Women take the Lead in Havana’s 39th Festival of New Latin American Cinema, December 8-17, 2017
Nastasha Jaramillo and Giovany Rodriguez in a scene from Colombian director Laura Mora’s drama Matar A Jesús (2017) which won two of the 39th Havana Film Festival’s most important prizes, awarded by the Glauber Rocha Foundation and Casa de las Américas. Image: HabanaFilmFestival
In Colombian director Laura Mora’s second feature film, Matar A Jesús (Killing Jesus, 2017) there is an intensely moving scene where university student Paula is in a car driving home with father, a political science professor, and he is shot dead by a young assassin on a motorcycle. A few weeks later, when she spots the young hit-man drunk at a dance club, she purposely meets him and begins methodically to enact a plan that involves buying a gun and getting revenge. Her plan gets infinitely more complicated as she gets to know Jesús. He even instructs her on how to shoot a gun—“Just aim with hate in your heart.” The story was personal for Laura Mora whose own father was murdered before her eyes and who, like her heroine, later met his killer. Instead of a straightforward tit-for-tat revenge story, Mora uses the plot to explore how Colombian society has failed its underclass.
This drama was one of dozens of powerful films directed by women at the 39th Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano or Havana Film Festival (December 8-17, 2017), where 34 percent or 38 of the 114 films that were officially competing this year were directed by females. This festival’s top prize, the Coral for Best Feature Fiction, went to a woman as well—Argentinian director Anahí Berneri for her film Alanís, making this the third time in 39 years that a female director has won the top honor. Twenty-five of the festival’s 34 awards went to women—directors, editors, scriptwriters, actors and artists.
The huge and diverse 10-day festival is one of Latin America’s most anticipated annual events, offering the best and latest in Cuban, Latin American and world film—roughly 404 features, documentaries, fiction, animation, and archival gems from 41 countries. The bulk of these films, 308, were from Latin America with the largest participants as follows: Argentina had 65 films, Mexico (50), Cuba (43), Brazil (41), Chile (32), Colombia (21)… all the way down to Bolivia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama with one film each. The remaining films came from other parts of the world, mainly the US, Spain, France, Germany and the UK.
The breadth of programming is astounding, a challenge that long-term Programming Director, Zita Morriña and her small staff revel in. (Read my 2015 interview with her here.) Figures on female directors were published only for competing films, not across the entire festival, where there were dozens of additional female-directed films, female-centered stories from both female and male filmmakers and important panels which brought together female directors and actors to discuss storytelling and challenges they face in their respective countries. It would be wonderful to have full statistics, for all to see. As film festivals all over the world scramble to adjust their programming to include more women directors, Havana seems very inclusive. Festival director Iván Giroud pointed out at the awards ceremony, that the female directors in competition were chosen on their own strength not due to set quotas.
In terms of competing films, only 114 of the 404 films screening were in the official competition for the festival’s Coral Awards. These are given in seven categories—fiction, opera primas (first films) (18 competing films), documentaries (23), short films (18), animated films (16), unpublished scripts (20) and artistic film posters (24).
The festival publishes a 200+ page catalog every year but “Diario del Festival, its daily 8-page newspaper, is indispensable for festival news and scheduling. It arrives hot off the press and is distributed each morning at 9 a.m. at the Hotel Nacional. While all program information in Havana is in Spanish, about one third of the films are subtitled, mainly in English, but also in German or French. On many occasions, promised subtitles were not available. Photo: Geneva Anderson
Cine Riviera in Havana’s Vedado district is immediately recognizable by its blue and white motif. Built in the early ’50s on the site of the previous 1927 Rivieria Theatre, it became the first “atmospheric” cinema in Cuba—its walls were once painted with imitation Spanish facades creating the illusion of being outdoors. Currently, it seats 1,200 and also functions as venue for contemporary music. Photo: Geneva Anderson
My goal for my eight days at the festival was to see as many films as I could and to hit Havana’s rustic streets running. Using the festival’s headquarters, the Hotel Nacional, in Vedado, as a base, I walked to most of the 15 screening venues, which are glorious retro-classics of Cuban architecture. In all, I saw 42 films, usually five to six films daily, from 10 a.m. to midnight, and I attended press conferences and special programs. There’s something magical about immersing oneself in powerful Latin American dramas, unfolding in Spanish, on native soil. One can’t help but be swept up in the moment—the excitement of the Cuban crowd, the lines, the impassioned conversations, the thrill of stepping into these historic cinema houses— Acapulco, America, Charles Chaplin, Infanta, Karl Marx, La Rampa, Riviera, Yara, and 23Y12.
