Al
Art and Culture
28th International Festival of Latin American
Cinema
By María de la Soledad
Under heavy rains and with
fans rushing from one theater to another to see the previously chosen shows in
the Festival Daily News (10 a.m., 12:30, 3 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 8 and 10:30
p.m.), some beating the clock and enjoying at least 4 or 5 of the six daily
shows in the city’s main movie theatres, the 28th Festival has come
and gone. Today this column will deal with the event. After all, I have also
have been running from one theater to another for the last fifteen days.
In all, 18 movies from
Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Peru and Cuba, among other countries, were in
competition for the prizes in fiction films. And 18 also were presented in the
First Work category. Brazil was the country with the most documentaries,
followed by Cuba. In animated films, 23 were exhibited, and the most entries
were by Brazil, Cuba and Argentina. The contest for unpublished screenplays,
whose prize is the financing for the film, had the most entries -- no less than
128 (53 from Argentina, 11 from Peru and Colombia each, and 8 each from Cuba,
Mexico and Venezuela).
One of the most popular
sections, just like in most every other year, was the International Panorama
that presents films from all over the world: Iran, Switzerland, the United
States, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, France and Spain, the latter always
with the largest audiences. In that framework, one of the most successful films
was presented by its director, British filmmaker Stephen Frears. It was The
Queen, which recently won an award at Mostra de Venezia for the performance
of its leading actress. The film is based on a true moment of the life of
Elizabeth II of England, the present queen, about her personal and political
conflict when she had to decide what honors the recently deceased Lady Di should
receive. The director himself broke the ice in the presentation when he said at
the Karl Marx Theater in Havana: “I never thought that I would spend time in
Havana with the Queen and Karl Marx. So you see, in terms of coexistence,
everything is possible.”
For the inauguration, the
honor fell on El laberinto del fauno (The Faun’s Labyrinth), directed by
Mexican Guillermo del Toro, a controversial Spanish-Mexican-U.S. production who
many loved while at the same time as many left the theatre in the middle of the
screening. The story develops in Spain during the Civil War, and it is the
conflict of a beautiful and sensitive girl, a pre-adolescent that spends her
life between the cruelty of her military stepfather and the emotions of the
visit of a faun and some fairies, a situation that forces her to make
transcendental decisions. I believe a prestigious playwright that was seating
next to me in the theatre was right when he said that “the problem with the film
is that both storylines never meet; each goes its own way.” The film is the
Mexican proposal for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
The closing of the festival
was charged to Volver, Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film,
and Spain’s entry as Best Foreign Film to the Oscars. The film is also
nominated for the Golden Globes. As all previous Almodovar’s work, it is an
impeccable production with a great sound track and performances that earned it
the prize for best actress for all the female cast at the latest Cannes
Festival. By the way, Cuban María Isabel Díaz, known for her performances in
A Girl for David and The Nights of Constantinople, who with this film
becomes an “Almodóvar girl”, was chosen to present the film.
And speaking of the Oscar,
at the festival we also enjoyed other Oscar-nominated films such as Water,
from Canada, Family Rights, from Argentina, Vitus, from
Switzerland, and Nuovomondo, from Italy. The latter is about the arrival
of Italian immigrants to the U.S. in the early 20th century, a
subject that apparently is inexhaustible. Also aspiring to be nominated to the
Oscar are El Benny, from Cuba, and Madeinusa (the incredible name
of the main character), from Peru, whose director of photography is Cuban Raúl
Pérez Ureta. The film was awarded in this festival the Third Coral for First
Work.
Let’s talk about the Cuban
films presented at the festival. The prize for Best First Work (see below for
the complete list of the awards) was for El Benny, by Jorge Luis
Sánchez. It is focused on the private and professional life of that great Cuban
singer Benny Moré. The film was premiered in Cuba in mid 2006 with enormous box
office success. La edad de la peseta (The Age of Silliness), by young
filmmaker Pavel Giroud (director of the first story of Three Times Two)
had not been shown yet. It is the story about a teenager, his family relations,
particularly with his grandmother (played by Spanish actress Mercedes Sampietro)
and his awakening to love. The film received a Coral for Best Art Direction and
Best Photography, and also several collateral awards from institutions and the
press. Páginas del diario de Mauricio (Pages from Mauricio’s Diary) is a
moving story that takes place in the 90s, during the Special Period in Cuba.
Directed by Manuel Pérez (El hombre de Maisinicú), Rolando Brito, a Cuban
actor who lives and works in Mexico, gives a magnificent performance. It
received a Special Mention of the Jury.
Two young Cuban filmmakers
also presented their works. One is Alejandro Gil, with La pared (The
Wall), and Alejandro Moya, with Mañana. The latter drew a crowd.
According to a critic, it is “a deep voyage into the inner working of a present
day Cuban family in order to reveal the dangers of irresponsibility, intolerance
and inconsistence.” The cast is led by a young acting student, Rafael Ernesto
Hernández, supported by several other newcomers, plus experienced actors such as
Isabel Santos, Enrique Molina and Adria Santana, among others. A little known
fact is that musicians Silvio Rodríguez and Juan Formell, and painters Kcho,
Rancaño and Carlos Guzmán were associate producers.
Alejandro Gil, who directed
The Wall, is also a journalist, screenwriter and film and TV director.
