atlantica. Saturday, August 17, 2pm

TEMPLO VERDE
(Luiz Eduardo Lerina, Brazil, 2019, 58 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)

Templo Verde (Green Temple) has at its center a very special garden where thousands of plant species are sheltered, some endangered. Featuring the participation of landscape artist Cecilia Beatriz da Veiga Soares, biologists Gustavo Martinelli and Henrique Rajão, and nature photographer João Quental, the documentary guides us through the diversity and exuberance of the flora and fauna of Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Botanical Garden. The Garden is located between the Floresta da Tijuca (Tijuca Forest) and urban Rio de Janeiro, consequently provoking reflection on the fate of a rainforest surrounded by city, the risks and challenges for its conservation, and the need for public awareness in order to preserve what remains of the native flora and fauna of Rio's Mata Atlantica.

Saturday, August 17, 2pm

MARGARET MEE AND THE MOONFLOWER ( Margaret Mee e a Flor da Lua, Malu de Martino, Brazil, 2012, 78 min. In Portuguese and English with English subtitles) Discover the work and legacy of botanical illustrator Margaret Mee in Malu de Martino’s documentary Margaret Mee and the Moonflower . The British-born artist spent more than 36 years in Brazil, completed fifteen expeditions into the Amazon rainforest, and produced over 400 illustrations of Brazilian flora, works that are now central to contemporary botanical science research. Drawing on her diaries, interviews, and narratives, the film reveals a tireless advocate for the preservation of Brazilian rainforests and an artist not afraid to command her craft in defense of environmental conservation. Saturday, August 31, 2pm

MARGARET MEE AND THE MOONFLOWER
(Margaret Mee e a Flor da Lua, Malu de Martino, Brazil, 2012, 78 min. In Portuguese and English with English subtitles)

Discover the work and legacy of botanical illustrator Margaret Mee in Malu de Martino’s documentary Margaret Mee and the Moonflower. The British-born artist spent more than 36 years in Brazil, completed fifteen expeditions into the Amazon rainforest, and produced over 400 illustrations of Brazilian flora, works that are now central to contemporary botanical science research. Drawing on her diaries, interviews, and narratives, the film reveals a tireless advocate for the preservation of Brazilian rainforests and an artist not afraid to command her craft in defense of environmental conservation.

Saturday, August 31, 2pm

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Aug
9
to Aug 31

OVID.tv Digital Release of Six Contemporary Classic Latin American Docs

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OVID.tv, the new and groundbreaking subscription video-on-demand platform, has announced the digital release of six contemporary classic Latin American documentaries by some of the region’s most acclaimed directors. The films, from Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, and Mexico, will be available for streaming starting Friday, August 9, at OVID.tv.

The new titles are:

·       Elena, the acclaimed debut feature by Brazilian director Petra Costa (The Edge of Democracy);

·       The Tiniest Place (El lugar más pequeño) by Tatiana Huezo, “one of the most impressive debuts by a Mexican filmmaker since Carlos Reygadas’ Japon” (Variety);

·       Natalia Almada’s powerful Cannes Directors' Fortnight entry El Velador;

·       Beyond My Grandfather Allende (Allende, mi abuelo Allende) by Marcia Tambutti Allende, winner of the Best Documentary, Golden Eye Prize at the Cannes Film Festival;

·       The Other Side of the Wall (Al otro lado del muro) by Pau Ortiz, winner of the top prize for Best International Documentary at both the HotDocs and Chicago film festivals; and

·       10th Parallel by Silvio Da-Rin, a voyage deep into the Amazon to explore the implications of Brazil's policy on uncontacted indigenous tribes.

In addition to these new titles, OVID’s library already features several acclaimed Latin American films including Patricio Guzmán’s seminal documentaries The Battle of Chile and Nostalgia for the Light; the Mexican EMMY documentary winner Presumed Guilty by Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith; Cinema Novo, Erik Rocha’s love letter to the influential Brazilian film movement; the Sundance Award winner When Two Worlds Collide by Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel; and the New York Times Critics’ Pick 108 (Cuchillo de palo) by Paraguayan director Renate Costa. 

No other SVOD service makes available to US audiences such a large (and growing), collection of prize-winning and classic documentaries from Latin America, as OVID.tv.

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Aug
16
to Aug 22

U.S. Theatrical Release of END OF THE CENTURY

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END OF THE CENTURY
(Fin de siglo, Lucio Castro, Argentina, 2019, 84 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

In his alluring debut feature, Lucio Castro offers both a sun-soaked European travelogue and an epic, decades-spanning romance. When Ocho (Juan Barberini), a 30-something Argentine poet on vacation in Barcelona, spots Javi (Ramón Pujol), a Spaniard from Berlin, from the balcony of his Airbnb, the attraction is subtle but persistent. After a missed connection on the beach, a third chance encounter escalates to a seemingly random hookup. But are these two merely beautiful strangers in a foreign city or are they part of each other’s histories—and maybe even their destinies?

Castro deliberately parses out mystery after mystery, leading the audience on a journey of discovery as the two leading men discover themselves and each other. With sumptuous lensing of a Barcelona summertime and tangible chemistry between the actors, End of the Century is a love story that echoes across time.

Opens Friday August 16
IFC Center, New York City
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Opens September 20
Nuart Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
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Opens September 27
Opera Plaza Cinemas - San Francisco, CA
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Opens September 27
Shattuck Cinemas - Berkeley, CA
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Aug
21
to Aug 25

U.S. Theatrical Release of ROJO

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ROJO

A film by Benjamín Naishtat
(Argentina/Belgium/Brazil/Germany/France/Switzerland, 2018, 109 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

Set in Argentina during the Dirty War, on the eve of the nation’s descent into a military dictatorship in the mid-1970s, Naishtat’s hypnotic and neo-noir drama follows Claudio, a renowned middle-aged lawyer living a seemingly picture-perfect life in a deceptively peaceful provincial city. One night, a stranger starts insulting Claudio in a restaurant for no apparent reason. The patrons support him; the stranger is humiliated and removed. Later that night, the stranger—determined to wreak a terrible vengeance— intercepts Claudio and his wife, Susana. Claudio then starts to move down a path of no return involving death, secrets, and silences—further complicated by the arrival of a Chilean private detective. 

With powerful performances from its leading cast of Darío Grandinetti (Talk to Her, Wild Tales), Andrea Frigerio, and Alfredo Castro (Pablo Larraín’s The Club, No, and Tony Manero), Rojo is a timely drama whose historical references hold eerie resonance for our contemporary political moment—suggesting social complicity in the unfolding of far-reaching authoritarian regimes. Rojo, one of the most talked-about films at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival following its world premiere there, formalizes the young Naishtat as an emerging international star.

Opens Friday, July 12 at Film at Lincoln Center and the Quad Cinema in New York City
Opens Friday, July 19 at the Laemmle Royal
Playing August

 
 


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Sep
5
7:15 PM19:15

U.S. Premiere of THE ENDLESS DAY

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THE ENDLESS DAY / EL DÍA QUE RESISTÍA
(Alessia Chiesa, Argentina, 2018, 98 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

Alone in an isolated house in the countryside, Fan, Tino, and Claa (9, 7, and 5) wait for their parents to come back. Among games and tales, the waiting becomes unusually long while the solitude grows unsettling. In the midst of a strange and confusing atmosphere, the children’s apparently innocent and playful world begins to reveal its darker side.

“The Endless Day represents the unimaginable dark side of the world of childhood through a tone of strangeness. It looks in a slightly different way at situations that would normally be perceived as banal or go unnoticed, making them feel odd and out of place and thus opening the door to many questions. This film constructs storytelling through feelings, atmosphere, and questions rather than pretending to provide answers that would directly and simply satisfy the spectator but also withdraw from them the possibility of a personal opening and discovery.” –Alessia Chiesa

Thursday, September 5, 7:15pm
Anthology Film Archives

 
 
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Sep
6
to Sep 12

New York Theatrical Release of I'M LEAVING NOW

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I’M LEAVING NOW / YA ME VOY
A film by Lindsey Cordero, Armando Croda
(Mexico/USA, 2019, 75 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

The film follows Felipe, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, who has reached a crossroads: after 16 years in Brooklyn, working three low-paying jobs and sending the bulk of his earnings to his wife and children in Mexico, he's decided to return home to the family he hasn't seen in almost two decades. But when he informs them of his plans, he discovers that they've squandered the money, are deeply in debt and don’t want him to return. They need him to stay in the U.S. and continue to earn.

