A STRANGE PATH / ESTRANHO CAMINO
A film by Guto Parente
(Brazil, 2023, 84 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
“David, an experimental filmmaker, returns to Brazil for the first time in ten years when his feature film is set to premiere at a local festival. Although he has returned for work, his thoughts increasingly turn to his father, whom he hasn’t seen since he left. As news of the Covid-19 pandemic spreads and rumors of an impending lockdown intensify, David changes his ticket in hopes that the festival will eventually continue — but decisions are soon out of his control. Finding himself without a phone or a place to stay, David ends up on his father's doorstep. They begin an uncomfortable coexistence as David simultaneously tries to get to know his father and gain his interest. The old man, however, proves to be inscrutable and capricious as increasingly odd things start to happen around them.
Director Guto Parente makes use of experimental footage throughout the film to convey David's mood and accentuate the twists and turns of his journey. A Strange Path is a deeply personal story about family and belonging. Ultimately, what keeps David in Brazil is more than just the pandemic. Will he get the closure he is looking for?” —Casey Baron
MELODY OF LOVE
A film by Edmundo Bejarano
(Argentina/Belgium/Ethiopia/Germany, 2023, 85 min. In Englis)
“Clad in slim jeans and a leather jacket, with his electric guitar strapped to his back, jazz musician Michael (Elijah Reid) cuts an effortlessly cool figure as he moves through the streets of Addis Ababa. Playing the nightclubs of his beloved city and excited by the promise of an upcoming tour, Michael is every bit the working musician. When his mother asks him to join her in Brussels, the guitarist falls into deep existential dread at the thought of leaving and becoming part of the diaspora in a continent defined by its history of white entitlement and mistreatment. Michael sets out to bid loved ones goodbye, enjoying the simple pleasures of the city one last time. He comes to find a deeper purpose and a revolutionary reason for being in this jazzy, intimate look at the emotional toll of colonialism and the forced displacement at its cruel center.
Writer/director Edmundo Bejarano has crafted a richly layered, naturalistic portrait of displacement not just as a physical reality but as a historically shaped emotional space. With saturated nighttime lensing by Carlos Vargas, Melody of Love authentically captures the psychological toll of being culturally de-centered and the strategies needed to overcome it.” —Cedar Sherbert
RICHELIU
A film by Pier-Philippe Chevigny
(Canada/France, 2023, 90 min. In French and Spanish with English subtitles)
“Trying to get her life back on track after a breakup, Ariane moves back to her hometown and in with her mother. To save her sinking finances, she takes a job at the local corn plant as a French-to-Spanish interpreter for the seasonal migrant workers employed there. She befriends Manuel, an illiterate, naive young man who has left his small children behind in Guatemala to earn as much as he can in Canada. As Ariane begins to witness how the workers are being taken advantage of, and as the only one who seems to see them as real people, she finds it increasingly difficult to keep quiet. What unites all of them, from boss to migrant worker, is a deep desperation to keep their job, but the individual choices they make in the face of mounting pressure reveal everyone's true character.
Avoiding saccharine moralization, director Pier-Philippe Chevigny manages to inject empathy into every scene. Ariane Castellanos gives a captivating performance, with tortured compassion emanating from the screen. Richelieu is an incredibly strong debut feature that examines the terrible circumstances people can live through, and the individual cost of doing the right thing.” —Frederic Boyer
BOCA CHICA
A film by Gabriella A. Moses
(Dominican Republic, 2023, 97 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles)
“Dominican twelve-year-old Desi has musical aspirations and performs with a local all-girls choir, but her ambitions are much bigger. Desi yearns to one day leave her beachside community of Boca Chica behind and achieve fame and recognition as a singer. She keeps this yearning a secret from her family, specifically the women in her life who have raised her. Her occasional confidante is her older brother, Fran, who lives a facade of his own in New York City as a struggling musician who sheepishly works as a food delivery worker. When news arrives that the siblings’ cousin, Elvis, is coming to Boca Chica to marry his wealthy, older, American fiancée, it opens up past tensions and latent trauma in their family. Meanwhile, a restless Desi meets a group of Dominican teens — also aspiring singers and rappers — that lights a spark in her artistic pursuit.
Anchored by an arresting lead performance by Scarlet Camilo, Gabriella A. Moses’ feature directorial debut is an eye-catching, grounded coming-of-age drama that thoughtfully depicts a determined young girl rising above toxic and traumatic circumstances in pursuit of a musically attuned, artistically fueled future.” —Jose Rodriguez
DE LA CALLE
De La Calle is a docu-series that takes a journey into the Latino diaspora to explore the evolution of Urbano music and cultures that ignited the musical revolution of Rap, Reggaeton, Bachata, Latin trap, Cumbia and other sounds that are influencing music and culture worldwide.
After the Screening: A conversation with series host Nick Barili and additional special guests.
