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


  • Museum of the Moving Image 36-01 35th Avenue Queens (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 discuss…

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
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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—astro…

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.
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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 COLOM…

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 MezaSunday, 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