Shot over two years in the heart of Brooklyn’s immigrant community, I’m Leaving Now is a searing and intimate portrait of one undocumented worker on the margins. The film brings a warm humanity to one of the most pressing political issues of our time, without sentimentalizing or trivializing its subject. In allowing the rhythms, emotions and sounds of Felipe’s day-to-day life to drive the story, Cordero and Croda open an impressionistic, cinematic window onto a life that might otherwise remain unseen.

Opens Friday, September 6 at the Maysles Cinema in New York City

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Aug
14
to Aug 18

U.S. Theatrical Release of THE CHAMBERMAID

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THE CHAMBERMAID / LA CAMARISTA

A film by Lila Avilés
(Mexico, 2018 In Spanish with English subtitles)

A poignant and delicate class portrait, Avilés’ film follows Eve — played by the wonderful Gabriela Cartol (I Dream in Another Language) — a young chambermaid working in one of the most luxurious hotels in Mexico City, an exclusive glass tower inhabited by wealthy guests whose lives she imagines by their belongings left behind and their absences. Long, laborious shifts prevent Eve from caring for her child as she helps guests with their own children, but she believes she can better her situation after she’s promoted to work at executive-level suites, for which she accepts a grueling schedule. In keeping with her desire to improve her lot, she simultaneously enrolls in the hotel’s adult education program. 

An incipient friendship with her coworker and an awkward, silent flirtation with a window-washer prod her toward much needed bravery. When things don’t turn out as planned, Eve transforms her solitary explorations and newfound courage into the strength to face a life outside the high-class prison that’s entrapped her, breaking rules and discovering herself. 

Inspired by Avilés’ theater play of the same name — in turn inspired by Sophie Calle’s 1980 artistic project “The Hotel,” in which the French artist worked as a chambermaid in a Venice hotel — The Chambermaid is a standout among a thriving new generation of Mexican and Latin American female filmmakers. With impeccable cinematography, a near-documentary eye, and a humanistic gaze, the film signals Avilés as a talent to watch.

Opens Wednesday, June 26
Film Forum, New York City
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Opens Friday, July 5
Laemmle Royal and Laemmle Playhouse 7, Los Angeles
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Opens Friday, July 5
Roxie Theater, San Francisco
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August 14 - 18
Roxy Hotel Cinema

 
 
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Aug
9
to Aug 19

U.S. Theatrical and VOD Release of SÓCRATES

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SÓCRATES
A film by Alexandre Moratto
(Brazil/USA, 71 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)

survive on his own. As he faces isolation because of his sexuality, his search for a decent, worthy life reaches a breaking point. Produced by Ramin Bahrani (99 Homes), Executive Produced by Fernando Meirelles (City of God), and filmed with a micro budget of under US $20,000, Sócrates is the debut feature film from Brazilian-American director Alexandre Moratto. It is the first feature produced by the Querô Institute in Brazil where it was co-written, produced, and acted by at-risk teenagers from local low-income communities, with the support of Unicef.

Opens Friday, August 9 at the Laemmle Music Hall in Los Angeles
Opens Friday, August 16 at Cinema Village in New York City

 
 
 
 
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Aug
2
to Aug 15

U.S. Theatrical Release of Mariano Llinás' LA FLOR

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LA FLOR
A film by Mariano Llinás
(Argentina, 2018, 803 min. In Spanish, French, English, Russian, German, Swedish, and Italian with English subtitles)

“A decade in the making, Mariano Llinás’s follow-up to his 2008 cult classic Extraordinary Stories is an unrepeatable labor of love and madness that redefines the concept of binge-viewing. The director himself appears at the start to preview the six disparate episodes that await, each starring the same four remarkable actresses: Elisa Carricajo, Valeria Correa, Pilar Gamboa, and Laura Paredes. Overflowing with nested subplots and whiplash digressions, La Flor shape-shifts from a B-movie to a musical to a spy thriller to a category-defying metafiction—all of them without endings—to a remake of a very well-known French classic and, finally, to an enigmatic period piece that lacks a beginning (granted, all notions of beginnings and endings become fuzzy after 14 hours). An adventure in scale and duration, La Flor is a marvelously entertaining exploration of the possibilities of fiction that lands somewhere close to its outer limits.” —Film Society of Lincoln Center

Opens Friday, August 2
Film at Lincoln Center
Filmmaker in person opening weekend!
Parts 1 & 2 screen August 2-8 and parts 3 & 4 screen August 9-15; check back for more details.

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Aug
2
to Aug 8

LA Theatrical Release of the Cuban Psychological Horror Film IS THAT YOU?

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IS THAT YOU / ¿ERES TÚ, PAPÁ?
A film by Rudy Riverón Sánchez
(Cuba/United Kingdom, 2018, 107 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

Living in a modest shack in the Cuban countryside, thirteen-year-old Lili and her mother appear trapped in a meager, suffocating existence by her domineering father, Eduardo. His sudden absence should represent a new freedom for the girl and her mother, but Lili is distraught, and we come to discover just how strong the influence of this monstrous man is over his family. In desperation at losing Eduardo, Lili carries out a ritual taught to her by a spiritualist to help bring him back, leading Lili to uncover a disturbing truth about her father's disappearance.

Opens Friday, August 2 at Laemmle Music Hall in Los Angeles

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Aug
1
7:15 PM19:15

U.S. Premiere of THE DISCIPLE OF SPEED

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THE DISCIPLE OF SPEED / LA DISCÍPULA DEL VELOCÍMETRO
(Miguel Calderón, Mexico, 2008, 66 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

U.S. Premiere! / Filmmaker in person
Co-presented by the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York

In this biographical documentary about the 50-year-old Mexican multimillionaire Emma, visual artist Miguel Calderón shows how reality can far surpass fiction in improbability. Basically his film is made up of the video research for a full-length film. The way Emma garnered her fortune remains unclear and unimportant. However, the way in which that money makes it possible for her to go to the limit in her extreme hobbies and activities becomes overwhelmingly clear. The eccentric millionaire, mother of a strange adolescent son, has a black belt in karate, is a stuntwoman and artiste, and claims to have paranormal gifts.

“Calderón follows her during races, film recordings, paragnostic performances, and dinners with friends, but is – rightly – just as interested in the thoughts of the 25 bodyguards and in her son’s gun collection. The woman is entirely convinced of herself and has no trouble linking together different worlds. But Calderón, who wields the camera, increasingly becomes the frustrated protagonist in his own failed project.” –International Rotterdam Film Festival

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Miguel Calderón is a contemporary Mexican artist who, while working through the disciplines of painting, video, photography, and sculpture, examines cultural stereotypes through both a critical artistic approach and a personal lens. Exemplified by a flippant attitude and crude aesthetic, his work features an amalgam of both fine art and pop culture references. Born on June 1, 1971 in Mexico City, Mexico, Calderón spent much of his early artistic career studying at academic institutions, attending The Cambridge School of Weston in Massachusetts before receiving his BFA in 1994 from the San Francisco Art Institute. Calderón's paintings have gained notoriety in both the art world as well as in popular culture, notably being featured in Wes Anderson's classic 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums. His work has been exhibited in museums and institutions across the globe, including at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, New York, the Museum of Natural History in Mexico City, and in the São Paulo Biennale in Brazil.


Thursday, August 1, 7:15pm
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue, New York City
No advance ticket sale: Tickets available the day of the screening only

Presented as part of ‘’If You Can Screen It There: Premiering Contemporary Latin American Cinema,’ programmed by Matías Piñeiro and Carlos A. Gutiérrez.


 
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Jul
30
7:30 PM19:30

Brasil Summerfest Presents ARNALDO ANTUNES: IN HIS OWN WORDS and CLEMENTINA

Brasil Summerfest and Cinema Tropical present

ARNALDO ANTUNES: IN HIS OWN WORDS ( Com a Palavra, Arnaldo Antunes , Marcelo Machado, Brazil, 2018, 80 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles) Buy Tickets US Premiere An autobiographical documentary on the role that the word, the music, and the image occupy in Arnaldo Antunes’ work. From his origin as a poet to success as a singer and composer, the artist revisits the more remarkable moments of his career. Tuesday, July 30. 7:30pm Anthology Film Archives 32 Second Avenue, New York City

ARNALDO ANTUNES: IN HIS OWN WORDS
(Com a Palavra, Arnaldo Antunes, Marcelo Machado, Brazil, 2018, 80 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Buy Tickets

US Premiere

An autobiographical documentary on the role that the word, the music, and the image occupy in Arnaldo Antunes’ work. From his origin as a poet to success as a singer and composer, the artist revisits the more remarkable moments of his career.

