FILM

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents the 6th Annual Latin Wave: New Films from Latin America.

For our sixth edition, Latin Wave is proud to present our strongest line up yet. With films representing Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, this year’s festival includes a diverse collection of work by emerging filmmakers that attests to the continuing vigor and vitality of Latin American cinema.

Four of the eight films selected for the series serve as evidence of the importance placed on women’s perspective in the region: two are directed by women (Rompecabezas, Asalto al cine), two have strong female characters (Rompecabezas, Riscado), and a fourth film (Gatos Viejos) focuses on the complex nature of a mother/daughter relationship.

The two Colombian films in this year’s edition perfectly illustrate how the approach to a story is at least as important as the subject. Colores de la montaña and Todos tus muertos both deal with a subject that has been treated numerous times before—the war in Colombia—but their fresh and original perspectives make these two films unique cinematic experiences.

The Peruvian film Octubre highlights the power that aesthetic choices and narrative style can have over a seemingly bleak and austere story, and the Chilean Post mortem is an excellent example of a film that revisits a critical moment in Latin American history from an unexpected perspective.

Selected by the most prestigious international festivals—Berlin, Venice, New York, Cannes, San Sebastian, and Sundance—these films all make their Houston premiere at Latin Wave, bringing us the best and latest trends in Latin American cinema. – Monika Wagenberg, Festival Director

Students with valid ID receive complimentary admission to Latin Wave films on Sunday, May 1 only.

Schedule of Films for 2011:

Octubre
October
2010, Spanish with English subtitles
Directed by Daniel and Diego Vega

Upcoming Show Times
Thu, Apr 28 5:00 pm
Sun, May 1 1:30 pm

Following the success and international recognition of The Milk of Sorrow and Undertow, October is yet another marker of a very exciting, creative time for Peruvian cinema. Brothers Daniel and Diego Vega austerely frame this absurd and charming tale of two misfits who come together around a rather strange circumstance.

Clemente, a taciturn, lower-middle-class money lender, has his world turned upside down when a prostitute he frequented leaves a baby in a basket at his door. But for neighbor Sofia, this baby may be exactly what she has been praying for—if only she can convince Clemente. Staged during Lima’s magnificent procession of Our Lord of Miracles—a Catholic festivity surrounding a venerated mural of Jesus Christ—October is an enchanting fable that speaks to the poverty and richness of the human soul with gentle humor and tender grace. This film recently won the Best Director prize at the Cartagena Film Festival and will also be shown at the 2011 New Directors/New Films series at New York’s Lincoln Center.

Asalto al cine
The Cinema Hold-Up
2011, Spanish with English subtitles
Directed by Iria Gómez Concheiro

Upcoming Show Times
Thu, Apr 28 6:30 pm
Sat, Apr 30 9:00 pm

Filmmaker Iria Gómez in attendance.

Negus, Chale, Sapo, and Chata are four typical, bored, apathetic teenagers from one of the most dangerous areas in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico’s Colonia Guerrero. But unlike most teens, they have decided to do something about their situation: hold up a megaplex cinema.

First-time filmmaker Iria Gómez Concheiro moves the film forward beautifully—from establishing the aimless day-to-day lives of the main characters, through the planning of the heist, to the actual crime—with confident and fluid camera movement and direction. The narrative builds assuredly as the film moves from observing the self-destructive tendencies of the protagonists and the world that offers them scant opportunities to the execution of the crime that ironically gives some meaning to their lives.

The Cinema Hold-Up is an entertaining critique of Mexico’s failing social system that perfectly fuses an engaging heist film with a tragic, coming-of-age slacker story.

Born in Mexico City, Iria Gómez Concheiro attended the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, and also studied cinematography with Vittorio Storaro at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. After completing her studies, she formed the production company Ciudad Cinema, with whom she made several film projects in Mexico and abroad. Her short film Dime lo que sientes won several awards at national and international festivals in France, Italy, Russia, Argentina, Egypt, and Israel, including the Ariel for best fiction short from the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences. The Cinema Hold-Up is her first feature film.