He has just won important awards with a documentary he co-directed, Mountain
of Light, about Cuban literacy teachers in Latin America. The cast of
The Wall is comprised of Héctor Eduardo, Aramís Delgado, Isabel Santos and
Eslinda Núñez, the latter two classic faces of Cuban cinema. It is based on the
true story of a man that due to his own psychic and spiritual problems corners
himself at home and shuts himself off from the outer world. Through that
isolation, he dies.
A comment also for
Personal Belongings, the Cuban-Bolivian film directed by Cuban Alejandro
Brugués. It is the tough story of a young man that wants to leave Cuba, like
most of his friends, and his life is spent among consulates and visa
applications until he meets a girl whose family has left illegally in a boat.
The director has said that he wanted to tell a love story and reveal that
although there are things that should not be above it, in the end they impose
themselves. (The Festival’s Daily News, Day 9.) Coming out of the
theatre, a friend of mine told me: “Lucky me that I saw it in the festival,
because I don’t think that they will show it afterwards”. We’ll see.
The First Coral Prize was
for the Brazilian film Suely’s Heaven, by director Karim Ainauz, starring
actress Hermila Guedes, who made the presentation of the film at the festival.
It is the story of a small-town girl who has an idea for a raffle: whoever wins
it can enjoy her body for a full night. Also from Brazil came Francisco’s
Two Sons, by Breno Silveira, which won the prize of Most Popular Film,
awarded by the public. At the end of its premiere there was a standing ovation,
and coming out of the theatre I saw handkerchiefs and teary eyes. It’s the true
story of a very simple peasant with a passion for music who puts both his sons
on the road to self-taught music, one playing the guitar, the other one the
accordion. In time they become very popular singers, thanks to their father’s
efforts. Also from Brazil came a very awaited-for-but- disappointing film,
The Greatest Love of the World, starring the great actor José Wilker. A
great performance and great music by Chico Buarque de Holanda… but nothing more,
except the Prize for Best Music Score.
Three films from the U.S.,
always a hit with Cuban audiences, were World Trade Center, Oliver
Stone’s latest work; Melquíades Estrada’s Three Burials, directed by
actor Tommy Lee Jones, and The Assassination, starring Sean Penn.
For the first time in Cuba
there was a series of Dominican films. The best received was Perico Ripiao,
a 2003 film that marks the rebirth of that country’s cinema. It was presented
by the Director General of the Dominican Cinematheque, Carlos Francisco Elías.
There were two very much
awaited films, both formed by short stories from different filmmakers, and all
very well known. The first one, Eros -- with stories by Antonioni, who
is already a nonagenarian, Sodebergh, and Wong Ka Way -- disappointed almost
everybody. The second one, Invisible Children, was one of the best films
shown at the festival. It is comprised of eight episodes with different
filmmakers: Algerian Medi Charef, Brazilian Katia Lund; Chinese John Woo;
Bosnian Emir Kosturika: American Spike Lee, Brits Jordan and Ridley Scott, and
Italian Secano Veneruso. They told the stories of children who are victims of
selfishness and lack of love. UNICEF and FAO have asked for the film to back
their projects which benefit socially abused children.
And with my eyes full of
images, I say goodbye. Following is the list of the main prizes. See you next
tear. And a Happy Christmas!
First Coral Prize
Suely’s Heaven,
by Karim Ainouz, Brazil-Germany-Portugal-France
Second Coral Prize
The Road to San Diego,
by Carlos Sorín, Argentina-Spain
Third Coral Prize
Ricardo Elías’ Twelve Tasks,
Brazil
Special Prize of the Jury
Forbidden to Forbid,
by Jorge Duran, Brazil-Chile-Spain
Special Mention of the Jury
Pages from Mauricio’s Diary,
by Manuel Pérez, Cuba
Best Short Feature Film
Enjoy, Eat, Leave,
by Arturo Infante, Cuba
Best Actor
Julio Chávez, in The
Guard, Argentina-Germany-France-Uruguay
Best Actress
Hermila Guedes, in
Suely’s Heaven, Brazil-Germany-Portugal-France
Best Screenplay
Daniel Burman, for
Family Rights, Argentina-Italy-France-Spain
Best Photography
Luis Najmías, Jr., for
The Age of Silliness, Cuba-Spain-Venezuela
Best Music Score
Chico Buarque de Hollanda,
for The Greatest Love in the World, Brazil
Best Unpublished Screenplay
Peter Pan Kids,
by Arturo Sotto, Cuba
First Coral Prize for First Work
El Benny
, by Jorge Luis Sánchez, Cuba-UK-Spain
Animation Film
Mapelle,
by Javier Mrad, Argentina
Documentary
In the Hole,
by Juan Carlos Rulfo, Mexico
Best Experimental Work
They Exist,
by Esteban Insausti, Cuba
Best Film on Latin America by a Non Latin American Filmmaker
State of Fear: The Truth
about Terrorism,
by Pamela Yates, United States
Signis Prize by World Catholic Association for Communication
Report on an Escape,
by Israel Adrián Caetano, Argentina
Fipresci Prize (International Federation of Film Critics)
Born and Raised,
by Pablo Trapero, Argentina
Most Popular Film
Francisco’s Two Sons,
by Breno Silveira,
Brazil
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