Tuesday, July 30. 7:30pm
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue, New York City

CLEMENTINA (Ana Rieper, Brazil, 2018, 75 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles) Buy Tickets US Premiere A look at the trajectory of Brazilian singer Clementina de Jesus (1901-1987). Revealed belatedly at the age of 62, Clementina became one of the greatest voices of samba, representing the so-called “missing link" between Brazilian culture and its African roots. Clementina de Jesus was "discovered" at the age of 62 by researcher Hermínio Bello de Carvalho, becoming one of the greatest proponents of Brazilian samba, music, and culture. Immediately recognized by the musical academy for her unique presence and timbre, she worked as a domestic servant until her career was launched following her debut in the iconic Rosa de Ouro spectacle. She was the first black artist to be honored at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro in a historical show that brought together Paulinho da Viola, João Nogueira, and Elizeth Cardoso, among other prominent figures of samba. Clementina was honored by the Portela Samba School during their 1982 carnival parade. She left a large repository of material used here for the feature documentary, Clementina. Tuesday, July 30, 9:15pm Anthology Film Archives 32 Second Avenue, New York City

CLEMENTINA
(Ana Rieper, Brazil, 2018, 75 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Buy Tickets

US Premiere

A look at the trajectory of Brazilian singer Clementina de Jesus (1901-1987). Revealed belatedly at the age of 62, Clementina became one of the greatest voices of samba, representing the so-called “missing link" between Brazilian culture and its African roots. Clementina de Jesus was "discovered" at the age of 62 by researcher Hermínio Bello de Carvalho, becoming one of the greatest proponents of Brazilian samba, music, and culture. Immediately recognized by the musical academy for her unique presence and timbre, she worked as a domestic servant until her career was launched following her debut in the iconic Rosa de Ouro spectacle. She was the first black artist to be honored at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro in a historical show that brought together Paulinho da Viola, João Nogueira, and Elizeth Cardoso, among other prominent figures of samba. Clementina was honored by the Portela Samba School during their 1982 carnival parade. She left a large repository of material used here for the feature documentary, Clementina.

Tuesday, July 30, 9:15pm
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue, New York City

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Jul
11
7:15 PM19:15

U.S. Premiere of THE DEATH OF THE MASTER

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THE DEATH OF THE MASTER / LA MUERTE DEL MAESTRO
(José María Avilés, Ecuador/Argentina, 2018, 62 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

U.S. Premiere!
Co-presented by Kinoscope and the Ecuadorian Film Festival in New York (EFFNY).

“On April 16, 2016, a severe earthquake hit coastal Ecuador. José María Avilés’s first feature film is based on this national disaster, but at a great distance from the collapsed buildings and buried loved ones. He shows how an unexpected event can suddenly modify all the rules of the game, even in the remote town of Angamarca – the setting of the film – where the effects of the quake arrive as distant echoes of hostility in the natural environment. An elderly farmer has become one with the land, the lemon trees, and the livestock. But something has changed; nature is disturbed. Water doesn’t run off well, a calf dies for no reason, and the wind keeps picking up. Acting calmly, yet with rising desperation, the ‘maestro’ adheres to his daily routine, trying to get things back on track. It will kill him, that’s certain.” –International Film Festival Rotterdam

Thursday, July 11, 7:15pm
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue, New York City
No advance ticket sale: Tickets available the day of the screening only


Presented as part of ‘’If You Can Screen It There: Premiering Contemporary Latin American Cinema,’ programmed by Matías Piñeiro and Carlos A. Gutiérrez.

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Jul
10
8:30 PM20:30

Films on the Green Presents THE AMAZING CATFISH

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Films on the Green
and Cinema Tropical Present

THE AMAZING CATFISH / LOS INSÓLITOS PECES GATO
(Claudia Sainte-Luce, Mexico/France, 2013, 95 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
With Lisa Owen, Ximena Ayala, Sonia Franco

Martha (Owen), a mother of four rambunctious and imaginative children, finds solace upon meeting Claudia (Ayala), a younger woman trying to figure out her purpose in life. The two quickly become friends and Martha invites Claudia to come live with her family. When Martha’s health declines, the bond Claudia has with each member of the family is forced to be tested, giving opportunity for true, strong relationships to be created.

July 10, 8:30pm
J. Hood Wright Park
351 Fort Washington Avenue, New York City

 
 
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Jun
28
to Jul 4

Theatrical Release of Les Blank's CHULAS FRONTERAS

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CHULAS FRONTERAS
(Les Blank & Chris Strachwitz, USA, 1976, 58 min.)

A zesty introduction to the music and culture of the Texas-Mexican border. From joyous, lively dance tunes to soulful, political work songs, Norteña music fuses traditional Mexican harmonies with German dancehall rhythms and a little something extra. Newly restored in 4k, Chulas Fronteras celebrates the famed Mexican-American musicians of the borderlands, the migrant farming communities from which they come, the strong family bonds of Tejanos, and the social protest ethos inscribed in their music. Blank & Strachwitz's film brims with tender affection for its subjects, the vitality of their marvelous music, and the generosity of spirit they show in the face of hardship. Featuring Flaco Jiménez, Lydia Mendoza, Los Alegres de Terán, and many others.

Screening with Del Mero Corazón (Straight from the Heart)

Opens Friday, June 28
Metrograph
7 Ludlow Street, New York City
For tickets: bit.ly/chulasnyc
Maureen Gosling & Harrod Blank in person Friday, June 28 & Saturday, June 29!

 
 
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Jun
27
7:15 PM19:15

U.S. Premiere of THE OMISSION

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THE OMISSION / LA OMISIÓN
(Sebastián Schjaer, Argentina, 2018, 86 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

U.S. premiere!

“In a snowy and industrial city in the south of Argentina, Paula, a 23-year-old girl from Buenos Aires, starts an intense job hunt with the sole purpose of saving money. The lack of a job, a home and a stable emotional environment will end up turning that search into a personal and introspective journey. She will have to deal with the hard living conditions in the south as well as with the unsolved aspects of her life, which will gradually be revealed. She knows she is shouting, but she can’t hear herself. Resembling a combination of Carey Mulligan, Sandra Huller, and Michelle Williams, Brito—next to be seen prominently in a feature-length documentary by American avant-garde legend James Benning—keeps Paula flintily sympathetic throughout. She etches a subtle and believable portrait of an astute person experienced far beyond her tender years, and considerably tougher than her gamine looks suggest.” —Neil Young, Hollywood Reporter

Thursday, June 27, 7:15pm

 
 
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Jun
19
to Jun 20

IT'S ALL GOOD at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival

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Human Rights Watch Film Festival presents

IT’S ALL GOOD / ESTÁ TODO BIEN
A film by Tuki Jencquel
(Venezuela/Germany, 2018, 70 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

”A country's collapse is dramatic and in hindsight seems inevitable, but when it's experienced gradually, on a day-by-day basis, it can almost pass unnoticed, like looking in the mirror each morning and not seeing how you age.” - Tuki Jencquel, Director, Está todo bien

Venezuela is a country rich in natural resources that for decades has prided itself on having one of the best public health systems in the entire region. Today, the near-total collapse of Venezuela’s health system is resulting in severe medicine shortages, a dramatic increase in infant mortality, the reappearance of once-eradicated diseases like diphtheria, and a mass exodus of doctors to hospitals overseas. In Está todo bien, Caracas-born Tuki Jencquel asks a pharmacist, trauma surgeon, activist and two patients to confront the same questions millions of Venezuelans are facing: protest or acquiesce, emigrate or remain, lose all hope or hang onto faith? 