Below are a sampling of some of the films I saw that made a strong impression.
Bring on the dramas, both soft and strong!
Sofía Gala in a scene from Argentinian director, writer and co-producer Anahí Berneri’s sixth film, Alanís. Sofia Gala was awarded the Coral for Best Female Performance and the film was awarded the top Coral. Sofía Gala gave a feisty and naturalistic performance as an unapologetic self-determined young mother and prostitute struggling to feed herself and her child after she is thrown out of her apartment. Set in the streets of Buenos Aires, the unsentimental story contained scenes with the artistry of Renaissance portraits.
In Sebastian Lelio’s Una Mujer Fantástica, transgender Daniela Vega gives a breathtaking performance as Marina, a transgender woman and aspiring singer who has just lost her partner and who just wants to grieve. Vega was awarded a Coral for Best Female Performance. This was Sebastian Lelio’s fifth time to present a film in Havana and Una Mujer Fantástica won a special jury award and the UN’s Únete Prize. His 2013 drama Gloria, another remarkable portrait of a woman, opened the 35th festival.
Argentinian director Anahí Berneri’s Alanís (2017) which went on to win the top feature fiction prize, screened in a sweet spot, Saturday night, and1 a huge crowd turned out at Cine Yara to see it and the Chilean film that followed, Sebastian Lelio’s Una Mujer Fantástica (A Fantastic Woman, 2017). Through stories of female outcasts, both films unpacked female stereotypes, identity and societal intolerance. How wonderful to see the crowd reacting so enthusiastically to these to two Latina actors who imbued their characters with dignity and presence and enough mystery that we wished their stories would go on and on.
Chilean actress Paulina García in a scene from La Novia del Desierto (2017), a delicate drama of female self-empowerment, which made a huge splash in Havana when its first-time directors, Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato, picked up a Coral Award.
In recent years, filmmakers from Chile, Argentina and Brazil have received international attention for dramas that inventively explore the outward and internal life journeys of female characters marginalized in society. La Novia del Desierto (The Desert Bride, 2017) written and directed by Argentinians Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato, picked up the festival’s Coral for best debut film and the CiberVoto prize. Chilean actress Paulina García (Gloria, 2013) gives a radiant and wonderfully-nuanced performance as Teresa, a quiet 54-year-old-woman who has worked for decades as a live-in maid in Buenos Aires, with no real life of her own. When the family sells their home, she is shipped off to work for their relatives in the distant town of San Juan. When an unplanned pit-stop in the desert strands her and she loses her small purse and crosses paths with a traveling salesman, her life changes suddenly at an age when taking ownership of her life no longer seemed possible.
In Liquid Truth, Brazilian actor, Daniel de Oliviera, plays a well-liked swimming teacher whose life is virtually ruined by viral internet rumors after he is accused of kissing one of his students, a seven-year-old boy, on the mouth. Brazilian director, Carolina Jabor, won a SIGNUS award for her second fiction feature film.
What if the only actual evidence of a crime is the testimony of an emotional parent translating the words of her child? Brazilian producer-director, Carolina Jabor, deftly tackles a timely subject in her second feature film, Aos Teus Olhos (Liquid Truth, 2017), which focuses on a person who is all but convicted on the Internet before he is even tried or the facts are known. Liquid Truth is one of a number of films coming out of Brazil’s thriving art-house cinema scene which has been fueled by strong government funding.
Daniel Giménez Cacho in a scene from Argentinian director Lucretia Martel’s period drama, Zama (2017), which won 3 Coral awards and the FIPRESCI Prize.
