What to Watch This Week on Cinema Tropical
NewFest, New York’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival continues this week with a selection of twelve Latin American titles with a strong emphasis on Brazilian and Chilean LGBTQ+ narratives.
Make sure to check out Chile’s The Strong Ones, directed by Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo, that follows the romantic saga of a fisherman and an architect in the beautiful landscape of Southern Chile as they find love at the edge of the world. With two charismatic leads and impressive cinematography, The Strong Ones is a gentle and intimate tale of love.
From Brazil, look for Adam Golub‘s documentary Your Mother’s Comfort following trans sex worker Indianara Siqueira and her relentless organizing leading up to one of the most turbulent times in recent global memory. All films will be followed by Q&As and are available to stream across the country through Tuesday, October 27.
Films Available to Stream Now:
Latin American Films at the 32nd Edition of NewFest:
FORGOTTEN ROADS
(La nave del olvido, Nicol Ruiz Benavides, Chile , 2020, 71 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
ALICE JÚNIOR
(Gil Baroni, Brazil, 2019, 87 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
YOUR MOTHER’S COMFORT
(Aconchego da Tua Mãe, Adam Golub, Brazil, USA, 2020, 75 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
DRY WIND
(Vento Seco, Daniel Nolasco, Brazil, 2020, 110 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
THE STRONG ONES
(Los fuertes, Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo, Chile, 2019, 98 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Short Films:
BREAKWATER (Cris Lyra, Brazil, 2019, 26 min.)
CARO COMES OUT (Brit Fryer and Caro Hernandez, USA, 2020, 12 min.)
PLUS (Andrew J. Rodriguez, USA, 2019, 14 min.)
SCREENSHOTS FOR A GOODBYE (Ruth Caudeli, Colombia, 2020, 10 min.)
SHÉÁR AVORY: TO BE CONTINUED (Abram Cerda, USA, 2020, 26 min.)
THE SECRET GARDENER (Lorena Russi, USA, 2019, 3 min.)
WAKING HOUR (Nava Mau, USA, 2019, 13 min.)
All Films Streaming through October 27
Broadcast Premiere:
THE INFILTRATORS
(Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera, USA, 2020, 90 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles)
A true story of two young immigrants who get purposefully arrested by Border Patrol, and put in a shadowy for-profit detention center. The film follows Marco and Viri, members of a group of radical Dreamers who are on a mission to stop deportations. And the best place to stop deportations, they believe, is in detention. Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival. A co-presentation of Latino Public Broadcasting.
Daily Recommendation:
THE CHOSEN ONES
(Las elegidas, David Pablos, Mexico/France, 2015, 100 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Tijuana, Mexico. Sofia has fallen in love for the first time. This poverty-stricken 14-year-old girl is easy game for the scarcely older Ulises. He wants them to feel like they’ve never felt before, or so he says. While expertly wrapping the young girl around his little finger, he suddenly realizes he has developed real feelings for her. However, the truth is that his father sent him. The son of a pimp, Ulises is given the task of seducing young girls before forcing them into prostitution. But this time he wants to break away from the traditional family business and release his victim from the snare before it’s too late. A vicious circle ensues. It is difficult to tackle the topic of forced prostitution in a film without appearing exploitative.
Daily Recommendation:
THE HUMAN SURGE
(El auge del humano, Eduardo Williams, Argentina/ Brazil/ Portugal, 2016, 99 min. In Spanish, Cebuano, Portuguese, and English, with English subtitles)
A twentysomething in Argentina loses his warehouse job. Boys in Maputo, Mozambique, perform half-hearted sex acts in front of a webcam. A woman in the Philippines assembles electronics in a small factory. Williams’s inquisitive camera is in constant motion, as are his rootless characters, who wander aimlessly, make small talk, futz with their phones, and search for a working Internet connection. Unfolding within the unfree time between casual jobs, this wildly original rumination on labor and leisure in the global digital economy seems to take place in both the immediate present and the far horizon of the foreseeable future. Winner of the top prize in the 2016 Locarno Film Festival’s Filmmakers of the Present section.
