February 14 - 18, 2020
Film at Lincoln Center
Presented by Film at Lincoln Center
and Cinema Tropical
“New York’s Neighboring Scenes series has quickly become
one of the most exciting bits of any year’s film festival schedule”
—Joshua Brunsting, CriterionCast
Now in its fifth year, Neighboring Scenes is the Film at Lincoln Center and Cinema Tropical’s annual wide-ranging showcase of contemporary Latin American cinema. Highlighting impressive recent productions from across the region, this selective slate of premieres exhibits the breadth of styles, techniques, and approaches employed by Latin American filmmakers today. Neighboring Scenes spans a wide geographic rang, featuring established auteurs as well as fresh talent from the international festival scene.
Organized by Carlos A. Gutiérrez and Cecilia Barrionuevo.
Special thanks to Arthouse Hotel, Meghan Monsour, Daniella Schestatzky, Matias Piñeiro, Paola Buontempo, Corey Sabourin, Mary Jane Marcasiano, Pilar Garrett, Stephanie Diaz, Ana Sophia Colon.
All screenings at the Walter Reade Theater
165 W. 65th Street, north side, upper level, New York City
(212) 875-5601 / www.filmlinc.org
LEMEBEL
A film by Joanna Reposi Garibaldi
(Chile/Colombia, 2019, 96 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
New York Premiere / Q&A with Joanna Reposi Garibaldi
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A pioneering queer writer and visual artist who shook up conservative Chilean society during Pinochet's dictatorship in the 1980s, Pedro Lemebel worked on a film about his own work during the last eight years of his life. Unfortunately, he was never able to complete the film before his death from cancer in 2015. With unprecedented access and footage from that unfinished project, Joanna Reposi Garibaldi’s documentary details the risk-taking, confrontational performance art that defined this extraordinary figure, whose work advocated for human rights, and which speaks to the recent political upheaval in Chile.
Friday, February 14, 6:30pm
SUN INSIDE / UM FILME DE VERÃOA film by Jo Serfaty
(Brazil, 2019, 94 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
North American Premiere
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Jo Serfarty’s spirited debut feature set in Rio de Janeiro follows four teenage high-schoolers from the favelas—Karol, Junior, Ronaldo, and Caio—as they plan their summer. When vacation arrives, the temperatures in the city soar, and, amid regular blackouts, they reinvent themselves, hoping to overcome their own personal adversities
Screening with PERSONA 5
(Ulises Conti, Argentina/Japan, 2019, 18 min. North American Premiere)This intimate portrait of a group of Japanese teenagers who spend hours playing video games shows how an addiction to computers functions as a substitute for the way humans once related to each other.
Friday, February 14, 9pm
COMPAÑÍA
A film by Miguel Hilari
(Bolivia, 2019, 60 min. In Spanish and Aymara with English subtitles)
North American Premiere
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The second film from Bolivian director Miguel Hilari (The Corral and the Wind) is a lyrical and mystical documentary about an indigenous community who migrated to the city and have returned to their small mountain village in the Andes to honor the memory of their ancestors for a festival of the dead. The film blurs the boundaries between past and present, individual and community, urban and rural, dreams and reality. Prizewinner at the Visions du Réel Festival.
Screening with BOCAMINA / PITHOLE (Miguel Hilari, Bolivia, 2019, 22 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. North American Premiere)
Filmed in the Bolivian city of Potosí, Bocamina concerns the miners who work in Cerro Rico, the mountain of silver ore that overlooks the city. Emerging from the darkness, faces begin a dialogue with those from years long past.
Saturday, February 15, 2pm
LET IT BURN / DIZ A ELA QUE ME VIU CHORAR
A film by Maíra Bühler
(Brazil, 2019, 82 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
New York Premiere
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Four years in the making, the new documentary feature by Brazilian filmmaker Maíra Bühler (I Touched All Your Stuff) is a powerful and delicate portrait of the seven-floor Dom Pedro hostel in downtown São Paulo, which houses 107 homeless residents from marginalized communities, many of whom are struggling with drug addiction and the ever-present threat of eviction. Employing elegant photography, the filmmaker reveals the tragic human stories of his individuals full of loneliness and heartbreak who nevertheless fight for life in solidarity.