Long before Havana, Argentinian director Lucretia Martel (La ciénaga (The Swamp, 2004), La mujer sin cabeza (The Headless Woman, 2010) had charmed international audiences with her period drama, Zama, set in the late 18th century somewhere in the backwaters of South America. It was no surprise when the film picked up multiple Corals in Havana for Best Director, Artistic Director, and Sound, as well as the coveted film critics’ FIPRESCI Prize. Zama is an epic examination of colonialism and prejudice told through the experiences of a Spanish functionary, Don Diego de Zama (Mexican actor Daniel Giménez Cacho), whose life revolves around his anticipation of a job transfer. Martel once studied philosophy and she imbues her films with a critical examination of big potent issues, exploring cause, blame and ambition.
Docs: informing and entertaining
Chilean director Lisette Orozco investigates her own aunt’s complicity in torture and the disappearance of dissidents as one of the female police agents Pinochet-era Chile (1973-90) in “El Pacto de Adriana” (2017). Photo: Geneva Anderson
Chilean director Lisette Orozco’s El Pacto de Adirana (2017) follows her frustrating investigation of her mercurial aunt, Channy—Adriana Elcira Rivas González—a female police agent in Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship. Adriana was arrested in 2007 in Santiago under charges of torture and involvement in an event that took place in 1976 when Pinochet’s secret political police’s (DINA) extermination unit raided Chile’s Communist Party safe house in Santiago, located at 1587 Conferencia Street. During this raid, secret police officers, allegedly including Adriana, tortured, killed and did away with the bodies of one of the party’s chiefs, Víctor Díaz, and several other members. Orozco’s dogged investigation into DINA and her aunt’s involvement literally divided her family, most of whom sided with Adriana. Fascinating multiple conversations with the aunt reveal her to be highly suspect and unstable. The remarkable film reveals deeply buried secrets festering in Chilean society to this day. Orozco was awarded a special jury prize for Feature Length Documentary as well as the FEISAL Prize (Federation of Latin America Image and Sound Schools) and the Memory Award of the Pablo de la Torriente Brau Cultural Center.
A scene from Pamela Yates’ 500 Years. Mayan survivors of the Guatemalan genocide cheer the guilty verdict against dictator Ríos Montt. Convicted and sentenced to genocide and crimes against humanity on May 10, 2013, Montt was given an 80-year sentence and sent directly to prison. It was the first time the perpetrator of genocide against indigenous people had been tried in a court of law. Photo credit: Daniel Hernández-Salazar
Intrepid American director Pamela Yates’ new film 500 Years (2017) continues her important saga of Guatemala’s indigenous resistance that began with When the Mountains Tremble (1983), followed by Granito: How to Nail a Dictator (2011). In this doc, Yates introduces journalist Dr. Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj, who covered the 2013 genocide trial of former dictator General Rios Montt and the citizen’s uprising which felled President Otto Pérez Molina in 2015. Finally, it seems Guatemalan society’s plea to end corruption has been heard. Simply put, Pamela Yates is the gold standard. Her work ethic, dedication to truth telling and decades of reporting in the troubled region are unparalleled.
Mexican ranchera singer and rebel Chavela Vargas, the subject of Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi’s Chavela (2017). Chevala was a LGBT icon in Mexico long before she officially came out at age 81.
Every year the festival showcases talented Latin American celebrities. Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi’s captivating music-filled documentary, Chavela (2017), was a huge hit in Havana and introduced Mexican ranchera singer Chavela Vargas who burst onto the Mexican music scene in the 1950’s. She was known for her passionate, rebellious performances, and for often wearing men’s clothing. She burned-out due to alcoholism and then rebounded late in life, coming out as lesbian at age 81, and establishing herself as musical and lesbian icon for a new generation of fans. Gund and Kyi masterfully explore the singer’s legacy and her elusive and contradictory nature relying on filmed interviews with the late singer done in the 1990’s, more recent interviews with those who knew her, and a montage of archival footage from 70 years of performances.