June 19, 8:45pm at the IFC Center
Q&A to follow with filmmaker Tuki Jencquel and Francisco Valencia, film subject and director of Codevida

June 20, 6:15pm at Film at Lincoln Center's Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
Q&A to follow with filmmaker Tuki Jencquel and Francisco Valencia, film subject and director of Codevida

 
 
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Jun
11
to Jul 25

Latin American Films at Rooftop Films 2019

Latin American Films at Rooftop Films

Co-Presented by Cinema Tropical

THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY A film by Petra Costa (Brazil, 113 min. In Portuguese and English with English subtitles) Buy Tickets As a child in 1985, filmmaker Petra Costa ( Elena , Olmo and the Seagull ) saw democracy take root in Brazil following years of authoritarian rule under a military dictatorship. Gaining unprecedented access to working-party leaders Lula de Silva and his protégée Dilma Rousseff, Costa traces the downfall of both democratic leaders following corruption scandals that resulted in the impeachment of Rousseff and the imprisonment of de Silva. Merging the personal and the political, Costa delves to the heart of her country's unfolding identity crisis, examining widespread institutional corruption while connecting her own family's complex past to Brazil's current crisis. Capturing a unique historical moment, The Edge of Democracy examines the forces at play in the global erosion of democracy. Tuesday, June 11, 7pm The William Vale 111 N 12th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn $16 online or at the door. Use the code DEMOCRACY25 at checkout to receive 25% of tickets!

THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY
A film by Petra Costa
(Brazil, 113 min. In Portuguese and English with English subtitles)
Buy Tickets

As a child in 1985, filmmaker Petra Costa (Elena, Olmo and the Seagull) saw democracy take root in Brazil following years of authoritarian rule under a military dictatorship. Gaining unprecedented access to working-party leaders Lula de Silva and his protégée Dilma Rousseff, Costa traces the downfall of both democratic leaders following corruption scandals that resulted in the impeachment of Rousseff and the imprisonment of de Silva. Merging the personal and the political, Costa delves to the heart of her country's unfolding identity crisis, examining widespread institutional corruption while connecting her own family's complex past to Brazil's current crisis. Capturing a unique historical moment, The Edge of Democracy examines the forces at play in the global erosion of democracy.

Tuesday, June 11, 7pm
The William Vale
111 N 12th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$16 online or at the door. Use the code DEMOCRACY25 at checkout to receive 25% of tickets!

THE BONY LADY A film by Thiago Zanato and Adriana Barbosa (USA, Brazil, and Mexico, 20 min.) Buy Tickets Arely Vazquez is a Mexican transgender woman leader of the Saint Death Cult living in Queens, New York. During her yearly celebration to "La Flaca" (The Bony Lady), as she likes to call her, Arely faces a lot of challenges to fulfill a promise she made ten years ago. Presented as part of the ‘New York Non-Fiction’ program. Friday, June 14, 7:45pm Green-Wood Cemetery 500 25th Street, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn $16 in advance or at the door. Use the code NYNF25 at checkout to receive 25% of tickets!

THE BONY LADY
A film by Thiago Zanato and Adriana Barbosa
(USA, Brazil, and Mexico, 20 min.)
Buy Tickets

Arely Vazquez is a Mexican transgender woman leader of the Saint Death Cult living in Queens, New York. During her yearly celebration to "La Flaca" (The Bony Lady), as she likes to call her, Arely faces a lot of challenges to fulfill a promise she made ten years ago.

Presented as part of the ‘New York Non-Fiction’ program.

Friday, June 14, 7:45pm
Green-Wood Cemetery
500 25th Street, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$16 in advance or at the door. Use the code NYNF25 at checkout to receive 25% of tickets!

TRUE LOVE IN PUEBLO TEXTIL A film by Horatio Baltz (Cuba and USA, 5 min.) Buy Tickets Nine-year-old Maribel explains to us how it feels to be stricken with the world's oldest infliction: love. Presented as part of the ‘Love is Short’ program. Tuesday, July 23, 7pm The William Vale 111 N 12th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn $16 online or at the door

TRUE LOVE IN PUEBLO TEXTIL
A film by Horatio Baltz
(Cuba and USA, 5 min.)
Buy Tickets

Nine-year-old Maribel explains to us how it feels to be stricken with the world's oldest infliction: love.

Presented as part of the ‘Love is Short’ program.

Tuesday, July 23, 7pm
The William Vale
111 N 12th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$16 online or at the door

MIDNIGHT FAMILY (Luke Lorentzen, USA/Mexico, 81 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) The Ochoa family runs a for-profit ambulance in Mexico City, competing with other EMTs for patients in need of urgent help. While making a living in this cutthroat industry, they struggle to keep their financial needs from jeopardizing the people in their care. When a crackdown by corrupt police forces the family to try legitimizing their operation, their desperate financial situation pushes them into questionable practices even as they continue providing essential emergency medical services. In humanizing the Ochoas’ ethically compromised business, Midnight Family explores urgent questions around healthcare, the failings of government and the complexity of personal responsibility. Saturday, June 29, 7pm Brooklyn Army Terminal 140 58th St., Brooklyn, NY 11220 Free! RSVP requested .

MIDNIGHT FAMILY
(Luke Lorentzen, USA/Mexico, 81 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

The Ochoa family runs a for-profit ambulance in Mexico City, competing with other EMTs for patients in need of urgent help. While making a living in this cutthroat industry, they struggle to keep their financial needs from jeopardizing the people in their care. When a crackdown by corrupt police forces the family to try legitimizing their operation, their desperate financial situation pushes them into questionable practices even as they continue providing essential emergency medical services. In humanizing the Ochoas’ ethically compromised business, Midnight Family explores urgent questions around healthcare, the failings of government and the complexity of personal responsibility.

Saturday, June 29, 7pm
Brooklyn Army Terminal
140 58th St., Brooklyn, NY 11220
Free! RSVP requested.

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Jun
4
6:00 PM18:00

BLACK GODDESS at the New York African Film Festival

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The New York African Film Festival presents

BLACK GODDESS / A DEUSA NEGRA
(Ola Balogun, Nigeria/Brazil, 1978, 95 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)

Co-presented by Cinema Tropical
Q&A with Ola Balogun

Black Goddess is a classic Nigerian-Brazilian film from director Ola Balogun that journeys into the past and present of Africa. Balogun’s tale is a love story that spans three centuries, set in both the 18th century and the 1970s, when the movie was made. Structured in the form of mystical journey, the film unfolds under the aegis of the Yoruba divinity Yemoja.

Monday, June 4, 6pm
Francesca Beale Theater
Film at Lincoln Center
144 West 65th Street

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May
31
to Jun 13

U.S. Theatrical Release of TOO LATE TO DIE YOUNG

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TOO LATE TO DIE YOUNG / TARDE PARA MORIR JOVEN
(Dominga Sotomayor, Chile, Brazil/Argentina/Netherlands/Qatar, 2018, 110 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

The year 1990 was when Chile transitioned to democracy, but all of that seems a world away for 16-year-old Sofia, who lives far off the grid in a mountain enclave of artists and bohemians. Too Late to Die Young takes place during the hot, languorous days between Christmas and New Year’s Day, when the troubling realities of the adult world—and the elemental forces of nature—begin to intrude on her teenage idyll. Shot in dreamily diaphanous, sun-splashed images and set to period-perfect pop, the second feature from one of Latin American cinema’s most artful and distinctive voices is at once nostalgic and piercing, a portrait of a young woman—and a country—on the cusp of exhilarating and terrifying change. A KimStim release.

Opens Friday, May 31
Film at Lincoln Center, New York City
Q&As with Dominga Sotomayor at the 6:45pm screenings on May 31 and June 1 
Buy tickets

Opens Friday, June 7
Laemmle Music Hall, Los Angeles
Buy tickets

 
 
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May
17
to Jun 13

U.S. Theatrical Release of THE WANDERING SOAP OPERA

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THE WANDERING SOAP OPERA
A film by Raúl Ruiz & Valeria Sarmiento
(La telenovela errante, Chile, 1990/2017, 80 min. In Spanish with English subtitles, )

Raúl Ruiz passed away in 2011, but it should come as little surprise that a filmmaker as mind-bogglingly prolific, subversive, and mischievous as Ruiz wouldn’t let that get in the way of releasing a new film. The footage that comprises The Wandering Soap Opera was the result of a 6-day workshop that Ruiz gave for actors and technicians in his native Chile in 1990, during his first return visit since his departure for France following Augusto Pinochet’s 1973 coup d’état.