Los colores de la montaña
2010, Spanish with English subtitles
Carlos César Arbeláez

Upcoming Show Times
Thu, Apr 28 9:00 pm
Sat, Apr 30 3:00 pm

With a remarkable group of child actors, first-time writer/director Carlos César Arbeláez narrates a beautiful tale of lost innocence set in the guerilla-military conflict of Colombia.

Nine-year-old Manuel (Hernán Maricio Ocampo) lives in a remote farming village and dreams of becoming a great soccer player. When he receives the treasured gift of a new soccer ball, his dreams seem closer than ever—until he and his friends accidentally kick the ball into a mine field. Arbeláez expertly weaves the humor and danger of the boys’ attempts to retrieve the ball with the slowly encroaching and inevitable arrival of the military conflict to their village, as well as their parents’ attempts to postpone the fatal decision to join one side or the other.

Beautifully filmed by director of photography Oscar Jimenez in the breathtakingly verdant Andean region of Colombia, Arbeláez’s internationally lauded film delivers a unique and powerful vision of war as seen through the eyes of children.

Post Mortem
2010, Spanish with English subtitles
Directed by Pablo Larraín

Upcoming Show Times
Fri, Apr 29 5:00 pm
Sun, May 1 9:00 pm

Celebrated Chilean director Pablo Larraín offers a powerful follow up to his highly acclaimed Tony Manero with Post mortem. Larraín, a master of creating atmosphere, again transports us to 1970s Chile and the territory of Pinochet’s dictatorship, while frequent collaborator Alfredo Castro delivers another commanding portrayal of a deeply disturbing character. But this time, Larraín finds an undeniably unique perspective from which to observe history.

The film takes place during one of the most tragically iconic moments in twentieth-century Latin American history: the CIA-backed coup d’etat that overthrew the government of Salvador Allende, Chile’s democratically elected socialist president. However, the narrative instead focuses on Mario, a civil servant—he types autopsy reports for the city morgue—who is so obsessed with Nancy, his alcoholic, anorexic neighbor, that he seems oblivious to the world that is violently changing around him.

Inspired by the death of Salvador Allende and the fall of his government, talented young auteur Larraín spins the tale of a sad love affair that tries to approximate what can never be completely understood: the death of a dream.

Riscado
Craft
2010, Portuguese with English subtitles
Directed by Gustavo Pizzi

Upcoming Show Times
Fri, Apr 29 7:00 pm
Sun, May 1 5:00 pm

Filmmaker Gustavo Pizzi in attendance.

With the expressiveness of a golden-age Hollywood star, Karine Teles gives a tour-de-force performance as a talented actress who struggles through life with small, humiliating jobs to make ends meet, until she gets what may be her big break. Director Gustavo Pizzi, who co-wrote the script with Teles (his real-life wife), says that Craft is a film about “searching for the sky that is melting outside while we are sweeping the floor.”

Pizzi portrays the cruelty of the competitive world in which we live, and heightens the drama not by resorting to melodrama or exaggerated scenarios, but by picking the perfect protagonist: an actress. Acting from deep within, Teles beautifully portrays the life of someone who must contain her constant fear of time’s passing, her insecurity that a mastery of her own craft may not be enough, and the gnawing feeling that each day of auditions and casting calls becomes another day lost in the struggle for success.

Gustavo Pizzi has been producing, writing, directing, and editing for ten years. He studied cinema at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFF) and has worked with acclaimed directors Karim Ainouz, Bia Lessa, and Jonathan Nossiter. In 2006 he made his first feature documentary, Simple Past, which premiered at the São Paolo International Film Festival and was released in Brazilian theaters in 2008. Craft is Pizzi’s directorial debut.

Todos tus muertos
2011, Spanish with English subtitles
Directed by Carlos Moreno

Upcoming Show Times
Fri, Apr 29 9:00 pm
Sat, Apr 30 7:00 pm

Filmmaker Carlos Moreno in attendance.

Carlos Moreno follows his powerful debut Dog Eat Dog (which premiered in 2008 at Sundance) with this scathing satire about impunity in Colombia.

After discovering of a pile of dead bodies, a naive farmer—ironically named Salvador—becomes ensnared in a sinister plot of corrupt politicians, abusive police, and worthless bureaucrats. Salvador’s simple reporting of the dead bodies draws him into an absurd and frightening waiting game as the mayor figures out how to handle the situation before Election Day.