Cuban Film:
Whether the focus is a period film looking back at Cuban history, a documentary or an entertaining drama or comedy, Cuban film inherently addresses life in Cuba and, for an outsider, there’s no better window on the island. Before each screening of the two Cuban films in official competition for the fiction prize —Gerardo Chijona’s Los Buenos Demonios (2017) and Ernesto Daranas’ Sergio & Serguéi (2017) (winner of the Audience Award for Best Film), there were long lines of people eager to see how Cuba would be reflected on the big screen.
A scene from Cuban director Magda González Grau’s ¿Por qué lloran mis amigas? (2017). Photo: habanafilmfestival.com
Cuban director Magda González Grauda’s elegant drama, ¿Por qué lloran mis amigas? (Why My Friends Cry, 2017), was enlivened greatly by superb acting on the part of its four costars, all prominent film and television actresses—Luisa María Jiménez, Jasmín Gómez, Edith Massola and Amarilys Núñez. The film, not included in official competition, screened as part of the enormous Latin America in Perspective portion of the festival which offers some 17 categories of films. The story revolves around four female friends who were very close growing up and who reunite after 20 years have passed. Their discussion grows more candid the more time they spend together and shines a light on Cuban society, unleashing pent up emotions, frustrations and insecurities about the courses their lives have taken, the secrets they are keeping and how far they are willing to go to help each other out. With a production team of mainly women, it was a joy to see them all take the stage in Havana.
Cuban actress and director, Isabel Santos.
Isabel Santos is one of Cuba’s most revered and beloved actresses and she made multiple appearances at the festival. She starred in Carlos Barba’s 25 horas (2017), in the short fiction competition. She co-starred in Gerardo Chijona’s Los Buenos Demonos (The Good Devils, 2017), in the feature-length fiction competition. She was also one of 10 female directors included in the festival’s official documentary competition with her own 40 min doc, Gloria City (2017). The film deftly explores the intertwining of fact and myth associated with the first Americans to settle in Cuba, at the beginning of the 20th century, in the village Gloria City, presently in the municipality of Sierra de Cubitas, on Camagüey Province’s northern coast, about 500 kilometers east of Havana. Santos, who is from Camagüey, interviewed Cuban essayist and author Enrique Cirules (1938-2016), also from Camagüey, who wrote two books on the subject of Gloria City. We can only imagine what this powerhouse would turn out if she were to direct a feature-length film.
Details: The 40th Festival of New Latin American Cinema is December 6-16, 2018 in Havana. Click here for information. Plan on making plane and hotel reservations well in advance of the festival. Once in Havana, festival passes can be purchased at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, where the festival is headquartered, or, individual tickets can be purchased at various screening venues. Due to the immense popularity of the festival, and to avoid long lines, purchasing a festival pass is advised.
The 40th Mill Valley Film Festival opens Thursday—¡Viva El Cine! features prize-winning Latin American and Spanish language cinema
Janis Plotkin, MVFF senior programmer, curated the festival’s ¡Viva El Cine! series—eight prizewinning Latin American and Spanish language films with stories from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Cuba, Spain, Venezuela, and the US. ¡Viva El Cine! is in its 4th season and MVFF40 marks Janis’ 14th season with MVFF. MVFF40 is Oct 5-15, 2017. Image: Geneva Anderson
The fortieth edition of the Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF 40) gears up this evening with three big opening night films–Joe Wright’s, Darkest Hour, intense Churchill drama; Jason Wise’s Wait for Your Laugh, a soulful profile of comedian Rose Marie; and Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman’s Loving Vincent, an astounding animated portrait of Vincent van Gogh. Starting Friday and running for the next 10 days, MVFF40 will offer an exciting and eclectic line up of the very best in America independent and world cinema, with more than 200 filmmakers in attendance. There are several special seminars, panels and musical performances as well. For me, the biggest draw is the world cinema and some 50 countries are represented this year. Experiencing the world from someone else’s point of view can be life changing and the exceptional storytelling that characterizes MVFF’s foreign lineup always tends to be full of unexpected twists.