Restored and completed by Valeria Sarmiento—Ruiz’s wife and editor, and an accomplished filmmaker in her own right—The Wandering Soap Opera turns out to be far more than a curiosity. Its status as Ruiz’s first post-dictatorship Chilean film would alone qualify it as an important film within his vast oeuvre (Ruiz made more than 100 films over the course of his career), but above and beyond that historical significance it proves to be a typically dazzling and inventive work that embeds a penetrating portrait of a society transfigured by the effects of almost 20 years of a repressive dictatorship into the form of a Borgesian parody of telenovela conventions.

The Wandering Soap Opera contains passages that are as deadpan funny and astonishingly resourceful as anything in Ruiz’s body of work, while Sarmiento’s elegant assemblage (she bookends Ruiz’s own material with footage of him leading the workshop) renders the final product a moving tribute to an extraordinary filmmaker for whom even a hundred films wasn’t enough.

Distributed by The Cinema Guild.

New York Times Critics' Pick!
"A critique of the self-serious idiocy of authority and a celebration of the anarchic power of imagination"
—A.O. Scott, New York Times

“The film is based on the idea…that ‘there’s no such thing as Chilean reality,’ that reality in his country is a series of soap operas. Ruiz specialized in making wry comments about his homeland: one episode in his film bears the heading, ‘If you behave badly in this life, you become Chilean in the next one. R.R.’” –Jonathan Romney, Film Comment

Opens Friday, May 31
Facets Cinémathèque
1517 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago, IL 
www.facets.org

Opens Friday, June 7
Laemmle Music Hall
9036 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA
Additional screenings at Laemmle Glendale on June 10, Laemmle Playhouse 7 on June 11, Laemmle NoHo 7 on June 12, and Laemmle Monica Film Center on June 13.
www.laemmle.com

 
 
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May
10
to May 12

COUNCILWOMAN at Workers Unite! Film Festival

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COUNCILWOMAN
(Margo Guernsey, USA, 2019, 57 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles)

Politicians aren’t often full-time hotel housekeepers, grandmothers, union members and immigrants working service jobs. But Carmen Castillo changes that when she wins a seat on the City Council in Providence, Rhode Island. Carmen Castillo is a Dominican City Councilwoman who maintains her job cleaning hotel rooms, as she takes on her new role in politics. She faces skeptics who say she doesn’t have the education to govern, the power of corporate interests who take a stand against her fight for a $15/hourly wage in the City, and a tough re-election against two contenders—all of this while balancing the challenges of managing a full-time job cleaning hotel rooms, and a personal relationship. It’s a journey behind the scenes of politics after the victory.

Friday, May 10, 8pm
Workers Unite! Film Festival
Cinema Village
22 East 12th Street, New York City

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May
10
to May 16

U.S. Release of Brazilian Supernatural Horror Noir OUR EVIL

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OUR EVIL / MAL NOSSO
(Samuel Galli, Brazil, 2017, 92 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)

Our Evil follows Arthur (Ademir Esteves), a former exorcist and doting father preparing for his only daughter’s foray into college. Hiding a secret from his own past in order to protect her future, Arthur hires Charles (Ricardo Casella), a professional hitman and amateur serial killer, to help him fight a demonic power he believes is coming to destroy his daughter’s soul. 

Rooted in a new retro score by Brazilian brothers Gustavo and Guilherme Garbato, Our Evil plays with noir motifs and gritty, handheld realism to offer a piercing personal study reminiscent of Lynch’s particular brand of horror. A possible break-out cult hit for fans of foreign scares, Our Evil marks Galli as a promising newcomer to the field.

Opens Friday, May 10
Laemmle Glendale
207 N. Maryland Avenue, Glendale, CA

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May
9
7:15 PM19:15

New York Premiere of STRANGE BUT TRUE

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STRANGE BUT TRUE
(Extraño pero verdadero, Michel Lipkes, Mexico, 2017, 93 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

New York premiere!
Filmmaker in person

“Jonathan and Yesi are in love, but fearfully keep this from Mister Clean, their dodgy boss on the bin wagons. In Mexico City, there is no end to the refuse. Cardboard and plastic are separated on the spot, and half-empty bottles of drink finished off in one go; for tips, they will collect the refuse from your kitchen. Everything changes when a body turns up among the containers, its pockets stuffed with cash. Mister Clean comes up with a plan that will benefit them all. In today’s Mexico, it’s simply impossible not to get tangled up in the wretchedness of the violent underworld. This second feature by Michel Lipkes shows an inescapable downward spiral – though not without a glimmer of hope – in luscious black-and-white. Film buff Lipkes nods to masters through clever references and symbolism, making Strange but True both an homage and movie-spotter’s delight on several levels. Hope, love, and belief in the power of cinema.” —Rotterdam International Film Festival

Thursday, May 9, 7:15pm
 32 Second Avenue, at 2nd Street, New York City
www.anthologyfilmarchives.com / (212) 505-5181 

This screening is part of: If You Can Screen It There: Premiering Contemporary Latin American Cinema

 
 

Co-presented by:

 
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Apr
27
6:00 PM18:00

Indocumentales Presents THE UNAFRAID

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INDOCUMENTALES Presents:

THE UNAFRAID
(Anayansi Prado and Heather Courtney, USA, 2018, 87 mins. In English and Spanish with English and Spanish subtitles)

The Unafraid is a feature length documentary that follows the personal lives of three DACA students in Georgia, a state that has banned them from attending their top state universities and disqualifies them from receiving in-state tuition at any other public college. Shot in an ob- servational style over a period of four years, this film takes an intimate look at the lives of Ale- jandro, Silvia and Aldo as they navigate activism, pursuing their right to education, and fighting for the rights of their families and communities. The Unafraid shows us what it means to grow up both American and undocumented in the United States.

Post-screening discussion with Celso Perez (Staff Attorney at the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project), Andres Guerrero (NYU MEXSA), and Shamina de Gonzaga (World Council of Peoples for the United Nations).

Saturday, Apri 27, 6pm - 8:30pm
King Juan Carlos I Center at New York University
53 Washington Square South, New York City
Click here to RSVP

 
 
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Apr
24
to May 5

New York Premiere of THIS IS NOT BERLIN at Tribeca

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THIS IS NOT BERLIN
(Esto no es Berlín, Hari Sama, 2019, Mexico, 112 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

The year is 1986, and World Cup fever has hit Mexico. Carlos (Xabiani Ponce de León) and Gera (José Antonio Toledano) are two best friends from middle-class families who are starting to feel out of place in their sheltered, entitled milieu. But then they discover a liberating, mysterious world of art, drugs, and sex amid the underground clubs of Mexico City. 

Hari Sama's electrifying coming-of-age tale doesn't take the traditional route for this type of story. Rather, the film eventually comes to embody the anarchic, hedonistic spirit of experimental post-punk excess—transforming into a kaleidoscopic portrait of avant-garde art, direct-action protest, queer awakening, and the dizzying, dangerous freedom of a world seemingly without rules. It's the age of AIDS, and right-wing conformism, but the film is neither cautionary tale nor nostalgia trip. Anchored by marvelous performances from its young cast, and Sama's assured, inventive sense of style, it's a picture suffused in both historical perspective and a forward-looking sense of the possible.

Tribeca Film Festival
Sunday, April 28, 6:45pm at Village East Cinema 4
Monday, April 29, 9:15pm at Regal Cinemas Battery Park
Thursday, May 2, 9:45pm at Village East Cinema 4

 
 
View Event →
Apr
14
to Jul 22

'Uchronias and Dystopian Futures: Latin American Science Fiction Cinema of the 21st Century'

  • Museum of the Moving Image (map)
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Uchronias and Dystopian Futures:
Latin American Science Fiction Cinema
of the 21st Century

Museum of the Moving Image
April 14 -  July 21, 2019

Co-presented by Cinema Tropical


Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas at Queens Museum, this film series takes a decolonial perspective on Latin American science fiction cinema of the 21st century.

The eight feature films and one short film originate from Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Mexico, among others and offer a unique focus on the present while reimagining the future.

They range in tone from the fresh comedy of César Caro’s Third World (Tercer mundo) and the intelligently sarcastic humor of Fernando Spiner’s Goodbye Dear Moon (Adiós querida luna); to the combination of sci-fi and horror in Oscar Campo’s I’m Another (Yo soy otro) or the video art experimentation of Daniel Molero’s Videofilia (y otros síndromes virales).

