What to Watch Online This Week On Cinema Tropical
This week, ESPN Films is premiering The Infinite Race, the latest documentary from two-time Emmy nominated filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz (Reportero, Kingdom of Shadows). The documentary follows indigenous Tarahumara runners and their ongoing fight for survival in the badlands of Northern Mexico, and delves into how and why the Tarahumara (who refer to themselves as the Rarámuri) run by telling the story of three runners fighting to maintain their community’s practices in the shadow of encroaching drug cartels and increased foreign attention.
Silvino Cubesare, 41, Irma Chávez, 28, and Catalina Rascón, 19, all run for different reasons, but despite the obstacles in their paths, they’re all connected to a tradition that sees running as an act of resistance — an infinite race. Catch the documentary starting Tuesday, December 15 on ESPN and ESPN Deportes.
Also continuing this week is MexDocs, Cinema Tropical’s online program of recent Mexican documentaries, available to stream through Wednesday, December 16 at cinematropical.com/mexdocs.
In addition, make sure to check out the Latin American titles at this year’s edition of New Directors / New Films, presented annually by Film at Lincoln Center and MoMA — now streaming through the end of the week.
Premiering Online This Week:
Broadcast Premiere:
THE INFINITE RACE
(Bernardo Ruiz, USA, 2020, 70 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles)
ESPN will debut the next installment in the Peabody and Emmy award-winning 30 for 30 series, The Infinite Race, on December 15. Directed by Bernardo Ruiz (Harvest Season, Reportero), the documentary explores the story of the Tarahumara, an indigenous community in Mexico, famed for their legendary running ability, and their preference for running barefoot, who inspired an ultrarunning craze across the world, and what’s happened as their homes and communities were ravaged by drug cartels and violence.
Premieres Tuesday, December 15, 8pm
MexDocs: Recent Mexican Documentaries
Featuring a slate of four documentaries that have recently made their rounds of the international festival circuit, MexDocs offers a nuanced perspective on contemporary Mexico by delving into the different social, political, and cultural issues currently at play in the country, with a particular emphasis on narratives of womanhood and indigenous resistance. Presented by Cinema Tropical and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University. Additional support provided by the CUNY Mexican Studies Institute at Lehman College, and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literature at New York University.
MARICARMEN
(Sergio Morkin, Mexico, 2019, 76 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
RETREAT
(Retiro, Daniela Alatorre, Mexico, 2019, 70 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
WHEN I SHUT MY EYES
(Cuando cierro los ojos, Sergio Blanco and Michelle Ibaven, Mexico, 2019, 63 min. In Mazatec, Mixtec, and Spanish with English subtitles)
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BEES?
(¿Qué les pasó a las abejas?,
Adriana Otero and Robin Canul,
Mexico, 2019, 67 min. In Spanish and Mayan with English subtitles)
Streaming through Wednesday, December 16
Films Available to Stream Now:
Latin American Films at New Directors / New Films 2020:
THE MOLE AGENT
(El agente topo, Maite Alberdi, Chile, 2020, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Streaming through Thursday, December 17
LOS CONDUCTOS
(Camilo Restrepo, Colombia/ Brazil/ France, 2020, 70 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Streaming Wednesday, December 16 – Monday, December 21
THE DOVE AND THE WOLF
(La paloma y el lobo, Carlos Lenin, Mexico, 2019, 106 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Streaming Tuesday, December 15 – Sunday, December 20
THE FEVER
(A Febre, Maya Da-Rin, Brazil, 2019, 98 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Streaming Monday, December 14 – Saturday, December 19
IDENTIFYING FEATURES
(Sin señas particulares, Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero, Mexico/Spain, 2020, 94 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Streaming through Monday, December 14
WINDOW BOY WOULD ALSO LIKE TO HAVE A SUBMARINE
(Alex Piperno, Uruguay/ Argentina/ Brazil/ Netherlands/ Philippines, 2019, 85 min. In Spanish and Tuwali with English subtitles)
Streaming through Wednesday, December 16
‘SHORTS PROGRAM’
MONSTER GOD (Monstruo dios, Agustina San Martin, Argentina, 2019, 10 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
PLAYBACK (Agustina Comedi, Argentina, 2019, 14 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Streaming through Monday, December 21
Virtual Theatrical Release:
THE WEASELS’ TALE
(El cuento de las comadrejas, Juan José Campanella, Argentina/Spain, 2018, 129 min. In Spanish with English subtitles
From Juan José Campanella, the director of the Oscar Award-winning The Secret in Their Eyes, comes The Weasels’ Tale / El cuento de las comadrejas. a comedic thriller that stars a bumper crop of well-known older Argentine actors. The film is the story of a group of four long-time friends, including a used-to-be-famous actress, her now disabled husband and an actor as well, who she eclipsed, and the sharp-tongued screenwriter and director of her greatest hits. Their coexistence is menaced by a young couple who, feigning to be lost, slowly insinuate themselves into their lives. It’s Sunset Boulevard meets The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, with a Latin twist. Financial gain, seduction, betrayal, and memories run amok are the elements that create the recipe for this delightful game of cat… and weasel.