Recently, I spoke with senior programmer Janis Plotkin who curated the festival’s ¡Viva El Cine! programming—eight prizewinning Latin American and Spanish language films with stories from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Cuba, Spain, Venezuela, and the US. At MVFF, I often find myself in a theater with Janis and her film introductions are always packed with insight and a pure passion for cinema. I’ve come to consider her as my MVFF person–if she’s in the room, I’m probably going to love the film. MVFF40 marks Janis’ 14th season with MVFF. From 1982 through 2002, she was the executive artistic director of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and was renowned for showing great films and building community. When I learned that Janis programmed this influential Latin American film series, I couldn’t wait to discuss it with her.
¡Viva El Cine! launched in 2014 and has continued to grow in scope and attendees. In 2016, at MVFF39, more than 4,000 patrons attended screenings, which included a series of new works from Mexico as well as seminal films from Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Spain—and a very special musical performance by the Alejandro Escovedo Trio at the Sweetwater Music Hall as part of the MVFF Music program.
Chilean director Marcela Said’s Los Perros is set in post-Pinochet era Chile and is galvanized by Antonia Zegers’ (El Club, MVFF2015) performance as Marina, a wealthy forty-something equestrian whose riding instructor is charged with human rights abuses stemming from the Pinochet era. The film thrillingly tackles issues of class, power, and historical culpability. Los Perros is also part of the festival’s Mind the Gap Initiative which promotes female filmmakers and the portrayal of strong leading female characters in film.. Image: courtesy MVFF
ARThound: What is special about ¡Viva El Cine! and how did it get its start?
Janis Plotkin: Four years ago, we received a grant from the Marin Community Fund to support programming efforts to reach out to Marin’s Spanish speaking community. At that time, Spanish speaking people were one of the largest growing groups in the county and this was our response. We also did some community organizing by bringing together a group of community advisors to see what type of films the community was interested in and to help get the word out. Last year, we had Mexican actor, director and producer, Gael García Bernal visiting with two of his films and that was a kind of benchmark in terms of aspiration. We sold out all those shows and it was very satisfying for us and for the audience.
This year’s films reflect the vitality and high quality of the Latin American film world which is producing really excellent work on both the artistic and technical sides. We have new films from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, Spain and Cuba.
Tension and apprehension flow like a river in the drama El Amparo, based on a 1988 incident on the Venezuela/Colombia border, where two men were accused in the disappearance of 12 of their fellow fisherman. In this debut feature, Venezuelan director Rober Calzadilla focuses his lens on tenderness and vulnerability as a weapon. Image: courtesy MVFF
ARThound: The storytelling is amazing too. You picked some fine examples.
Janis Plotkin: I tend to enjoy most world cinema because I feel these films aren’t under the same pressures that US films are for commercial viability. They are made for the art of film and yet the story telling is very good, with historical or present day issues impacting all social strata. Rober Calzadilla’s El Amparo, from Venezuela, for example, is done with non professional actors and tells a true story of what happened when 12 fisherman disappeared in 1988 and it’s from the point of view of the victims. This a film full of dignity, truth telling and fighting for justice. I would rather see and hear it from their point of view, the point of view of the people, rather than a sensationalized version of the government actions. We don’t often get to hear stories like this, so this was one of the first films I looked for the series.
ARThound: When do you start preparing for MVFF and for this series?
Janis Plotkin: Officially, I start on May 1, but I went to the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) with Zoe (Elton) in February and saw Vazante and A Fantastic Woman and that was how it began. We also do a lot of research with interns who scour every country’s national cinema and we try to find the best films. It’s a lot of watching and eliminating. We have weekly meetings where we present and discuss films and we’re looking to have a balance of themes as well as making sure that we have 50/50 by 2020. In ¡Viva El Cine!, you’ll see we have lots of talented women.
Esteban is Cuban director Jonal Cosculluela´s debut film. It is an intimate drama about a ten-year-old boy who discovers his musical talent and falls for the piano. This is a story about dreams, about not quitting, about doing something every day to achieve your goals. Much of the music in the film is by the legendary Chucho Valdés. Image: courtesy MVFF
ARThound: Special guests really make a film come alive. Who are you bringing in this year?
