January: New Latin American Cinema
January: New Latin American Cinema, FLMTQ Releases 222-225
During the month of January Filmatique presents New Latin American Cinema, a collection of works from exciting filmmaking talents in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico.
Santiago Mitre's Paulina troubles paradigms of gender, power, class, and race relations in a small border-town of Argentina, refracted through the singular subjectivity of a woman teasing out the entanglements of a brutal attack and her own privilege. Alonso Ruizpalacios's effervescent debut Güeros captures the fleeting sarcasm and thrill of youth, as three teenagers drift through the streets of Mexico City amid the 1990s student protests. Sebastián Muñoz's gay art-house film The Prince traces a burgeoning romance between convicts inside the walls of a Chilean prison, while Kleber Mendonça Filho's masterful Aquarius navigates hidden undercurrents of Brazilian society and the destructive force of progress, as a widow fights to resist property developers intent on demolishing her home.
Including two debut features and works from acclaimed filmmakers alike, Filmatique's New Latin American Cinema Series spotlights issues of protest, justice, queerness, class, feminism, resistance and capitalism, offering a contemporary panorama of Latin American life as seen through the eyes of the region's celebrated auteurs.
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Paulina, Santiago Mitre (2015)
Paulina, Santiago Mitre / Argentina-Brazil-France, 2015
Paulina lives comfortably, the daughter of a prominent left-wing judge, herself a student of law with a political career on the horizon. Eager to put her principles to action, however, she leaves all this behind to take up a teaching position in a border-region of northern Argentina, among an indigenous community mired in extreme poverty. Despite her best intentions, Paulina's Guarani-speaking students at turns resist and actively subvert her civics lessons. When walking home late one night Paulina is attacked by a group of local boys, setting her on a collision course between her and her family's expectations of justice.
With a powerhouse performance by Dolores Fonzi as the epynomous character, Paulina examines a radical form of feminism that probes the limits of social justice in contemporary Argentina. Santiago Mitre's third narrative feature premiered in the Cannes Film Festival's Semaine de la Critique, where it won Best Film and the FIPRESCI Prize; Turin, where it won Best Feature Film; Miami, where it won the Grand Jury Prize; Lima, where it won Best Screenplay; and San Sebastián, where it won the Horizons Award.
Güeros, Alonso Ruizpalacios (2014)
Güeros, Alonso Ruizpalacios / Mexico, 2014
Tomas, an angsty youth, lives with his mother. Tired of his antics and propensity for trouble, she sends him to live with his brother Sombra, in Mexico City. Sombra and his best friend Santos are university students while the university is on strike; refusing to join the movement, they are on strike from the strike. Adrift and with no sense of purpose, and with Tomas newly in their midst, this wily clan finds unusual ways to kill time. When Tomas discovers that Epigmenio Cruz, an obscure Mexican folk-singer, is somewhere in the city, he convinces the others to embark on a voyage across their fractured land.
Capturing the buoyancy and insouciance of youth, and the undercurrents of class conflict through the eyes of its young protagonists, Güeros is a shrewd and stylish journey into the hidden social architecture of Mexico City. Alonso Ruizpalacios's first film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it won Best First Feature; San Sebastián, where it won the Horizons Award and the Youth Jury Award; and AFI Fest, where it won the Audience Award and a Grand Jury Prize Special Mention.
The Prince, Sebastián Muñoz (2019)
The Prince, Sebastián Muñoz / Chile-Argentina-Belgium, 2019
Jaime is handsome and young, and thoroughly drunk. In a fit of rage, he stabs his best friend, landing himself in prison for murder in 1970s Chile. In an effort to navigate this oppressive environment, Jaime finds himself under the protection of a notorious older inmate. Their bond soon flourishes into a clandestine romance, continually threatened by the escalating violence and perilous power struggles unfolding within the prison walls.
Based on a novel by Mario Cruz, and evoking the works of Fassbinder, Audiard and Genet, in The Prince sensuousness and violence coalesce in an exploration of masculine repression, aggression, and desire. Sebastián Muñoz's narrative feature debut premiered at San Sebastián, Valdivia, Chicago, and the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Queer Lion.
Aquarius, Kleber Mendonça Filho (2016)