A pointed political consciousness moves each of the directors to create fiction from documentary references or materials that address current socio-cultural conditions. Such is the case of The Project of the Century (La obra del siglo) by Carlos Machado, a fictional film that includes archival footage and is set near the ruins of a Soviet-backed nuclear power plant in Cuba. Adirley Queirós’s White Out, Black In (Braco sai, preto fica) also combines docufiction and Afrofuturism in portraying two victims of police brutality; whereas Amat Escalante uses science fiction as a means to boost evidence of an ominous reality in The Untamed (La región salvaje). 


Organized by guest curator Itala Schmelz, with assistance from Clemente Castor. 

GOODBYE DEAR MOON / ADIÓS QUERIDA LUNA (Fernando Spiner. Argentina. 2004, 100 min. In Spanish and Italian with English subtitles). With Alejandro Urdapilleta, Alejandra Flechner, Gabriel Goity. Introduced by Guest Curator Itala Schmelz; with discussion after the screening Buy Tickets Set in the year 2068, Goodbye Dear Moon is a film with regional roots that doubles as a space opera. To save the earth from natural disasters and catastrophes, an Argentine scientist proposes to destroy the moon against the advice of the international community who has threatened to sanction Argentina. When a group of astronauts directed by the scientist attempt to bomb the moon from a rocket, the moon defends itself by sending out a mysterious force that makes the astronauts hallucinate. Reality suddenly becomes twisted, and the earthlings lose their sanity in a style reminiscent of Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972). The film also touches on discourses surrounding womanhood and femininity: a female astronaut in the group falls in love with a powerful extraterrestrial being—an unknown spirit or God who takes the form of a tango dancer. They escape together while the spaceship is destroyed by the Argentinians. Sunday, April 14, 6:30pm

GOODBYE DEAR MOON / ADIÓS QUERIDA LUNA
(Fernando Spiner. Argentina. 2004, 100 min. In Spanish and Italian with English subtitles). With Alejandro Urdapilleta, Alejandra Flechner, Gabriel Goity.
Introduced by Guest Curator Itala Schmelz; with discussion after the screening
Buy Tickets

Set in the year 2068, Goodbye Dear Moon is a film with regional roots that doubles as a space opera. To save the earth from natural disasters and catastrophes, an Argentine scientist proposes to destroy the moon against the advice of the international community who has threatened to sanction Argentina. When a group of astronauts directed by the scientist attempt to bomb the moon from a rocket, the moon defends itself by sending out a mysterious force that makes the astronauts hallucinate. Reality suddenly becomes twisted, and the earthlings lose their sanity in a style reminiscent of Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972). The film also touches on discourses surrounding womanhood and femininity: a female astronaut in the group falls in love with a powerful extraterrestrial being—an unknown spirit or God who takes the form of a tango dancer. They escape together while the spaceship is destroyed by the Argentinians.

Sunday, April 14, 6:30pm

THIRD WORLD / TERCER MUNDO (Cesar Caro, Bolivia/Chile/Costa Rica. 2009, 85 mins. In Spanish with English subtitles) With Juan Pablo Garuti, Carmen Tito, Luis Miguel Sanchez. Buy Tickets In this film, the imaginaries dominating science fiction—astronauts, alien sightings, and meteorites that threaten the end of the world—are staged in three parallel story lines. The protagonists are a Chilean scientist engaged in a secret NASA mission; an indigenous Bolivian woman whose grandfather transmits knowledge to her about pre-Hispanic cultures with extraterrestrial contacts; and a group of Costa Rican friends, including one who thinks he is an alien and another who is a devoted fan of science fiction and unsuccessfully pursues encounters of the third kind. Sunday, April 28, 6:30pm

THIRD WORLD / TERCER MUNDO
(Cesar Caro, Bolivia/Chile/Costa Rica. 2009, 85 mins. In Spanish with English subtitles) With Juan Pablo Garuti, Carmen Tito, Luis Miguel Sanchez.
Buy Tickets

In this film, the imaginaries dominating science fiction—astronauts, alien sightings, and meteorites that threaten the end of the world—are staged in three parallel story lines. The protagonists are a Chilean scientist engaged in a secret NASA mission; an indigenous Bolivian woman whose grandfather transmits knowledge to her about pre-Hispanic cultures with extraterrestrial contacts; and a group of Costa Rican friends, including one who thinks he is an alien and another who is a devoted fan of science fiction and unsuccessfully pursues encounters of the third kind.

Sunday, April 28, 6:30pm

THE PROJECT OF THE CENTURY / LA OBRA DEL SIGLO ( La obra del siglo , Carlos Machado Quintela. Cuba. 2015, 100 min.) With Mario Balmaseda, Mario Guerra, Leonardo Gascón. In Spanish with English subtitles. Preceded by THE SATELLITE SPACE CENTER OF COLOMBIA ( Centro espacial satelital de Colombia, La Decanatura. Colombia, 2015, 10 min.) Sunday, May 12, 6:30pm

THE PROJECT OF THE CENTURY / LA OBRA DEL SIGLO
(La obra del siglo, Carlos Machado Quintela. Cuba. 2015, 100 min.) With Mario Balmaseda, Mario Guerra, Leonardo Gascón. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Preceded by THE SATELLITE SPACE CENTER OF COLOMBIA (Centro espacial satelital de Colombia, La Decanatura. Colombia, 2015, 10 min.)

Sunday, May 12, 6:30pm

I'M ANOTHER / YO SOY OTRO ( Yo soy otro , Oscar Campo. Colombia. 2008, 83 min.) With Héctor García, Jenifer Nava, Patricia Castañeda. Sunday, May 26, 6:30pm

I'M ANOTHER / YO SOY OTRO
(Yo soy otro, Oscar Campo. Colombia. 2008, 83 min.) With Héctor García, Jenifer Nava, Patricia Castañeda.

Sunday, May 26, 6:30pm

VIDEOPHILIA (AND OTHER VIRAL SYNDROMES) / VIDEOFILIA (Y OTROS SÍNDROMES VIRALES) (Juan Daniel F. Molero. Peru. 2015, 112 min. In Spanish and English with English subtitles) Sunday, June 9, 6:30pm

VIDEOPHILIA (AND OTHER VIRAL SYNDROMES) / VIDEOFILIA (Y OTROS SÍNDROMES VIRALES)
(Juan Daniel F. Molero. Peru. 2015, 112 min. In Spanish and English with English subtitles)

Sunday, June 9, 6:30pm

WHITE OUT, BLACK IN / BRANCO SAI, PETRO FICA ( Branco sai, preto fica, Adirley Queirós. Brazil, 2014, 90 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles) With Marquim do Tropa, Dilmar Durães. Sunday, June 23, 6:30pm

WHITE OUT, BLACK IN / BRANCO SAI, PETRO FICA
(Branco sai, preto fica, Adirley Queirós. Brazil, 2014, 90 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles) With Marquim do Tropa, Dilmar Durães.

Sunday, June 23, 6:30pm

UFOS IN ZACAPA / OVNIS EN ZACAPA ( Marcos Machado Loria. Guatemala. 2014, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) With Roberto Diaz, Alejandra Estrada, Daneri Gudiel. Sunday, July 7, 6:30pm

UFOS IN ZACAPA / OVNIS EN ZACAPA

( Marcos Machado Loria. Guatemala. 2014, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) With Roberto Diaz, Alejandra Estrada, Daneri Gudiel.

Sunday, July 7, 6:30pm

THE UNTAMED / LA REGIÓN SALVAJE (Amat Escalante. Mexico. 2016, 98 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) With Ruth Ramos, Simone Bucio, Jesús Meza Sunday, July 21, 6:30pm

THE UNTAMED / LA REGIÓN SALVAJE

(Amat Escalante. Mexico. 2016, 98 min. In Spanish with English subtitles) With Ruth Ramos, Simone Bucio, Jesús Meza

Sunday, July 21, 6:30pm

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Apr
11
7:15 PM19:15

New York Premiere of THE WEAK ONES

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THE WEAK ONES / LOS DÉBILES
A film by Raúl Rico & Eduardo Giralt Brun
(Mexico, 2018, 65 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

New York premiere!