Janis Plotkin: This year, we are expecting Jonal Cosculluela, from Havana, the director of Esteban, his first feature film. All screenings of this film are at rush and we’ve got educational screenings planned too, so I am very excited about this. We just heard that the US embassy’s staff in Havana was being cut by 50 percent and we still don’t know how that will impact Jonal’s visa interview, which was delayed initially by hurricane Irma. Barring these political and weather-related issues, we hope to see him here. This is a very special story about a child who basically has no resources but he is passionate about playing the piano and he has real talent and his persistence wins over his teacher and his family. We’ve also got Santiago Rizzo and the cast of Quest attending.
ARThound: I saw Esteban last December in Havana at the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema and Reynaldo Guanchein, who is nine and plays the child prodigy, Esteban, gave an amazing performance. He took on the entire project with just three month’s training in acting. There’s something so special about children who can play the part of a child in very precarious circumstances and yet what shines through is their beautiful spirit and innocence.
Janis Plotkin: We also have some amazing child actors in Summer of 1993, Spanish director Carla Simón’s feature debut film set in Spain’s Catalan region. This film is from the point of view of an orphaned little girl who has lost both of her parents. We assume it’s from drug use and AID’s-related but it’s never made clear. The story deals with how she comes to adjust to a new life while living with her aunt and uncle and her realization that her life has changed forever. It’s also about her relationship with her three-year-old cousin. Carla Simón is known for her ability to work with children and these three and six-year-olds are quite spontaneous and natural. The film received the first best film award in Berlin and went on to win many awards.
ARThound: I have discovered from Havana that there is an entire genre of Latin American films that reflect back on the atrocities of past regimes as a form of truth-telling, honoring victims and societal healing.
Janis Plotkin: Los Perros reflects on the post-Pinochet era and how the next generation either is or is not dealing with it. This 40ish woman (Antonia Zegers) who comes from privilege did not know that her father was involved in the anti-Pinochet actions and she has a fascination with her older riding teacher who turns out to be one of the generals who was in charge of disposing of pro-Pinochet leftists. It’s really about her specific emptiness, a specific type of apathy and denial and what a privileged life in Chile looks like. She’s so spoiled and without empathy for what happened. Antonia Zegers is the actress who was in El Club who played the housekeeper and nun who stole babies and she is very icey here too.
ARThound: The segment also introduces us to Latin stars who really aren’t on our radar like Chilean actress Paulina Garcia (Gloria, MVFF 2013) who stars in The Desert Bride.
Janis Plotkin: The Desert Bride is Argentinean directors Cecilia Atan and Valeria Pivato’s first feature. It was launched at Cannes to very favorable reviews and is anchored by Garcia’s performance. She was the main character in Sebastián Lelio’s Gloria (2013), where she played a lonely and sympathetic divorcee, and she won the Berlinale’s best actress prize. In The Desert Bride, her character— a housekeeper—is also at the center of everything and she pulls off a subtle performance. After a rather closed and cloistered life as a housekeeper, she goes on a trip to another part of the country. Through small moments and encounters that she has on her way, she starts to open up and her transition mirrors the dessert and mountainous landscape of rural Western Argentina that she is traveling across.
Daniela Vega plays Marina, the transgender heroine of Chilean director Sebastián Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman. Marina is young, beautiful, enigmatic, and plunged into a precarious situation after her middle-aged boyfriend dies unexpectedly in her company. As she struggles with her own grief, social prejudice and ostracism, she must summon her own inner strength to survive. Image: courtesy MVFF
This year, we have another incredible performance by Daniela Vega, a Chilean transgender actress in her breakthrough role in in A Fantastic Woman. This is Sebastián Lelio’s latest film and it is getting lots of attention. In comparison to The Danish Girl (MVFF38), where we had Eddie Redman— a man playing a male transgender who transitions to a woman—here we actually have a transgender actress playing herself. Her performance actually walks through the kind of walls that she faces with the family of her beloved who dies suddenly and his family who won’t let her grieve. It’s how she finds her dignity in fighting them all the way through . Daniela Vega gives an outstanding performance and the script itself won a prize in Berlin.
Daniela Thomas’ period drama, Vazante, is set in 1821, when Brazil was on the verge of independence from Portugal. Brazil was one of the last countries to officially abolish slavery in 1888 and Vazante relives the tale of a wealthy slaveholder who marries his young niece. Photographed in black and white, the film was shot on rugged locations in the craggy and wild Diamantina Mountains. Image: courtesy MVFF
ARThound: You have what sounds like an amazing Brazilian period drama in Vazante.
Janis Plotkin: Vazante is a real work of art and tells a transitional story of Brazil in the death throes of colonialism and the desperate efforts of a wealthy plantation owner to sire a child after his wife and baby die in childbirth. He marries his 12-year-old niece and the story is about what happens and it’s also a racial story of the plantation owner’s relationship to the slaves that work on his plantation. It’s shot in black and white and very naturalistic. Daniela Thomas, the director, was a protégée of the great Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles (Central Station (1988), Motorcycle Diaries (2004)) and has been engaged in the best of Brazilian cinema and this is her first outing as a director. This is the kind of film that needs to be seen on a big screen.
Filmmaker Santiago Rizzo and most of the cast of Quest will attend the film’s three screenings at MVFF40. Quest is set in 1995 Berkeley and tells Rizzo’s own heart-breaking and life-affirming story of his relationship with a teacher who took such an interest him that Rizzo’s life took an completely unexpected course. Gregory Kasyan, above, plays Rizzo, his first lead role in a feature film. Image: courtesy MVFF
ARThound: Quest, produced by Santiago Rizzo does not have Latin American theme; it is not in Spanish; and he is living in the US. Why is it in this series?
Janis Plotkin: We like to include films that are produced in the U.S. that are somehow relevant to Latinos’ experiences here. Last year, we screened Rodrigo Reyes’ Lupe Under the Sun, which was set in Modesto and used migrant workers to tell a story about life in the fields of the Central Valley. Quest is a new American indie film by Los Angeles-based Santiago Rizzo that is set in Berkeley in 1995. Rizzo is Argentinean. He was raised in Berkeley and went to Berkeley Middle School. This film tells his own story and the story of a teacher who mentored him and basically saved his life, enabling him as a high school student who was fast on his way jail to instead becoming a such a good student that he got into Stanford. When he graduated from Stanford, he went on to become a very successful hedge fund manager. He made a commitment to himself and to his teacher to tell the story. This Bay Area set film is the end result. I was very moved by all aspects of it. Rizzo and most of the cast will attend and that will make for a very exciting program.
ARThound: Stepping outside of ¡Viva El Cine!, what are the highlights of MVFF40?
Janis Plotkin: MVFF is operating on all cylinders: it has its upper crust strata of big films that are going to be presented in 2017-18 but it’s got this depth of inquiry that’s going on with its Mind the Gap program which looks at the intersection of women in film and women in tech and compares the experience of female directors to those of leaders in tech. To me, that’s spectacular and very important.
In terms of films, Guillermo del Toro’s film, The Shape of Water, just won the Golden Lion at Venice and should be a huge winner at the Oscars. On the big picture level, this is the one to see—the quality of his film-making and humor which is so satirical about the Cold War era, CIA operations and politics. There’s also the whole magical aspect of a creature that a deaf woman falls in love with and their relationship, so it’s a love story. It’s very special.
MVFF40 details:
MVFF 40 runs October 5-15, 2017. Main venues this year include: CinéArts@Sequoia (Mill Valley), Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center (San Rafael), Lark Theatre (Larkspur), and Cinema Corte Madera.
¡Viva El Cine! programming
General Public tickets during the festival available online (with convenience fees of $3.75 per order) or in person (no fee) at Smith Rafael Film Center Box Office (1114 Fourth Street, San Rafael) or Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce, 85 Throckmorton Ave.) Tickets will be available 1 hour before the first screening of the day to 15 minutes after the last show starts. Rush tickets: rush line forms outside each venue roughly 1 hour before show time. Rush tickets are sold on a first come, first sold basis roughly 15 minutes before show time. Patrons have a 90% chance of getting into a show by using the rush line.
Lines during the festival: CFI (California Film Institute) Passholders get first dibs in lines in order of their pass status. Premier Patron, Director’s Circle, Gold Star. Non-pass holding CFI members and general public enter the theaters last.
ARThound 