Screening with GREEN ASH / CENIZA VERDE (Pablo Mazzolo, Argentina, 2019, 10 min. New York Premiere)
This short film revisits the tragic history of the Hênîa-Kâmîare community, which committed mass suicide in 1575 to escape the violence of the Spanish conquest.
Saturday, February 15, 4pm
THE SHARKS / LOS TIBURONES
A film by Lucía Garibaldi
(Uruguay/Argentina/Spain, 2019, 80 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
New York Premiere
Q&A with Lucía Garibaldi
Lucía Garibaldi’s assured and understated debut feature is an engaging and provocative coming-of-age tale. The film tells the story of 14-year-old Rosina (played by the wonderful newcomer Romina Bentancur), who lives in a quiet beach resort rumored to be plagued by sharks. Upon meeting the older Joselo, Rosina begins to circle him, as if inspired by the area’s mysterious predators. Winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Best Director Award, The Sharks adds Garibaldi’s name to an exciting list of powerful female voices emerging in South America cinema.
Saturday, February 15, 6pm
WORKFORCE / MANO DE OBRA
A film by David Zonana
(Mexico, 2019, 82 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)New York Premiere
Q&A with David Zonana
Following the death of his brother at a construction site in Mexico City, Francisco learns that his widowed sister-in-law will not receive compensation from the wealthy owner of the luxury house where the accident occurred. After enduring a succession of further abuses against himself and his colleagues, and having made several attempts to obtain justice, he finally takes the law into his own hands—but will the world he’s fighting against consume him? David Zonana’s acclaimed debut feature is a poignant and astute meditation on class warfare.
Saturday, February 15, 8:30pm
PRINCE OF PEACE / PRÍNCIPE DE PAZ
A film by Clemente Castor
(Mexico/Venezuela, 2019, 84 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
U.S. Premiere
Clemente Castor’s debut feature is a format-shifting hangout film distinguished by its young director’s visionary, oddball perspective. Prince of Peace is in constant motion, as are its characters: a group of Mexican teenagers whose daily routines are observed across bedroom hangouts, doctors’ visits, and fights. Melancholic but not without a sense of humor, Prince of Peace captures the immersive textures and sensations of youth. Winner of Best Mexican Film at the 2019 FICUNAM International Cinema Festival.
Screening with HOME (Alejandro Alonso, Cuba, 2019, 12 min. North American Premiere)Streets, houses, trees, and people appear between textures and sounds—memories of a city that once was and images of a city as it is now.
Sunday, February 16, 2pm
PIROTECNIA
A film by Federico Atehortúa Arteaga
(Colombia, 2019, 83 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
U.S. Premiere
In 1906, four men were executed for attempting to kill Colombia’s President, Rafael Reyes. The failed coup is revisited in Federico Atehortúa’s film essay, in which a family accident leads the director to discover the uncanny relationship between his mother, the origins of Colombian cinema, and recent events in the country’s prolonged armed conflict.
Sunday, February 16, 4:15pm
PRIVATE FICTION / FICCIÓN PRIVADA
A film by Andrés Di Tella
(Argentina, 2019, 79 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
U.S. Premiere
Q&A with Andrés Di Tella
In his latest documentary, Argentinean filmmaker Andrés Di Tella uses photos and love letters from his late parents—his father, Torcuato, born in Argentina; and mother, Kamala, from India—to create an intimate portrait of a turbulent 20th-century love story. The letters, written between the ’50s and ’70s and read in the film by professional actors, describe love and idealism, world travels, socialism and psychoanalysis, pain and broken dreams. Meanwhile, with the assistance of his own daughter, Di Tella sets about solving the puzzle of his family’s memory.