“The stoic Victor gets into an argument with The Selfie, a member of a youth gang. Soon afterwards, Victor’s dogs are murdered. He arms himself and sets out for revenge, in search of the rival who’s now disappeared without a trace. But the journey proves difficult, taking Victor through Sinaloa, the stretch of land on Mexico’s Pacific coast that a ruthless criminal cartel has transformed into bloody terrain. Violence and death are part of everyday life here. Victor’s journey is hemmed in by an eccentric cast of characters, each of whom reveals a new clue on where The Selfie might be found – until the two rivals finally meet in a brilliant and unexpected finale.

“With The Weak Ones, directors Raúl Rico and Eduardo Giralt Brun deliver a contemporary spin on a classic tale of crime and punishment, a virtuoso accomplishment that achieves the seemingly impossible: a revenge film in which the need for vengeance ultimately fades into the background. With calm and composed camera work and marvelously droll humor, they have created a road movie extraordinarily rich in atmosphere, featuring striking locales in a fascinating landscape that manages to be two things at once: heaven and hell.” –Berlinale Forum

Thursday, April 11, 7:15pm
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue, at 2nd Street, New York City
www.anthologyfilmarchives.com / (212) 505-5181 


This screening is part of: If You Can Screen It There: Premiering Contemporary Latin American Cinema

 
 
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Apr
5
7:10 PM19:10

LOS REYES at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

  • Cinema 4 — Durham Convention Center (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS
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LOS REYES
(Bettina Perut, Iván Osnovikoff,  Chile/Germany, 2018, 78 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

“Los reyes is Spanish for “the kings,” and in a public park in Santiago, Chile, two dark-haired stray mutts, Football and Chola, are the titular monarchs (more accurately, king and queen). There’s a lot to do: Between naps, they persecute the outrageous trespasses of bicycles, mopeds, and donkeys and confiscate empty plastic bottles and old tennis balls. Among their subjects are the park’s shiftless skateboarding set, whose overheard conversations give the film a series of disconnected human tangents. Mostly, though, Los Reyes is a patient and close study of two dogs. Really close: Wet noses, tongues, paws, and flies come in for spooky macro-lens shots. But it’s the dogs’ hearts we get closest to. Directors Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff bring playful edits and a clever narrative structure to the story of an entirely public yet largely unnoticed friendship. “

Friday, April 5, 7:10pm
Cinema 4 — Durham Convention Center
301 West Morgan Street, Durham, NC
https://www.fullframefest.org/film/los-reyes/

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Mar
25
6:30 PM18:30

Indocumentales Presents I'M LEAVING NOW

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I'm Leaving Now 
(Ya me voy, Lindsey Cordero and Armando Croda, Mexico/USA, 2018, 74 mins. In Spanish with English subtitles) 

Felipe has come to a crossroads. After 16 years in Brooklyn, working three low-paying jobs and collecting bottles on the street in his spare time and sending the bulk of his earnings home to his family in Mexico, he's decided to return to his wife and the children he hasn't seen in almost two decades. But when he informs his family of his homecoming, he discovers that they've squandered the money, are deeply in debt and don’t want him to return. They need him to stay in the US, continuing to earn. 

Shot over two years in the heart of Brooklyn’s immigrant community, I'm Leaving Now (Ya me voy) is a searingly intimate portrait of one undocumented worker on the margins. A blend of documentary with some fictional elements, the film allows the rhythms, emotions and sounds of Felipe’s life and the city to drive the story, utilizing a structure and a style often not seen in documentaries. Impressionistic, cinematic and with the city as its soundscape, the film pushes the boundary of how documentary can capture the lives of the unseen, ultimately elevating this one lonely man’s story into a lyrical meditation on themes of family and home, loneliness and love. As Felipe debates whether to stay or go, the film builds to a heartbreaking portrait of the struggle and drama that exist in the lives of the often invisible figures toiling away in the kitchens, hotel rooms and construction sites of our biggest cities. Eschewing politics, the film is political nonetheless – a quiet and unforgettable snapshot of one man held in suspension between a world of endless work and a faraway home


Post-screening discussion with filmmakers Armando Croda and Lindsey Cordero, writer/producer Josh Alexander, and Director of Quantitative Research at New American Economy, Andrew Lim. Moderated by Executive Director of the World Council of Peoples for the United Nations (WCPUN), Shamina de Gonzaga. 


This program is free and open to the public. I’m Leaving Now is screened as part of Carnegie Hall’s ‘Migrations: The Making of America Festival’ - a citywide program with planned events through the months of March, April, and May. For more information, please click here. 


PLEASE THE EVENT REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED.
STANDBY LINE AT THE DAY OF THE EVENT ON A FIRST-COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS.
SEATING IS LIMITED.

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Mar
14
7:15 PM19:15

NOELÍ OVERSEAS at Anthology Film Archives

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NOELÍ OVERSEAS
(Noelí en los países, Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas, Dominican Republic, 2017, 54 min. In Spanish, English, and French with English subtitles)

Yanet Mojica, a young actress, made her cinematic debut alongside Geraldine Chaplin in Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas’s 2014 film, Sand Dollars. In their more recent documentary/fiction hybrid, Noelí Overseas, Mojica takes center stage.

“Hired to star in a fashion infomercial to be shot in Venice in the majestic Hotel Excelsior, Yanet sets foot in Europe for the first time. Once the prudishness of the crew members has been overcome, she joyously drags them along into a Caribbean universe made up of rhythm and dance. Although the filmmakers still dream of exile, the empowerment of a young woman is what ultimately manifests itself here. Yanet lives on the screen through her strength and her grace. She tackles every moment with lightheartedness. The image and its relationship with the sound design lends an almost phantasmagorical feel to certain sequences while depicting these elements through a discerning distance.” —Visions du Réel

Thursday, March 14, 7:15pm

 
 
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Mar
14
to Mar 17

Caribbean Film Series: A 5th Anniversary Festival

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Caribbean Film Series:
A 5th Anniversary Festival

March 14 - 17, 2019
BAMcinématek

From Thursday, March 14 through Sunday, March 17, Caribbean Film Academy, The Luminal Theater, Third Horizon, and BAM Film present Caribbean Film Series: A 5th Anniversary Festival, a four-day festival marking the five-year anniversary of the Caribbean Film Series, a platform for fresh and contemporary films from the Caribbean and its diaspora. In shorts, narrative feature films, and documentaries from Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the U.K., and more, the series explores the thematic and aesthetic diversity of Caribbean cinema.  

Cinema Tropical is proud to be a presenting partner for a number of Spanish-speaking and Latino influence films in the Festival, including  the moving Puerto Rican historical sovereignty documentary 1950: The Nationalist Uprising (Davila Marichal, 2017); the Victor Jara Collective’s, The Terror and the Time (1978) and In the Sky’s Wild Noise (1983), two thorough and poetic examinations of Guyana’s colonial and political heritage, inspired by the legacy of the eponymous Chilean folk singer and dissident; and the critically-regarded Dominican crime fable Cocote (De los Santos Arias, 2017).  

All screenings at:
BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn
(718) 636-4100 / www.BAM.org/Film  

1950: THE NATIONALIST UPRISING (José Manuel Dávila Marichal, Puerto Rico, 2017, 105 min.) Buy Tickets Electrifying, revealing and timely, this documentary revisits a seminal event in Puerto Rico’s history: the ten days in October 1950 when one hundred people, members of the island’s Nationalist Party, took up arms to overthrow the rule of the United States and establish Puerto Rican sovereignty. The insurgents, outnumbered and ill-equipped, were crushed by the police and the National Guard, and either killed or imprisoned. Buttressed by archival film and photographs and animated reenactments, 1950: The Nationalist Uprising presents the testimonies of five Puerto Ricans who participated in this almost forgotten struggle. They speak about the consequences of the uprising on their lives, and the ideal of freedom that burns within them still. Preceded by AN EXCAVATION OF US (Shirley Bruno, Haiti, 2018, 11 min.) The shadows of Napoleon’s army fall upon their boat traveling through the mysterious cave named after Marie Jeanne, a female soldier who fought in the Haitian Revolution. It is this battle inside her cave that will become the most successful slave revolution in history. Saturday, March 16, 9:30pm

1950: THE NATIONALIST UPRISING
(José Manuel Dávila Marichal, Puerto Rico, 2017, 105 min.)
Buy Tickets

Electrifying, revealing and timely, this documentary revisits a seminal event in Puerto Rico’s history: the ten days in October 1950 when one hundred people, members of the island’s Nationalist Party, took up arms to overthrow the rule of the United States and establish Puerto Rican sovereignty. The insurgents, outnumbered and ill-equipped, were crushed by the police and the National Guard, and either killed or imprisoned. Buttressed by archival film and photographs and animated reenactments, 1950: The Nationalist Uprising presents the testimonies of five Puerto Ricans who participated in this almost forgotten struggle. They speak about the consequences of the uprising on their lives, and the ideal of freedom that burns within them still.