Using humor that is both dark and bitingly brutal, and supported by Diego Jiménez’s excellent cinematography (for which he won the 2011 World Cinema Cinematography Award at Sundance), Moreno keeps us absorbed by mixing realistic symbols of the violence that is always in the air with disturbingly surrealistic moments. Beckett meets magical realism in this intriguing allegory that speaks to the essence of contemporary Colombia.

Carlos Moreno has a degree in social communications and a master’s degree in audiovisual narrative from Barcelona’s Universidad Autonoma. His first feature film, Dog Eat Dog, premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and participated in more than forty festivals, receiving seventeen international awards in addition to five Colombian film awards. It was nominated at the Goya Awards in Spain and Ariel Awards in Mexico, and was selected by the National Council of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Colombia as the Colombian entry for the 2009 Oscars.

Carlos also co-directed the documentary One, the Story of a Goal, which tells the story of the Salvadorian soccer team’s performance at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. He has also directed several episodes for TV series such as Sin retorno and Tiempo final y sikis, and recently finished filming the movie Snitches Cartel. He is currently preparing to shoot Black Waters in Mexico.

Rompecabezas
Puzzle
2009, Spanish with English subtitles
Directed by Natalia Smirnoff

Upcoming Show Times
Sat, Apr 30 1:30 pm
Sun, May 1 7:00 pm

Dedicated housewife and mother María del Carmen receives a strange yet compelling gift for her fiftieth birthday: a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the bust of Nefertiti. So taken is she with the image of the queen of ancient Egypt that she spends the whole night putting the puzzle together, and in doing so discovers a great talent and passion that brings her to question how she wants to live the rest of her life.

Considered by many to be the film that saved last year’s Berlin International Film Festival, Puzzle has thrust first-time director Natalia Smirnoff into the spotlight; she has gone from being a director’s assistant to some of Argentina’s most talented filmmakers—including Lucrecia Martel and Pablo Trapero—to being considered one of the most exciting new directors to emerge from Latin America in recent years. Beautifully and intimately lensed by Barbara Alvarez (The Headless Woman and Whisky), Puzzle is a charming introduction to a new talent that we hope will have more to offer in the years to come.

Gatos viejos
Old Cats (pictured above)
2010, Spanish with English subtitles
Directed by Pedro Peirano and Sebastián Silva

Upcoming Show Times
Sat, Apr 30 5:00 pm
Sun, May 1 3:00 pm

Filmmaker Pedro Peirano in attendance.

Sebastián Silva—best known for his sophomore work, The Maid (Latin Wave 2009), which won Sundance’s World Cinema Competition in 2009—has returned with a film that masterfully moves from farce to black comedy to melodrama. Co-directed with his writing partner Pedro Peirano, Old Cats portrays a seriously dysfunctional relationship between an octogenarian mother (played by master actor Belgica Castro, who turns 90 this year) who is free-falling into senility and her greedy, drug-addicted daughter who wants to invest her mother’s money in a questionable business venture.

Silva and Peirano beautifully negotiate the fantastic world of the mother’s dementia with the reality of the accumulation that comes with growing old—an apartment filled with a lifetime of knick-knacks, masks, books, and old cats. The film is gorgeously rendered through the documentary-style camera work of director of photography Sergio Armstrong, and the cast is rounded out with pitch-perfect supporting performances by Alejandro Sieveking and Catalina Saavedra (the amazing lead in The Maid).

We are extremely pleased to be screening Old Cats—which had its world premiere at the highly prestigious New York Film Festival last fall—knowing that it will be an unforgettable experience for all those who see it.

Pedro Peirano is a television and film screenwriter, director, journalist, and cartoonist. He co-wrote La vida me mata and The Maid. In 2003, Perirano developed one of the most successful children’s television series in Chile called 31 Minutos, which he turned into the 2008 film 31 Minutos the Film. The TV series won the Latin American Jeneusse prize and was nominated for an International Emmy. The series was sold to Nickelodeon and gained cult followings in Mexico and South America.

As a cartoonist in Chile, Peirano has created several long-running comic series for young people in the most prestigious newspapers. He has also edited two books on the art of comics.