Sunday, February 16, 6:15pm
EMA
A film by Pablo Larraín
(Chile, 2019, 107 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
New York Premiere
In his first film since the 2016 double bill of Neruda and Jackie, Pablo Larraín returns to present-day Chile for an incendiary portrait of a young woman in rebellion. Set in Valparaíso, the film concerns married couple Ema, a platinum-blonde reggaeton dancer (played brilliantly by Mariana Di Girolamo), and choreographer Gastón (Gael García Bernal), who have abandoned their adopted 7-year-old son. A portrait of a modern family and a tenacious exploration of art, desire, and personal liberation, Ema is a rare character study that moves with the intensity of a heart-pounding dance film, set to an absorbing electronic score by Nicolas Jaar. A Music Box Films release.
Sunday, February 16, 8:30pm
DEAD WILL COME AND SHALL HAVE YOUR EYES / VENDRÁ LA MUERTE Y TENDRÁ SUS OJOSA film by José Luis Torres Leiva
(Chile/Germany/Argentina, 2019, 89 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
U.S. Premiere
Inspired by a line of poetry by Cesare Pavese, Chilean filmmaker José Luis Torres Leiva’s latest feature is an intensely felt tone poem about mortality and selfless love. Amparo Noguera (A Fantastic Woman) and Julieta Figueroa star as longtime lovers who must face the inevitable when one of them is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Refusing treatment, they retreat to a secluded cabin where they rediscover their love for one another. Torres Leiva’s camera locates tender and wistful beauty in every sequence, and the emotionally raw performances by Noguera and Figueroa conjure the intensity of a Bergman chamber drama.
Monday, February 17, 6:30pm
AGAIN ONCE AGAIN / DE NUEVO OTRA VEZ
A film by Romina Paula
(Argentina, 2019, 84 min. In Spanish and German with English subtitles)
U.S. Premiere
Moving freely between documentary and scripted drama, Argentine novelist, actor, and playwright Romina Paula’s debut feature is a rich and surprising personal work exploring the poignant emotional landscape of motherhood. Paula—who recently appeared in La Flor—plays a fictionalized version of herself, a mother who returns to her childhood home in Buenos Aires, which ignites memories and feelings of her life before starting a family. Performing alongside her real mother and three-year-old son, Paula creates an intimate, shape-shifting film full of affection and wisdom.
Screening with SHORTCUTS / ATAJOS (Daniela Delgado Viteri, Ecuador, 2019, 18 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. North American Premiere)
Through five imaginary interviews, Shortcuts presents alternative forms of rebellion and resilience in everyday life—a good strategy for avoiding the pitfalls of hegemony and colonialism.
Monday, February 17, 9pm
WAITING FOR THE CARNIVAL / ESTOU ME GUARDANDO PARA QUANDO O CARNAVAL CHEGAR
A film by Marcelo Gomes
(Brazil, 2019, 86 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
New York Premiere
The most recent film by acclaimed director Marcelo Gomes (Once Upon a Time Veronica) is an engaging documentary portrait of relentless capitalism, centered in the small Brazilian village of Toritama. Here, more than 20 million pairs of jeans are produced in makeshift factories every year. The locals work nonstop, proud to be the masters of their own time. During Carnival—the area’s only leisure time of the year—they sell their belongings and flee to the beaches in search of ephemeral happiness. When Ash Wednesday arrives, a new work cycle begins. An Icarus Films release.
Tuesday, February 18, 6:30pm
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LABYRINTH / EN MEDIO DEL LABERINTO
A film by Salomón Pérez
(Peru, 2019, 65 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
North American Premiere
Director Salomón Pérez’s debut feature, set in the Peruvian city of Trujillo, depicts the world through the eyes of teenager Renzo, a skater with no clear idea about his future, and Zoe, a girl obsessed with drawing the city’s maze of antennae and cables. In the Middle of the Labyrinth has all the hallmarks of a traditional slacker drama, yet is narrated as though a documentary—a snapshot of that moment of life when nothing is more important than falling in love and experiencing time as it gently passes by.
Tuesday, February 18, 9pm