Daily Recommendation:
TOPONYMY
(Toponimia, Jonathan Perel, Argentina, 2015, 82 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
In 1974, shortly after Juan Peron’s return to power, the misleadingly named ‘Operation Independence’ went into effect, resulting in the creation of rigidly designed villages in northern Argentina arranged to thwart guerilla resistance. In his masterful structuralist study, made with no narration or dialogue, Jonathan Perel reveals the sinister politics behind the plan. ‘An elaborate memory puzzle whose dry, enigmatic humor would surely have tickled Perel’s illustrious countryman Jose Luis Borges.’ (Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter).
VOD and DVD Release:
THE WOLF HOUSE
(Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña, Chile, 2018, 73 min. In Spanish and German with English subtitles)
Maria, a young woman finds refuge in a house in the south of Chile after escaping from a sect of German religious fanatics. She is welcomed into the home by two pigs, the only inhabitants of the place. Like in a dream, the universe of the house reacts to Maria’s feelings. The animals transform slowly into humans and the house becomes a nightmarish world. Inspired on the actual case of Colonia Dignidad, The Wolf House masquerades as an animated fairy tale produced by the leader of the sect in order to indoctrinate its followers.
Broadcast Premiere:
LATINO VOTE: DISPATCHES FROM THE BATTLEGROUND
(Bernardo Ruiz, USA, 2020, 60 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles)
With both younger Latinos and new citizens joining the ranks of registered voters across the country, the growing magnitude of this cross-section of the electorate has clear political implications for the 2020 presidential election. But trying to woo voters based on their cultural similarities without factoring in their complex and varying individual interests could prove to be a losing game plan. Following activists, organizers, and others who are working to maximize Latino turnout in their local communities while simultaneously devoting their efforts to COVID-19 relief as the pandemic surges, Latino Vote: Dispatches from the Battleground delves into the high-stakes fight to activate Latino votes in these battleground states – and gives voice to newly registered Latino voters themselves about what the galvanizing issues are for them.
Daily Recommendation:
A WOLF AT THE DOOR
(O Lobo Atrás da Porta, Fernando Coimbra, Brazil, 2013, 100 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Set in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, A Wolf at the Door is based on real events, and is a nerve-rattling tale of a kidnapped child and the terror of the parents left behind. When Sylvia (Fabíula Nascimento) discovers her six-year-old daughter has been picked up at school by an unknown woman, police summon her husband Bernardo (Milhem Cortaz) to the station for questioning. There Bernardo confesses his extra-marital affair with the beautiful young Rosa (Leandra Leal), whom detectives believe to be involved in the kidnapping. Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Coimbra’s suspenseful debut feature captures the heightened anxiety of every parent’s worst nightmare, casting a light upon the cruelties of which humans are capable.
Daily Recommendation:
NORTHLESS
(Norteado, Rigoberto Perezcano, Mexico/Spain, 2009; 93 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
After several documentaries, Rigoberto Perezcano makes his debut as a fiction director with an appealing feature filled with documentary detail and psychological insight. The protagonist Andrés—just like the director—comes from the distant Oaxaca and tries to reach the United States. He makes friends with two ladies who run a shop in Tijuana. Every time Andres gets sent back by the border police, he returns to Cata and Ela. Their husbands once successfully crossed the border and have not been in touch since. As the Variety critic remarked: ‘It’s almost shocking to discover there really are new, compelling ways to tell the story [about migration]’. Perezcano’s style is as modest, touching and determined as his protagonists. Northless is an ode to the often absurd inventiveness of the undocumented immigrant, but also makes subtly and occasionally humorously clear just how painful the situation of migrants is and the problems faced by a border town like Tijuana.
U.S. Latinx and Latin American Film Festivals: October 2020
Coinciding with the second half of Hispanic Heritage Month, October brings eleven Latinx and Latin American virtual film festivals offering hundreds of recent films to American audiences. Some of the film selections are are available to stream across the country, while others are geoblocked to the festival’s state boundaries. In addition to the online screening, some of these events are also presenting outdoor screenings, plus conversations with the guest directors and panels.
Check them out!