Now Playing: THE SUMMER OF THE FLYING FISH
By Jaime Grijalba Gomez
Just opened this past Friday in theaters in Chile is a Cannes entry about the mapuche uprising and claiming of lands, The Summer of the Flying Fish.
Here is the program note by Diana Sanchez from when it played at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall:
"In this subtle and atmospheric allegory by first-time feature director Marcela Said, a teenaged girl holidaying at a lake house in southern Chile experiences a bittersweet coming of age as she faces disillusionment in love and confronts the incoherency and intolerance of her affluent family's political views.
"Teenaged Manena (Francisca Walker) and her affluent family are holidaying at their lake house in southern Chile. It's a critical summer for Manena — a bittersweet coming of age as she faces disillusionment in love and the reality of her family's incoherent political views. She can also no longer ignore the behaviour of her father, Pancho (Gregory Cohen), who spends his time obsessed with ridding "his" lake of its carp, which he insists is a foreign infestation of his property. Manena also discovers the plight of the local Mapuche, whose indigenous land claim her family denies. As tensions simmer amongst the isolated forests and lakes, Manena is forced to decide who, and what, she will believe.
"Reminiscent of the films of Lucrecia Martel, Marcela Said's debut feature The Summer of the Flying Fish metaphorically depicts the political situation in present-day Chile, and the unequal balance of power that defines it. Through the story of a single family, Said gestures at the attitude of the country's oligarchy towards its indigenous peoples; their revolt is never discussed, and their claims are met with indifference or laughter. Theirs is a struggle that is constantly silenced, and, through Manena, we catch mere glimpses of it.
"Atmospheric and evocative, the film's subtle cinematography creates an almost-tactile quality, as the camera stops to ponder decaying animals, hot-water streams, and summer foliage — while the barking of dogs in the distance continuously reminds us of the omnipresent undercurrent of violence."
Opening August 21: RAIZ (ROOT)
By Jaime Grijalba Gomez
This week sees the premiere in theaters of the Valdivia Film Festival Chilean Competition Winner Raiz (Root).
Terror Fest Peru Ready To Highlight Horror Shorts
By Ernesto Zelaya Minano
Peruvian audiences love horror movies. That’s a fact; it probably explains why there’s a new horror movie opening practically every week. It’s remarkable how distributors seem to come up with a neverending stream of genre films out of nowhere. Among some announced titles still waiting for release, there’s V/H/S 2 and Dario Argento’s Dracula 3D. On second thought, we should probably count ourselves lucky that theater chains seem to be passing on the latter.
With audiences clearly enjoying being scared out of their wits, and with Peruvian directors starting to try their hand at horror movies (see recent movies like Cementerio General or La Cara del Diablo for proof), the time seems right for a horror-themed festival, and here comes Terror Fest Peru to take that spot.
The shorts festival, to be held on 22-31 October, is organized by production company AV Films, the same one behind Cementerio and the upcoming thriller Desaparecer. It recently finished its submissions period, hosting any movie that’s between five and 30 minutes in length. More information on their slate of films should start appearing soon.
Lima has played host to a lot of festivals in the last few years; all that was missing was a genre event. Here’s hoping Terror Fest is just the first of many.
For more information, visit the website.
Mexico Wins At Locarno Film Festival
By Eric Ortiz Garcia
This past weekend was definitely great for Mexican cinema, with awards at the Lima Film Festival (thanks to Güeros and Echo of the Mountain) and at Locarno, where Ricardo Silva’s docufiction Navajazo took home the Pardo d’oro Cineasti del presente - Premio Nescens.
The "filmmakers of the present" contest had a jury conformed by Ossama Mohammed (director from Syria), Thierry Jobin (festival director from Switzerland), Don McKellar (writer/director from Canada), Mary Stephen (editor from Hong Kong/France), and Clemence Poesy (actress from France). They awarded Navajazo with the Pardo d’oro (Golden Leopard), which is "worth 40,000 CHF (around $44,000 dollars), to be shared equally between the director and the producer."
The Riviera Film Festival’s synopsis of Navajazo describes it as, “an imaginary apocalypse, presented to us through the portraits of people struggling to survive in a hostile environment where they have no one but themselves and the only thing they share is a wish for keep on living, no matter what the cost might be. A home video director, a junkie who lives by the Tijuana River, a collector of toys, and an old Satanist who plays songs in a Casio keyboard are some of these survivors. The film mixes documentary with fiction to present a portrait of some outcasts living in Tijuana, a border city in northern Mexico."
Navajazo should get a theatrical run in Mexico soon. Meanwhile, you can watch the official trailer below.