Virtual Theatrical Release:
THROUGH THE NIGHT
(Loira Limbal, USA, 2020. In English)
To make ends meet, people in the U.S. are working longer hours across multiple jobs. This modern reality of non-stop work has resulted in an unexpected phenomenon: the flourishing of 24-hour daycare centers. Through the Night, a documentary by Bronx-based Afro-Latina DJ, filmmaker, and film executive Loira Limbal, explores the personal cost of our modern economy through the stories of two working mothers and a child care provider – whose lives intersect at a 24-hour daycare center.
Watch Now
Virtual Theatrical Release:
DIVINE LOVE
(Divino Amor, Gabriel Mascaro, Brazil, 2019. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro’s (Neon Bull) Divine Love (Divino Amor) world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and intense audience reactions. Sure to surprise and provoke, definitely recommended for adult-viewing only. It’s the year 2027 in this dystopian, fluorescent Sci Fi story of Joana (Brazilian star Dira Paes), who uses her bureaucratic job to convince divorcing couples to stay together. Her secret weapon is Divine Love, an evangelical cult she belongs to that mixes in a little swinging and group fun into its more traditional prayers and services. Joana herself can’t seem to get pregnant by her own husband, but in an attempt to save her own marriage, she prays regularly at a very unusual religious drive-in, looking for a miracle to help her conceive. Divine Love is an amped up, sexy and witty take on a future full of dance parties, ritualistic orgies, cults and fundamentalist Christianity, and a critique of today’s right-wing led Brazil.
Daily Recommendation:
NIGHT ACROSS THE STREET
(La noche de enfrente, Raúl Ruiz, Chile/France, 2012, 110 min. In Spanish and French with English subtitles)
On the verge of forced retirement, an elderly office worker (Sergio Hernández) begins reliving memories from his past, both real and imagined: a trip to the movies as a young boy with Beethoven, listening to tall tales from Long John Silver, a brief stay in a haunted hotel, conversations with a writer’s fictional doppelgänger. Stories are hidden within stories and the thin line between imagination and reality steadily erodes, opening up a marvelous new world of personal remembrance and melodrama. In his final masterwork, loosely adapted from the fantastical short stories of Chilean writer Hernán del Solar, Ruiz has crafted a playfully elegiac film that addresses his favorite subjects: fiction, history, and life itself.
Daily Recommendation:
EXTRAORDINARY STORIES
(Historias extraordinarias, Mariano Llinás, Argentina, 2008, 245 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Mariano Llinás is one of the world’s most audacious directors—evidenced alone by his singular 14-hour epic La Flor. But his ambition was clear from the start with this endlessly engrossing feature. A sensation in his home country of Argentina and finally available in the US, Extraordinary Stories plays out as a series of nested Borgesian narratives that zigzag across different characters, locations, and genres. Thick with incident and ironic twists, this novelistic 18-chapter experience refuses easy resolutions to its many mysterious tales but supplies satisfaction at every turn.