Preceded by AN EXCAVATION OF US (Shirley Bruno, Haiti, 2018, 11 min.)
The shadows of Napoleon’s army fall upon their boat traveling through the mysterious cave named after Marie Jeanne, a female soldier who fought in the Haitian Revolution. It is this battle inside her cave that will become the most successful slave revolution in history.

Saturday, March 16, 9:30pm

‘Dreaming to Change the World: The Films of The Victor Jara Collective’ THE TERROR AND THE TIME and IN THE SKY’S WILD NOISE (The Victor Jara Collective, Guyana, 1978, 1983, 105 min.) Buy Tickets Inspired by Chilean dissident Victor Jara, and Guyana’s connection to the Third Cinema movement, The Victor Jara Collective presents two seldom seen documentaries. The Terror and the Time (1978) focuses on the 1953 upheavals in what was then British Guiana. This documentary was essentially banned by the Guyanese government, and it would be five years before the collective made their second and final film, In the Sky’s Wild Noise (1983). A mid-length work, it features the late historian and activist Walter Rodney, author of the seminal book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa . A self-styled “guerrilla intellectual” whose thinking influenced the black power movements in the US and the Caribbean, Rodney was assassinated by a car bomb in Guyana in 1980. Q&A with Lewanne Jones of the Victor Jara Collective Sunday, March 17, 1:30pm

‘Dreaming to Change the World: The Films of The Victor Jara Collective’
THE TERROR AND THE TIME and IN THE SKY’S WILD NOISE
(The Victor Jara Collective, Guyana, 1978, 1983, 105 min.)
Buy Tickets

Inspired by Chilean dissident Victor Jara, and Guyana’s connection to the Third Cinema movement, The Victor Jara Collective presents two seldom seen documentaries. The Terror and the Time (1978) focuses on the 1953 upheavals in what was then British Guiana. This documentary was essentially banned by the Guyanese government, and it would be five years before the collective made their second and final film, In the Sky’s Wild Noise (1983). A mid-length work, it features the late historian and activist Walter Rodney, author of the seminal book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. A self-styled “guerrilla intellectual” whose thinking influenced the black power movements in the US and the Caribbean, Rodney was assassinated by a car bomb in Guyana in 1980.

Q&A with Lewanne Jones of the Victor Jara Collective

Sunday, March 17, 1:30pm

COCOTE (Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias, Dominican Republic, 2017 , 106 min.) Buy Tickets A rapturous crime fable set in the Dominican Republic’s Cocote follows Alberto, a kind-hearted gardener returning home to attend his father’s funeral. When he discovers that a powerful local figure is responsible for his father’s death, Alberto realizes that he’s been summoned by his family to avenge the murder. It’s an unthinkable act — especially for him, an Evangelical Christian. But as pressure mounts, he sees few ways out. Questions of faith, tradition and honor course through this electrifying film, which, seemingly at the speed of thought itself, jumps between film formats, colors, and aspect ratios, radically envisioning a community torn asunder by senseless violence. Sunday, March 17, 4pm

COCOTE
(Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias, Dominican Republic, 2017 , 106 min.)
Buy Tickets

A rapturous crime fable set in the Dominican Republic’s Cocote follows Alberto, a kind-hearted gardener returning home to attend his father’s funeral. When he discovers that a powerful local figure is responsible for his father’s death, Alberto realizes that he’s been summoned by his family to avenge the murder. It’s an unthinkable act — especially for him, an Evangelical Christian. But as pressure mounts, he sees few ways out. Questions of faith, tradition and honor course through this electrifying film, which, seemingly at the speed of thought itself, jumps between film formats, colors, and aspect ratios, radically envisioning a community torn asunder by senseless violence.

Sunday, March 17, 4pm

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Mar
10
to Mar 16

World Premiere of DAYS OF THE WHALE at SXSW

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DAYS OF THE WHALE / LOS DÍAS DE LA BALLENA

Set in the bustling city of Medellín, Colombia’s second-largest city, Days of the Whale follows Cristina and Simon, two young graffiti artists who tag spots around where they live. Their restless spirit leads them to defy a criminal gang when they decide to paint a mural over a threat written on a wall. The love that unites them, their friendship with other artists at La selva—an old house they use as a refuge—and family tensions, come together to tell a story in which the powerful strength of youth is challenged by fear, violence and the difficulties of growing up.   

Days of the Whale offers a vital portrait of the urban culture of a city in flux, and along some other recent films—such as Laura Mora’s Killing Jesus and Juan Sebastián Mesa’s Los Nadie—is putting Medellín in the map as an up-and-coming cinematic capital in Colombia, moving it beyond the media representation as the headquarters of the infamous Pablo Escobar. 

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Mar
9
to Mar 15

World Premiere of LA MALA NOCHE at SXSW

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LA MALA NOCHE
((The Longest Night, Gabriela Calvache, Ecuador/Mexico, 2019, 95 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)

Dana, played by Colombian actress Nöelle Schönwald (Love in the Time of Cholera), is a smart and beautiful woman who resorts to prostitution to make a living. She must deliver most of her income to a mafia boss, who protects and exploits her. She's good at what she does, a job she landed by mistake, out of love.

Perhaps, if she behaves well enough, she might get her freedom, but her daughter's illness and addiction to a pharmaceutical drug will prevent her from reaching her goals. An unexpected incident will give her the opportunity to break free from her captor and seek justice with her own hands.

SXSW Screenings:
Saturday, March 9 at 4:45pm at Alamo Ritz 2
Monday, March 11 at 2pm at Alamo Lamar C
Thursday, March 14 at 10:45am at Alamo Ritz 2

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Mar
8
to Mar 21

Los Angeles Theatrical Release of THE HEIRESSES

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THE HEIRESSES

Directed by Marcelo Martinessi
(Paraguay/Germany/Brazil/Uruguay/Norway/France, 2018, 98 min. In Spanish with English)

Chela and Chiquita have been partners for decades, lifelong members of Paraguay’s moneyed elite - until the money runs out. Now they spend their days selling their furniture, glassware, and silver to whoever will make them an offer. When Chiquita, the more garrulous and resilient of the two women, is sent to prison, Chela has to cope with loneliness and incipient poverty. Then a new option develops. The movie is anchored by two extraordinary, magnetic performances (Ana Brun as Chela won the Best Actress prize in Berlin) that suggest the untold inner resources of its principal characters. The director credits Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT as an important influence, describing THE HEIRESSES as “a coming-of-age film for a 60-year-old woman.”

A Distrib Films US

Opens Friday, March 8
Laemmle Royal, Playhouse and Clarendon
www.laemmle.com

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Mar
1
to Mar 7

U.S. Theatrical Release of THE CANNIBAL CLUB

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THE CANNIBAL CLUB

(O clube dos canibais, Guto Parente, Brazil, 2018, 81 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)

Set in the northeastern city of Fortaleza, The Cannibal Club follows Gilda (Ana Luiza Rios) and Octavio (Tavinho Teixeira), an über wealthy couple and members of Brazil’s ruling class, who have their special kink all worked out: manipulative sex and the cooked flesh of their economically and racially-marginalized hired help.

Delightfully scathing, the film reveals Gilda and Octavio as members of an elite club of similarly privileged couples partaking in the same cannibalistic hobby. When Gilda accidentally discovers that the leader has a larger secret, her and Octavio's futures hang in the balance.

 Gustavo Parente has produced a world in which Brazil’s very richest think they are unassailable, laugh and boast about infidelity, and murder at will with impunity—all while complaining about the poor masses that wander their nation’s streets. Locked up in their ivory tower, the irony is that their philosophy and resulting behavior isn’t, in fact, so far from reality - of course, sans the flesh-eating.

Opens Friday, March 1
Laemmle Music Hall in Los Angeles
The Roxie in San Francisco

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Cinema Tropical's programs are made possible with the support of the New York State Council on the Arts
with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. They are also supported, in part,
by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, 
the National Endowments for the Arts, and the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture.