Among the Latin American films playing at this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival…
Aquarius
(Brazil; Dir. Klever Mendonça Filho)
Saturday October 1, 2016, 2:30pm, Rio
Wednesday October 5, 2016, 9pm, SFU-GCA
Four years after taking VIFF by storm with Neighbouring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho returns with this socially conscious, stylistically assured character study. When a property developer lays its sights on her beachfront apartment, a widowed music journalist (Brazilian legend Sônia Braga) digs in her heels, leaving her the dilapidated buidling’s only resident. That said, every furnishing and object is laden with vibrant memories. “A potent portrait of personal and political struggle…” – Sight & Sound
Original Language Trailer | Review 1 | Review 2 | Review 3
Endless Poetry (Poesía sin fin)
(Chile/France; Dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky)
Wednesday October 5, 2016, 9pm, Playhouse
Friday October 7, 2016, 9pm, Playhouse
Cult legend Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo), now in his 80s, looks back on his youth and fashions this wildly inventive, criminally charming chronicle of the young poetry- and sex-mad Alejandro (the director’s son, Adan) let loose among the bohemians of Santiago, Chile in the 1940s and 50s. “[Jodorowsky] has managed to reinvent himself in the most spectacular and unlikely way… [This] is the most accessible movie he has ever made, and it may also be the best. It’s Felliniesque and moving.” – Variety
Website | Review 1 | Review 2 | Review 3
The Infinite Flight of Days (Infinito vuelo de los días)
(Colombia; Dir. Catalina Mesa)
Tuesday October 4, 2016, 8:15pm, Vancity
Thursday October 6, 2016, 8:15pm, Vancity
A renowned hub for religious tourism, Jericó, Colombia, brims with colourful characters. Inhabiting striking homes that share a birthday cake’s palette, the village’s residents are inordinately happy with their humble lives. Catalina Mesa’s elegant documentary paints this community through the distinct stories of its eldest women. “Eloquently capturing the vibrant history of the village, [the] film offers a poetic and intimate examination of love, loss, heartbreak, poverty and faith.” – Cinema Axis
Buy Tickets | Website and Trailer | Review 1 | Review 2
Tempestad
(Mexico; Dir. Tatiana Huezo)
Friday September 30, 2016, 4pm, Cinematheque
Sunday October 9, 2016, 8:15pm, Vancity
Demonstrating equal measures of artistry and outrage, Tatiana Huezo’s haunting film is both powerful cinema and damning indictment. Weaving together the stories of two women who’ve suffered extreme trauma and persecution at the hands of Mexico’s legal system, Tempestad paints an unflinching portrait of modern-day Mexico and its citizens, who are often the prey of a vicious ecosystem in which justice has eroded and corruption reigns supreme. “[A] smouldering, incendiary documentary…” – IndieWire
Buy Tickets | Website | Review 1 | Review 2 | Review 3
When Two Worlds Collide
(Peru/Qatar; Dir. Heidi Brandenburg Sierralta, Mathew Orzel)
Saturday October 1, 2016, 1:45pm, Intl Village 10
Tuesday October 11, 2016, 6:45pm, Intl Village 9
The irreconcilability of indigenous land rights and free-trade agreements has seldom been more dramatically illustrated than in Heidi Brandenburg Sierralta and Mathew Orzel’s riveting documentary about the collapse of Peru’s Amazon rainforest due to exploitation of natural resources. The sight of a pristine patch of jungle cloaked in oil is but one of the indelible images on offer as on-the-ground footage immerses us in a community’s struggle for survival against a multinational’s machinations.
Buy Tickets | Trailer | Review 1 | Review 2 | Review 3
The Human Surge (El auge del humano)
EDUARDO WILLIAMS, ARGENTINA/BRAZIL/PORTUGAL, 2016, 97 MIN.
THU OCT 6, 6:30 PM, CINEMATHEQUE
THU OCT 13, 10:30 AM, VANCITY
Kékszakállú
GASTÓN SOLNICKI, ARGENTINA, 2016, 72 MIN.
SAT OCT 8, 6:30 PM, CINEMATHEQUE
THU OCT 13, 9:00 PM, CINEMATHEQUE
Hermia & Helena
MATÍAS PIÑEIRO, ARGENTINA/USA, 2016, 87 MIN.
TUE OCT 4, 9:00 PM, CINEMATHEQUE
THU OCT 6, 12:45 PM, INTL VILLAGE 8
Beautifully acted and wholly mesmerizing, Matías Piñeiro’s (The Princess of France) latest riff on Shakespeare follows Camila (Agustina Muñoz) from Buenos Aires to NYC where she begins a residency program aimed at completing a translation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Comedy vies with feeling as Camila’s life intertwines with the Bard’s text… Pure cinematic pleasure! “The film’s shift from cerebral game-playing into pure, beautifully understated emotion is both unexpected and hugely impressive…”—Slant
BUY TICKETS | CLIP | INDIEWIRE REVIEW | ART FORUM ARTICLE
Panamerican Machinery (Maquinaria Panamericana)
JOAQUÍN DEL PASO, MEXICO/POLAND, 2016, 86 MIN.
CANADIAN PREMIERE
MON OCT 10, 9:15 PM, RIO
TUE OCT 11, 11:00 AM, INTL VILLAGE 9
The aging, affable employees of Mexico City’s Panamerican Machinery are preparing for the weekend when bad news abruptly arrives in threes: their beloved boss has dropped dead, the company’s finances have imploded and their pensions have disappeared. Suddenly masters of their own destinies, they circle the wagons (and lock the gates for good measure) and look to stave off the factory’s closure. Joaquín del Paso reveals the absurdity that ensues when the influences of Buñuel and Chaplin intersect!
BUY TICKETS | HOLLYWOOD REPORTER REVIEW
Sin Alas
BEN CHACE, USA/CUBA, 2015, 84 MIN.
CANADIAN PREMIERE
FRI OCT 7, 6:45 PM, INTL VILLAGE 9
SUN OCT 9, 3:15 PM, RIO
The first American film shot in Cuba since the revolution, Ben Chace’s love story seems simple at first but accrues considerable depth and emotion. Elderly Luis (Carlos Padrón) reads the obituary of a famous dancer—his lover from long ago. His memories and dreams are tinged with a half-recalled melody, a tune that he tries to track down with the help of an amigo. As the song leads Luis on a melancholy journey through a painful but passionate past, Chace immerses us in the rhythms and textures of Havana.
BUY TICKETS | WEBSITE & TRAILER | VARIETY REVIEW | HOLLYWOOD REPORTER REVIEW | NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW
We Are the Flesh (Tenemos la carne)
EMILIANO ROCHA MINTER, MEXICO/FRANCE, 2016, 80 MIN.
SAT OCT 8, 8:45 PM, RIO
FRI OCT 14, 11:45 PM, RIO
In post-apocalyptic Mexico, siblings fall under the sway of a Mephistophelean figure (a malevolent Noé Hernández), who coerces them into depravity that would make the Marquis de Sade blush. Endorsed by Oscar-winning countrymen Cuarón and Iñárritu, Emiliano Rocha Minter is undeniably the next big (read: monstrous) thing in Mexican cinema. “[A] joyously demented portrait of humanity… [This] thoroughly arresting vision could squat quite comfortably alongside Hieronymus Bosch’s depiction of hell.” —Variety
BUY TICKETS | VARIETY REVIEW | CINEVUE REVIEW