The first edition of BAFICI Animado, a downsized version of the regular Buenos Aires film festival that features exclusively animated films, came to a close last week. The four-day festival included several premier screenings of well-known animators, a retrospective of the history of Argentine animated films, several award-winning foreign movies and even a chance to get an insider’s peak at a short excerpt of Metegol, the much anticipated 3-D film directed by celebrated Argentine filmmaker Juan José Campanella. Below is a brief overview of some of the most outstanding and outlandish shorts, feature-length films and filmmakers included in the latest festival and featuring on the busy Buenos Aires cultural agenda:

Argentine animation

One of the most exciting programs in the festival was undoubtedly ‘Animación Clásica Argentina’. Although a lot of early Argentine animation seems to be mimicking Disney productions, there are some notable exceptions, like the short animated film ‘La Caza del Puma’. In this film, the wild feline is an allegory for the indigenous people of Argentina which is tricked into drunkenness by the criollo’s horse; the criollo trims its fingernails and ties it up to parade it behind him. “The puma won’t bother anyone ever again,” marks the happy ending of this rarity in national cinema.

Moving forward in history, the Homenaje Luis Bras offered a retrospective of this radical Rosario native, including Bongo Rock, a film which Bras ”animated” by using a phonograph needle to scratch his stick figures onto the film frame by frame. That’s one way to make your mark on film history!

In terms of what Argentine animators have been doing nowadays, the section ‘Los Autores’ included some highly humorous shorts based on the characters of the cartoonist Liniers, including one about the adventures of an olive. A new 3-D animated film by Esteban Echeverría, ‘La Máquina que Hace Estrellas’, also premiered during the festival—and quickly sold out.

Finally, viewers were invited for a sneak peak at the upcoming and much awaited Metegol. Based on a story by Fontanarrosa, it is about a foosball player who believes he is actually a football star. Although this is a little reminiscent of the plot line of one of the most beloved Pixar films, it promises its own local flair at the very least. In any case, this was only an advance, as Metegol will not reach theaters until sometime next year.

International animation

One exciting foreign film included in the festival was Arriety, a feature-length production by the mythic Japanese studio Ghibli and based on the beloved children’s story ‘The Borrowers’. This film has all the trappings of any Miyazaki film — friendly little insects scattering about, big luscious drops of tea or rain — but it also presents the viewer with an extremely pleasurable change in perspective as we view the “real world” from the eyes of the tiny Borrowers. A needle can be wielded as a dangerous sword and a food jar can become a glass prison. If you didn’t get a chance to see it during the festival, rest assured that most of Miyazaki’s creations make their way onto the big screen in Argentina and the Spanish language dubs fit strangely well on these timeless creations.

In terms of the animated short films for adults, if you didn’t get a chance to see the Mundo Exterior or Basuritas program, a lot of the shorts and others by the same filmmakers can be found on youtube. Mundo Exterior included the ‘Wonder Hospital, a sensual but terrifying take on hospitals and plastic surgery, a world of warped mirrors and ominous surgeons in old 3-D glasses.

As for the Basuritas program, it is all about that morbid fascination with twisting the usual connection between animated films and their usually innocent topics. Here the animated medium is used to explore the outlandish and sordid: there is a wave of dismembered bodies, zombies, drunken creatures, 1980s horror and even edible tampons in what one of the films warns to be “content offensive to some viewers.”

Another renowned animator featured in the festival was Bill Plympton, in a program that includes several of his farcical but often chilling shorts along with an entertaining documentary (I suspect partly “mockumentary”), where a supposed “film critic” declares on screen, “I love Disney. You know, Cinderella, Lady in the Tramp… Those are beautiful Films. Plympton does this sex and violence… nobody wants to see that!”

For those looking for that Disney side to animation, the Cortos BAFICITO program included several amusing shorts which met with the oohs and ahs of the children present, along with a few feature-length films like ‘Freddy Frogface’, which had won the public’s award at the BAFICITO in April of this year.

Finally, the festival came to an end on Sunday with the screening of the film Ted, directed by Seth MacFarlane. In this oddball buddy film, an animated teddy bear takes the place of the “buddy” who is always butting his way into the relationship between his best friend John (Mark Wahlberg) and his girlfriend (Mila Kunis). If you missed it at the festival, don’t worry, it seems highly likely that this kind of commercial Hollywood film will find its way into local theaters sometime this year.

All in all, the BAFICI Animado succeeded in getting cinema onto the usual winter holiday agenda and also expanded BAFICI beyond its sole appearance in April each year. In addition, the festival marked the debut of Marcelo Panozzo as the new Artistic Director of BAFICI, in what was certainly an auspicious start. If the regular BAFICI is any indication, we can only hope that BAFICI Animado will also become a classic annual event.

Due to the enormous success of the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BAFICI), the Ministry of Culture of the City of Buenos Aires has decided to add a new winter version of the festival that features animated films. This mini-festival, which starts this week, is divided into two sections, BAFICI and BAFICITO—the first is geared to adult audiences and the second, to young viewers. Altogether, nine feature-length films and seven programs of several short films will be shown at the two new theatres of the Centro Cultural San Martín (corner of Paraná and Sarmiento).

For adults, the BAFICI section offers a range of animated options, including the Argentine premier of ‘Arrugas’ (Wrinkles), a Spanish movie about Alzheimer’s disease which took the Goya award for the best animated film. Others not to be missed include ‘Crulic—The Path to Beyond’, a Romanian-Polish animated biography of a Romanian dissident who died during a hunger strike at a Polish prison; ‘Plymptoons!’ by Academy Award nominee Bill Plympton; and a newly restored version of a classic animated short film from 1914 by comic strip master Winsor McCay. In the short film programs, keep an eye out for The External World by David O’Reilly and ‘Los Autores’ (The Authors) by Liniers, the Argentine creator of the Macanudo series.

Younger film lovers will also be delighted by the options in this new festival, which include ‘La máquina que hace estrellas’ (The Star Making Machine), a 3-D animated Argentine film by Esteban Echeverría, and the exclusive screening of ‘Arriety’, the latest feature-length film from the mythic Ghibli studio based on the classic story of ‘The Borrowers’.

Argentine Animated Film – History and Future

Few people know that the first feature-length animated movie in film history was made in Argentina. ‘El Apóstol’ (also known as ‘La Carmen Criolla’) was a political satire depicting President Hipólito Irigoyen that was released in Argentine cinemas in 1917 to great acclaim. “The film is magnificent,” said the review in the newspaper Critica, “and demonstrates the wonderful progress our national cinema has made.”

The film was directed by an Italian immigrant, Quirino Cristiani, who went on to release the world’s second feature-length animated film, ‘Sin Dejar Rastros’ (Without a Trace) a year later. Although there are no remaining copies of either of these two films, one of Cristiani’s short films, ‘El Mono Relojero’ (The Monkey Watchmaker) is included in the ‘Argentine Classic Animation – ¡ACÁ!’ of this week’s festival.

During Walt Disney’s goodwill tour of South America, he sought out Cristiani to discuss a possible collaboration. Cristiani recommended that he meet with Molina Campos, whose humorous gaucho figures would later be the basis for the characters in the 1942 Disney film ‘Saludos Amigos’. That same year, Argentine filmmaker Dante Quinterno presented the first Argentine animated short film in color, ‘¡Upa en Apuros!’ (Upa in Trouble!) with the popular comic strip character Patoruzú, another film that will be screened in this year’s festival. A short time later, and owed in part to the difficulty in importing film during the Second World War, the animated film industry in Argentina came to a standstill. This hiatus extended until the 1960s, years of experimentation for animators such as Luis Bras and claymation/stop motion master Rodolfo Pastor.

As the years went by, local comic strip characters became the focus of animated Argentine films, which turned somewhat more traditionalist in a search for stories that young Argentine audiences could identify with. In 1972, the beloved García Ferré character Anteojito got his own movie, ‘Anteojito y Antifaz: Mil Intentos y Un Invento’ (Anteojito and Antifaz, A Thousand Attempts and One Invention). Other renowned local characters would follow in the years to come, including Mafalda (1982), María Elena Walsh’s renowned turtle Manuelita (1999), Patoruzito (2004), Isidoro (2007) and Gaturro (in 3-D, 2010). Another more “adult” character that made his way into a movie is Boogie el Aceitoso, a Roberto Fontanarrosa character.

In recent years, Argentine animation has spread beyond comic strip characters. The feature-length ‘Cóndor Crux’, released in 2000, was a science fiction adventure and one of the first local productions to use computer animation and well-known Argentine actors on voices. In 2007, Fierro offered an animated version of the powerful José Hernández story using the brilliant drawings of Roberto Fontanarrosa. And last year, a female director, María Seone told the story of Eva Perón in an animated version, ‘Eva de la Argentina’. Finally, Academy Award winning director Juan José Campanella is working on his first animated film – Metegol – which BAFICITO goers can get a glimpse of during the winter festival (there is a screening of about 15 minutes of the highly anticipated film, which will not be released until June 2013).

New short films by other young Argentine filmmakers (including Esteban Sapir, Gabriel Nicoli, Antonio Balseiro and Gabino Calónico) are also included in this week’s festival. Clearly, for a glimpse of the past as well as what’s to come in Argentine animation, the BAFICITO Animado is a good place to start.

Special thanks to Demián Aiello of cinenacional.com for his assistance in putting together this brief summary of Argentine animation.

The enthusiasm for alternative cinema continues to grow, if the Buenos Aires Film Festival BAFICI is any indication. From 11th-22nd April, approximately 350,000 people participated in the screenings, round tables, outdoor screenings, book presentations and other events. Eleven different locations were employed this year, including the Planetarium (for fulldome screenings), two new theatres at the Centro Cultural San Martín, and the Parque Centenario Amphitheatre.

The BAFICI is not only an important event for porteños: around 2,000 guests from other parts of Argentina and abroad flocked to Buenos Aires for the event, including directors, producers, jury members, musicians, actors, critics and other figures from film industries. Some of the well-known foreigners included filmmakers Oskar Alegría and Pilar López Ayala (Spain), Fernand Melgar (Switzerland), Gérard Courant and Valérie Massadian (France), Josh Siegel and Jim Finn (USA), Miguel Gomes and Joao Canijo (Portugal), and Grant Gee (UK).

At a total of 1,012 screenings during the ten days of the festival, 449 films from all six continents were shown. Once again, Argentine films played an important role in the festival, with 111 participating in the different sections. There were several sections that have come to be favourites, including Little BAFICI for children and the young at heart; Careers, which highlights certain filmmakers and takes a look at a selection of their films; Music, with both fiction and documentaries on bands and music; and Cinema of the Future, which includes radical new forms of filmmaking. However, several new sections met with great success at this year’s edition, including Law of Desire, where sex takes a starring role; Pagan Visions, which plays on themes related to the pagan and the sacred; Adolescences, about the difficult transition from childhood to adulthood; Cinema and Architecture, which explores building and design; Family Album, with family portraits of all sorts, and Trances, which is about recreational drugs and their circulation.

In terms of activities for filmmakers, BAFICI continues to offers the Laboratory, where those who are just starting a project for a movie can meet and discuss production with people from the industry. For filmmakers who have advanced to the stage of editing, the Work in Progress section gave them a chance to screen what they have and receive feedback on their work. Many of these works in progress will undoubtedly go on to premier at BAFICI in the years to come.

The Planetarium screenings merit a special note. This was the first year that BAFICI incorporated fulldome movies, that is, films designed to be shown on a 360º dome. The films chosen for this section attracted a wide range of moviegoers, including children (with films like ‘Moles. What’s out there?’) as well as music lovers (the fulldome version of ‘The Wall’ was so popular that several additional screenings were added) and all those interested in new forms of cinema.

All in all, the 14th edition of BAFICI was another great event for film lovers in Buenos Aires, one that shows how much the city craves a broader selection of films to see. Wouldn’t it be marvellous if the Buenos Aires City Government and the organizers found a way to expand on BAFICI so that films as diverse as these could be screened at comfortable, modern theatres throughout the year? In the meantime, we can only hope that some of the wonderful films we didn’t get to see at the festival will be released in theatres as the year progresses.

Film writer Wendy Gosselin continues reporting from this year’s BAFICI Festival, picking six Latin American films – five Argentine and one Brazilian – that come highly recommended.

Los Salvajes

Director: Alejandro Fadel

Los Salvajes is a dense, troubling film that follows a group of five adolescents (Gaucho and his brother Simon, Grace, Monzón and Demián) as they break out of a juvenile detention centre and head for the hills. Gaucho, the leader, plans to take the group on the six-day trek to his godfather’s house. “We can all live there together, like a family,” Gaucho promises. Idyllic though that sounds, this group of young people has no morals and very few codes of conduct, which quickly unravel whenever a whim, desire or feeling of anger surfaces. Far from any signs of civilization, they struggle against nature and each other to survive, slaughtering animals and cutting down whatever stands in their path. There is a certain poetry within this crude reality: Demián holding a transistor radio up to the sky, trying to find some music amidst the static; Simón donning the head of a wild boar he has slaughtered, or Grace trying futilely to wash away her menstrual blood in the river. Ultimately, however, the film offers little except this florid depiction of savagery.

La Araña Vampiro

Director: Gabriel Medina

In the mid-20th century, ailing Argentines were prescribed restful stays in Córdoba, where the fresh mountain air was expected to restore them to health. In Gabriel Medina’s second feature-length film, ‘La Araña Vampiro‘, a father takes his downcast and neurotic son Jerónimo to the province, hoping to reconnect with him in the quiet countryside. The trip takes a sharp turn when the teenager is bitten by the fatal “vampire spider”, as it is known by the locals. Abandoning his father, Jerónimo takes up with Ruiz, a ruddy and taciturn woodsman, who agrees to lead him into the sierras to search for the antidote. A feverish Jerónimo and increasingly unpredictable Ruiz are soon stumbling through a devastated wasteland; the earth thunders beneath them as dynamite explodes in the distance. “They’re ripping apart the mountain,” slurs Ruiz, lurching forward. The landscape turns increasingly skewed and bleak with his apocalyptic rambling; meanwhile, Jerónimo’s spider bite continues to spread. Will the two find the elusive and terrifying antidote? Medina forges a new world out of this parched and rocky wilderness. This is definitely one of the top films of this year’s BAFICI.

Masterplan

Director: Diego and Pablo Levy

What if you gave a friend your credit card, let him buy you everything you needed for your new apartment, and then called the credit card company and reported it stolen? This is the ‘Masterplan’, which quickly runs amok, forcing the protagonist, Mariano, to abandon his beloved Siam Di Tella 1500 (the pride and joy of Argentine car manufacturing from the late 1950s and 1960s) by the railroad tracks and report it as stolen as well. The constant questions about the incident from his girlfriend, future parents-in-law, co-workers and pesky credit card company investigator soon begin to take their toll on Mariano, who starts to blame his restlessness and foul mood on the stolen vehicle. Comic relief is provided by Andrés, a homeless man who “occupies” the abandoned car and decides to call it home (played brilliantly by one of the “stars” of the Levys’ 2011 documentary ‘Novias, Madrinas, 15 años’). This is a funny, tender story, and in the end, Mariano gets advice from the most unexpected source. Stick around for the credits to see the hilarious dance by Andrés Calabria!

17 Monumentos

Director: Jonathan Perel

In all of Argentina, there are just 17 monuments commemorating the locations where clandestine detention centres operated during the last military dictatorship (1976-1983). They are all based on the same architectural plan, which we are shown at the beginning of the film. Perel films each of them for around three minutes. In these static shots, Justice, Truth, Memory—the words that appear on the monument’s three pillars—are burned into your retina. You cannot help but imagine the evil that occurred at each of these now quiet spots. But if the purpose of a monument is to commemorate, do these actually serve their purpose? Little action occurs near these monuments. A cat creeps by one (ludicrously placed nearly on top of a bust of Don Quijote); cars blaze by others, shrouding them for a moment in dust. Perel’s film—though difficult to sit through—poses the important question of what memory is and how it is constructed.

El Último Elvis

Director: Armando Bo

In this stellar debut by Armando Bo, we meet an Elvis impersonator, Carlos Gutiérrez, who goes to great lengths to uphold his image as Elvis: his daughter is named Lisa Marie, he insists on calling his ex-wife Priscilla, he pops pills and downs peanut butter and banana sandwiches. In fact, he seems as out of touch with reality as Elvis himself near the end of his life. But Gutiérrez’s daily life —the talent agency full of other impersonators where payments are always late, the junk yard of abandoned refrigerators where he takes a break after his day job, the apocalyptic landscapes of the outskirts of Buenos Aires—is infinitely more sordid than Elvis’ ever was. Gutiérrez is played by first-time actor (and real-life Elvis impersonator) John McInery, who pours out his heart and soul in every song. In one beautiful scene, only the stage is in focus, and the flashing lights surrounding it make us think we are in Las Vegas; when the camera angle shifts, though, we see that our “Elvis” is actually playing at a bingo club on the outskirts of the city. ‘El Último Elvis’ poses the question of authenticity and imitation, and how far someone will actually go to become their hero or heroine. Ultimately, Gutiérrez will see his Elvis through to the very end.

As Cançoes

Director: Eduardo Coutinho

Music pervades our lives, piping into our consciousness and remaining long after a moment has past. The songs we have sung (or which were sung to us) are small testaments that put other’s lyrics to our emotions. This is what Brazilian director Eduardo Coutinho explores in this splendid film. He approaches the topic in a simple and straightforward way, inviting his interviewees to enter a theatre, take a seat and sing for him their most cherished song. Before, after and sometimes in between singing, they tell the story of how this particular song came into their lives and then stayed on with them forever. Coutinho is always off screen; we only hear his voice, and his interventions are generally limited to bringing our protagonists back when they get lost in a memory. The stories are touching and even extraordinary; one of the men concludes that this world “is not big enough to hold all of my happiness.” A joyous film of song.

As the 14th international BAFICI film festival gets underway and the city is awash with cinephiles, we thought we’d give you a run down of great Argentine directors so that you can hold your own this week when chatting to the moustache-twiddling, beret-sporting, Deleuze loving (that one’s for the real pros) film enthusiasts.

Far from a comprehensive list, our Top 5 Argentine Directors sets out to tell you five directors you should know about, and should give you plenty to chew on while BAFICI is underway.

Leopoldo Torre Nilsson (1924-78)

The grandfather of Argentine film, Leopoldo Torre Nilsson helped bring prestige to Argentine cinema and was the most important figure in inspiring the younger generation of film-makers who started the new-wave in Argentine cinema at the beginning of the 1960s. According to international filmmaker Roman Polanski, he helped bring Argentine cinema up to international quality without ignoring subjects that were integral to Argentina.

Obsessed with the decline of the bourgeois society in his country, his films were often filled with sexual and societal frustration and peopled with dark characters with shadowy pasts who move in decadent environments. He directed. with humour and finesse.

Born in Buenos Aires, the son of the pioneering Argentine director, Leopoldo Torres Ríos, Leopoldo spent his formative years working under with his father and lost in the books of Jorge Luis Borges, Marcel Proust and James Joyce. His mother was an Argentine of Swedish descent and he cited her compatriot, the director Ingmar Bergman, as one of his greatest influences. He lived young and directed fast, making 30 features in little over 25 years.

His most fruitful collaboration was with his wife, the writer Beatriz Guido. Together, they adapted her novels ‘La mano en la trampa’ and ‘La casa del ángel’ into screenplays that became two of his most successful and critically acclaimed films. When the latter came out,  French filmmaker and critic Éric Rohmer called it “the best film to have arrived from South America since the beginnings of cinema.”

No stranger to Argentine literature, Torre Nilsson was a friend of the author Ernesto Sabato and also known for directing screenplays based on the work of other Argentine writers including Roberto Arlt, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Jorge Luis Borges, and gauchesque poet, José Hernández.

For more information find Leopoldo Torre Nilsson on IMDB or visit his website

Leonardo Favio (born 1938)

Born Fuad Jorge Jury, Leonardo Favio lived through a tough childhood in a small town in the north of Mendoza. An Argentine of Syrian descent, he is a true artistic polymath who built a career out of directing, writing, composing, singing and acting. Much lauded in his home continent, many believe he never got the recognition he deserved on the international scene.

Working under the tutelage of Argentine director Torre Nilsson, he was invited to act in films at the end of the 1950s, and the beginning of his career as a director followed shortly after with the production of his first short film in 1960. Four years later, his debut feature ‘Crónica de un niño solo’ cemented his place at the forefront of Argentine cinema.

The influence of filmmakers like the Spanish born Luis Buñuel and founder of French new-wave cinema François Truffaut was evident, although his personal style and strong aesthetics also shone through. He turned the focus away from a popular fixation with the urban bourgeoisie, towards the tough life at the fringes of society. For this reason he is credited with helping to break the barrier between popular culture and high art.

His films, despite shirking away from the mainstream and embracing the experimental, enjoyed a mass appeal in Argentina. Another of his most acclaimed films, ‘El romance del Aniceta y la Francisca’, is considered by many to be one of Argentina’s best.

An element in his life that cannot be ignored is his vehement support of Peronism. In 1999 he released an exhaustive 340-minute documentary about his political idol: ex-president and controversial figure Juan Domingo Perón.

In 2010, he was appointed Argentina’s Cultural Ambassador by fellow Peronist and current president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

For more information find Leonardo Favio on IMDB

Fernando ‘Pino’ Solanas (born 1936)

Fernando ‘Pino’ Solanas was born in Buenos Aires province and has made his name as one of the most important Argentine directors and documentary-makers.

Unlike Favio, Solanas has gained a global recognition, winning the Golden Bear at Germany’s Berlinale, the Special Jury prize at the Venice film festival and the Best Director award at Cannes.

Solanas’ work comes inextricably linked with politics. Any discussion on the director must surely go hand-in-hand with the mention of ‘Grupo Cine Liberación’ – a cinematic movement with which he was strongly affiliated. In the 1960s and 70s, the movement offered a reaction to Latin American politics and global cinema, focusing on making films that were socially and politically committed rather than purely entertainment driven. With their militant cinema they tried to demonstrate that Argentina was a society in crisis.

Their trademark was to make films anonymously, a move that encouraged collective creative processes and also protected them from political repression at a time when dictatorships were starting to emerge across the continent. Their most acclaimed film from the period was a four-hour documentary titled ‘La hora de los hornos: Notas y testimonios sobre el neocolonialismo, la violencia y la liberación’. The film became a symbol of activist cinema during the zenith of leftist politics.

For more information find Fernando ‘Pino’ Solanas on IMDB or visit his website

Armando Bó (1914-81)

The inclusion of director Armando Bó in this list might raise a few eyebrows, but his influence and cult following should not be underestimated.

US filmmaker John Waters once said that when he was searching for inspiration he would look to the Argentine director’s films and wish he spoke Spanish. And well, that’s about as apt an introduction as the director could hope for. He described ‘Fuego’ (Bó’s best-known film) as “a huge influence”, admitting “I forgot how much I stole”.

In a time when sexploitation films were taken more seriously and the line between art-house and soft-core was slightly blurrier, Armando Bó was king. This auteur of sorts made 30 films between 1954 and 1980 – none of which were too subtle or nuanced. He hacked his way through plots, played for slapstick laughs and flashed a lot of flesh but the audience loved it and kept coming back for more.

He made 27 films starring the now retired model and actress Isabel Sarli. Sarli was Miss Argentina 1955, the Brigitte Bardot of Latin America and the filmmaker’s real-life lover.

“You inspired us all to a life of cheap exhibitionism, exaggerated sexual desires and a love for all that is trash-ridden in cinema,” Waters once said of Sarli, but it’s a comment that works just fine for Bó too.

For more information find Armando Bó on IMDB 

Juan José Campanella (born 1959)

Probably the most recognisable name on this list for a contemporary audience, Juan José Campanella is a member of the exclusive two-man club of Oscar-winning Argentine directors. He has spent much of his working life in the United States and has directed several English language films as well as a number of North American television series.

Born and raised in Buenos Aires, he began studying engineering at university but famously dropped out with only a year to go to pursue a career in filmmaking.

He is credited with helping to restore pride in the Argentine film industry which has historically suffered from “chronic self-depreciation”. “In Argentina, a Hollywood movie is innocent until proven guilty. An Argentine movie is the other way around. I have to work really hard to break down that barrier,” he told one US publication in an interview.

Having been previously nominated for an Oscar in 2001 for his film ‘El hijo de la novia’ (‘The son of the bride’), Campanella’s talents as a director were finally recognised in 2010 when his film ‘El secreto de sus ojos’ (‘The secret in their eyes’) was awarded the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

A classy, unpredictable film noir set in 1975 Buenos Aires – it brought the spotlight back on Argentine cinema and helped make him the most bankable homegrown director in Argentine history.

He is currently working on an animated feature called ‘Metegol’ (‘Foosball’) and, the way things are going, it probably won’t be the last time we see him fumbling at his collar nervously at another red carpet event.

For more information find Juan J. Campanella on IMDB

The selection of films at the 14th BAFICI film festival—a total of 449 including both feature-length and shorts—is overwhelming. Wendy Gosselin has been attending the festival to report on her favourite (and least favourite) finds. Remember, tickets can be purchased online at www.bafici.gov.ar or in person at any of the participating theatres.

La Chica del Sur/The Girl from the South
Director: José Luis García

In July of 1989, chance led Argentine documentary filmmaker José Luis García to North Korea, where he would participate in the last international conference for communist youth, a trip he refers to as “revolutionary tourism”. García learns that a South Korean student, Im Su-kyong, has come to the conference to demand the reunification of North and South Korea. She promises to cross back into South Korea on foot at the border in Pyongyang, where soldiers on either side stand in a perpetual face-off. Twenty years later, García embarks upon a trip to find Su-kyong. What has happened to the girl who was once hailed as “The Flower of Reunification”? This approach at a documentary intertwines Garcia’s own story with Su-kyong’s while the different relationships of those who are making the film evolve: the translator, a South Korean-Argentine, develops an unexpected relationship with the protagonist. This film explores how the ideals of youth evolve over time and how, ultimately, some cultural barriers are impossible to transcend. This is a definite must-see at this year’s BAFICI.

Alpi/Alps
Director: Armin Linke

This film delves into the Alps in a journey that takes viewers to over a dozen locations in the countries that border the European mountain range and then as far as Dubai. It is a stunning presentation that combines the noisy machinery of local factories with dynamite explosions along the mountains, museums with scale models, and women immersed in strange spa treatments with local rural inhabitants. A rock cutter is shot from behind as he breaks down stones at his post. A helicopter descends onto a rooftop in winter, creating an unexpected snow storm over the building below. Linke presents us with a sort of inadvertent land art that brings to mind the Swiss artist Roman Signer. It is a film of moments that seem entirely unaware of themselves, merging the real and the artificial in ways that makes it difficult to distinguish between the two. If you can handle a movie without a plot—just a series of moments, minute reflections on the fringes of the mountain—don’t miss this film.

P-047
Director: Kongdej Jaturanrasmee

Films from the Philippines are trending of late and Jaturanrasmee’s film is a great example of this cutting-edge cinema. P-047 is about two young men who enter houses not so much in the interest of robbing them as to explore the lives of their inhabitants. The locksmith Lek lies down on the bed of a young woman and inhales her scent; Kong toys with the lover of one of the victims of their heists via Facebook. Sometimes they take little things from the houses, a bit of money, tokens, souvenirs. The film explores appropriation in many shifting forms. When a young woman asks Lek his name and he tells her, she calls him a liar. But that’s his name… or is it? It is as if no one were exactly him or herself and could change according to the object or location. The film has sudden plot shifts that harken to Sleeping Sickness, a film that was screened at last year’s BAFICI. Far from interrupting, however, these shifts pull you further into this wondrous film. Another to watch in this year’s line-up.

La Maleta
Director: Raúl Ruiz

This short film by the prolific Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz, who passed away last year, is included in a series of three shorts that includes ‘Viento Sur’ (directed by Paz Encina) and ‘Sin título (Carta para Serra)’ by Lisandro Alonso. Both are worth watching to get a glimpse at Ruiz in action: a man moves from boarding house to boarding house in a deserted Santiago de Chile; he carries on his back a moving suitcase that contains something unexpected. We hear no sound from what is on-screen; the film has a “narrator” who mainly limits himself to grunting, sighing and clapping his hands from time to time. This creates a strange disjunction, as if the real sound of the film had been eliminated and we have been left with the noises of an amused elderly viewer. Although Ruiz’s films tend to leave you wondering, their poetic visuals always make them worthwhile.

Naturally, with so many films to choose from, there are undoubtedly ones that can be left unseen. In my opinion, film festivals often include films that would work as video installations but not in theatres. This is the case of two works included on this year’s programme, ‘Small Roads’ (directed by James Benning) and ‘Couér Bleu’ (Blue Hearts, directed by Gérard Courant). Both of these would work in an art gallery, where the viewer has the chance to sip some wine, watch the film for a few minutes, wander through the gallery and then maybe watch for a few minutes more. Sitting through them in their entirety is almost impossible; these are films that merit another venue.

In any case, there are many unforeseen pleasures in BAFICI. It’s merely a question of getting a ticket to a screening and taking a chance on being captivated. As the festival advances, the Argentina Independent will be offering more recommendations.

At the 2011 edition of the BAFICI, brothers Diego and Pablo Levy gave us a look at the outlandish world of their father’s fabric store in the documentary ‘Novias, madrinas, 15 años’. This year, they are back with ‘Masterplan’, which applies the same offbeat sense of humour to a fictional story.

A decade after the surge in filmmaking known as Nuevo Cine Argentino (New Argentine Ciniema), a new wave of Argentine films is taking to the screen. These unconventional films, often emphasising local peculiarities, are made by renegades who simply got a hold of a full HD camera and set out to film whatever struck their fancy. They are not tied down to any genre and their only goal is to make a film that they would like to go see in theatres. The brothers Levy fit into this category of up-and-coming Argentine directors though, as Diego admits, “When people ask me what I do, it’s still hard for me to introduce myself as a filmmaker.”

From a table in the corner of a Villa Crespo café, Diego Levy has the intense look of a man who senses that something is about to happen. He chooses his words carefully, pausing from time to time to touch his beard and the scar that traces a line up above his mouth. We start by reflecting on his long career as a documentary photographer. For his series ‘Blood’, he rushed to violent crime scenes in Buenos Aires, Medellin, Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City. In these images, the dead are often lying facedown on sidewalks, covered with plastic bags, dribbling blood onto the pavement in black and white. Though sometimes alone, the victims can also be surrounded by hauntingly indifferent policemen and passers-by. “This was really intense work,” says Diego about this series. “It took me a long time to come up with another project after I completed it.”

‘Crashes’, Levy’s other documentary photograph series about car accidents, is just as arresting as its name suggests. Suddenly, however, his work took a turn: he bought a video camera and began experimenting with film. At around the same time, his brother Pablo also started dabbling in the field. “I never imagined that we would make a movie—though in a way, making a documentary film seemed to be a natural transition for me.”

The brothers asked for their father’s permission to begin shooting at a locale close to their hearts: the fabric store in Once that their father owns and manages. The idea was to capture each of the six salesmen at work, selling fabrics to women who planned to sew their own wedding, bridesmaid and “Sweet 15” birthday dresses. In the film, viewers come to know the film’s protagonist—the owner and boss—through the salesmen’s accounts until finally coming face-to-face with him at the end.

“At the beginning, no one in the shop seemed to understand that we were trying to make a movie. For the employees, it was just that Levy’s two sons were fooling around with a camera and getting in their way. My brother and I were there every day filming, but they never imagined that one day they would see themselves on the big screen.”

The employees’ reluctance to believe in the project turned out to be a plus, as everyone in the documentary appears unaware of the camera. “We kept saying to them, ‘Listen, we’re making a movie here,’ though they never believed us. So everyone was very relaxed, which of course made things much easier. Now when I go into the shop, they say, ‘Hey! When are you guys going to do part two?’”

Once the Levy brothers had come up with a first cut of the film, they had to show it to their most important critic: their father. “When dad saw our first cut, he wasn’t very happy with it. He said to us, ‘Help me out here—I look like the bad guy.’ He’s a complicated man to work for, and that came out on screen. So we softened him up a bit. By the end of the movie, you realise that he’s a good guy deep down—which is the truth—though he’s a hard boss.”

“Now my dad loves the film. The other day someone asked for his autograph in Alto Palermo, and people go to the store just to see all the ‘characters’ and take pictures with them. So they became sort of local stars in Once.”

Now the brothers’ first fiction film, ‘Masterplan’, is debuting at this year’s BAFICI. Diego says it is also based on a true story about someone they know: “It’s a faked car robbery; this guy wanted to rip off his credit card company but things didn’t work out the way he planned. So we thought this could be a film and we started working on a script—we asked our friend Marcelo Panozzo for help on it—and that’s how it began.

“We were intrepid. I mean, after all, neither of us studied filmmaking. I learned everything I know on my own. And a ton of people we know were involved in making the movie—Andrés, who works in my dad’s shop and appeared in ‘Novias…’, plays a street person; my mom and dad both make appearances, even my son plays a part… So there is a home-made feeling about the movie that gives it a certain warmth.”

The film presents a series of comic situations that the protagonist stumbles into after lying about having his car stolen. In writing the script, the brothers wanted to try and capture the same humour that emerged in ‘Novias…’. “It was a challenge to replicate the tone because in that film, all of the characters were real people and there was no script.”

“We didn’t tell my dad what to say on screen—he said things on his own and they just happened to be funny. So I would say that in my family,”—Diego’s hands circle in the air as he searches for the right description—“there is this humorous code—a certain comedy to reality—and we tried to replicate this in Masterplan.” This type of “comedy within reality” is pretty uncommon in Argentina, where comedy tends to be comic sketches (Guillermo Francella), adult humour (Alberto Olmedo) or parodies (Diego Capusotto).

When the Levy brothers presented their documentary at last year’s BAFICI, some critics hurried to compare them with some of the figures of the Nuevo Cine Argentino. One journalist pointed out that Pablo Trapero’s first film was a documentary about his father’s mechanic shop. How do the Levy brothers feel about being included in this category? “Frankly, I think that it is necessary to create something new within Nuevo Cine Argentino. The filmmakers who have been included in this ‘revolution’—filmmakers like Daniel Burman, Pablo Trapero and Adrián Caetano—certainly changed the aesthetics of Argentine films. But I think that this ‘look’ has become a little old. I mean, the films all look the same to a certain degree. It’s as if Nuevo Cine Argentino established a certain rhythm, a dogma… And so the newness, the novelty, has worn off.”

But if that is old, what is next to come in Argentine cinema? Diego sets down his cup as he ponders the question. “I think there is a need to generate something new in Argentine film once again. I don’t think that my brother and I will be the ones to do it—but who knows? We’ll see how ‘Masterplan’ does at the festival.”

Besides enjoying his own film’s premier, Diego says he is looking forward to being in the audience at this year’s BAFICI. “First of all, I want to see the films we are competing against. Then a few of the films in the international competition… ‘La Araña Vampiro’ by Gabriel Medina, ‘Los Salvajes’ by Alejandro Fadel… ‘Meeting People is Easy’ by Grant Gee, ‘Bottle Rocket’ by Wes Anderson. I also get a little overwhelmed by the selection. Sometimes I like just wandering into the Abasto and walking in on a movie without knowing a thing about it.”

It’s a brisk and rainy day and the Plaza Belgrano R is overcast and lusciously green, the perfect setting for an opening scene. Andrés Di Tella arrives at Bistro Jolie and slides into a seat at one of the outdoor tables, looking out from under his fedora to see if he knows anyone there. He prefers English for the interview, he says, because “otherwise you’ll be able to make me say whatever you want.”

Di Tella, a documentary filmmaker, is the founding director of BAFICI, the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, one of the most important film festivals in Latin America. He is known for his feature documentaries, including ‘La televisión y yo’ (2003), ‘El país del diablo’ (2008) and ‘Hachazos’ (2011). Documentary cinema expert Paulo Antonio Paranaguá has placed Di Tella among the fifteen most significant documentary filmmakers in Latin America.

To talk about the beginnings of BAFICI, we go back to late 1998. That was when the cultural secretary of the City of Buenos Aires, Darío Lopérfido, contacted Di Tella to discuss the possibilities for organizing a film festival in the city. Lopérfido and Di Tella had met a few years earlier at the Centro Cultural Rojas, where Di Tella had screened his first documentary film, ‘Montoneros: una historia’.

“In his mind – and in my mind as well – it was very important that I was a filmmaker, because this meant that I would actually be able to ‘produce’ the festival. In fact, at the beginning, I would say that 90% of my tasks were related to organising the festival, as opposed to viewing films or talking with filmmakers. Again, this was very close to filmmaking because I had to start with an idea and then find a way to make it happen.”

Di Tella knew he couldn’t organise a festival all alone, and contacted two other local filmmakers, Esteban Sapir and Eduardo Milewicz, to help. “I think people are often unaware that BAFICI is a film festival created by filmmakers. I think it would have been a very different festival if it had been created by critics or curators. We wanted to create a space for local and independent filmmakers, a place where any of us would be able to show our films, meet filmmakers from other parts of the world and find markets for co-productions. We were also one of the few festivals to invite short film makers to the festival and pay for their expenses. Rosa Martínez Rivero curated the short film section, and she is currently responsible for the general production of the festival.”

The focus of the festival shifted when the next artistic director, Eduardo “Quintín” Antín, took over. “When Quintín took over as the artistic director of the festival, BAFICI became more of a festival for the critics. That was a very smart move because it put the festival on the international critics’ radar. He was also able to do this without shifting focus away from the filmmakers, and that was really important. In fact, Sergio Wolf—the current artistic director—is a filmmaker himself.” Over the years, BAFICI has expanded by leaps and bounds: while the first edition attracted 120,000 spectators in 1999, last year’s selection brought in an astounding 300,000 movie goers. As the quantity of viewers has increased, so has the number of films, venues and new sections like the free outdoor films and this year’s fulldome screenings at the planetarium.

Another important issue at any festival is programming: how do the organizers go about choosing the hundreds of films that will be included? “My priority was making sure that every film chosen for the festival was there for a reason. One of my sole critiques of the current festival is that in my opinion, there are just too many films. We programmed 120 films for the first BAFICI and there are now over 400. I really think it’s a little extreme because part of what is important to me at a film festival, is that a group of people can gather, very intensely, to watch films together for ten days. And it’s hard to watch more than two or three films a day. So let’s say that in ten days, each person sees 30 films, at least some of which are also viewed by others attending the festival. So these people have shared these films, and that’s really an essential part of the festival.” Di Tella acknowledges, however, the excitement of such a myriad program. “It is sort of amazing to be able to choose from among this ocean of films.”

As for the documentary filmmaker himself, how does he decide which films to see? “I read about films, I go to festivals, and I hear rumors about films. Then there are people who post lists, write up films on blogs. And of course, there are filmmakers I follow—for instance, Miguel Gomes, a Portuguese filmmaker who will be here this year to present his new film, Tabu, which was hailed by many as the best film in the Berlin film festival. There is a section of the BAFICI called Careers, which is for established filmmakers. This is an interesting development, because at the beginning, we focused on young filmmakers. This was slightly strategic: we thought it would be easier to get little Sofia Coppola than Francis! Though we got both, in the end. So I would definitely go see the films from the Careers section, because they are always interesting.”

“I also make it a point to see Argentine films. The last ten years or so have truly been a Renaissance for Argentine cinema.” Argentine film production has flourished over the past decade. Before 1994, the country was producing around eight feature-length films per year, now it produces around 100. Young Argentine filmmakers like Pablo Trapero (Carancho, Mundo grúa), Daniel Burman (El nido vacío, El abrazo partido), Juan José Campanella (El secreto de sus ojos, El hijo de la novia) and Santiago Mitre (El estudiante) are now recognised both in Argentina and abroad. Campanella’s last film, in fact, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2010.

This resurgence in local cinema has not been lost on BAFICI’s organisers, who chose an Argentine film, ‘El último Elvis’ (directed by Armando Bo, the grandson of the mythical Argentine director of the same name) to inaugurate this year’s featival.

Although Di Tella is no longer involved in organising the festival, he still attends almost every day. “As a film buff, I just love the festival. I look forward to those ten days in April all year. I love walking into a theatre and not knowing even what language the film is going to be in, not knowing what it is – a documentary, fiction, or what. That is a real privilege, because normally you see a film because you’ve heard about it or you’ve read about it, or you’ve seen the trailer. What fascinates me about BAFICI is that it always gets me thinking about all that film can be – not just ‘popcorn films’ or certain kinds of art films—French art films, for example. You really get to see some strange films at BAFICI.”

For Di Tella, BAFICI is also the city’s chance to get its fill of avant-garde cinema. “What Buenos Aires is missing is good art movie houses. It hasn’t had them for thirty or forty years. There used to be several cinemas on Av. Corrientes in the 60s—there was the Lorraine, Loire, Losuar, they all started with “Lo” and were owned by the same guy—and they would screen Godard and Bergman and sell out! That was the highest point for cinephiles in Buenos Aires. Now, luckily, we have BAFICI. These are fragile films, so they need to be screened in the best conditions. To see these films in a crummy theater, or on a laptop—it just doesn’t work.”

Argentine director Ariel Rotter sends laughter through the room as he claims: “I never went to 80% of my classes. In fact, I always felt film school was just getting in the way of me making films.” Ironically, his audience are film students and their teachers at Buenos Aires’ Universidad del Cine, the very same film school he attended before achieving success. As the school produced his first feature ‘Sólo por hoy’ in 2000, perhaps this critique of his former educators is a little audacious. Especially when he is speaking to Talent Campus, a four-day event run alongside the Buenos Aires’ Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI), that aims not just to launch the career of one director, but the next generation of Latin American film makers.

No small task. But, over the past 10-15 years film schools have played a huge role in the emergence of the buena onda – or “good wave” – of films that have swept Latin America in this period. Apart from their impressive quality it is hard to find any unifying features in such a diverse array of films, other than the fact that it has been an incredibly youthful cinematic movement. Latin America’s film schools have been crucial in equipping a generation of film students, or quite often drop-outs, with the tools and confidence needed to tell their continent’s stories. Together they have helped resurrect national cinemas ravaged by dictatorship and economic crisis. Gaining international acclaim and a global audience, together they have achieved recognition of Latin America cinema as some of the most exciting in the world.

Of all those involved in this celluloid revolution, one of the most influential schools has been Buenos Aires’ Universidad del Cine (FUC). Former students include Pablo Trapero, Bruno Stagnaro, Lisandro Alonso and Celina Murga. A leaf through this year’s BAFICI catalogue will reveal a whole host of names associated with FUC. Founded in 1991, just four years later student feature films for theatrical release were being produced, something unknown in most of the rest of Latin America.

This great ambition continues today in Talent Campus, a project designed to find Latin America’s most promising young film makers and develop them to be able to take the continent’s cinema forward. The Latin Wave has moved from beyond its original poles of Argentina, Mexico and Brazil, and the project brings together students from Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay and others.

The extensive selection process was open to not just directors, but students in all areas of film making such as screenwriters, cinematographers and editors. All had to present a short film on which their applications were assessed, and to be in the difficult stage of trying to produce their first full-length feature film.

The students I talk to inside FUC’s beautifully restored building in San Telmo are bursting with ideas which they are eager to share with me. Talent Campus aims to develop them not only artistically, but also by giving them the practical knowledge of how to get films made in Latin America. Manuel Ferrari, the event’s coordinator and also a teacher at the school, tells me the primary objective is for them to meet one another, engage creatively and develop productive relationships that will lead to projects.

The four-day programme also involves a number of workshops focused on the technical aspects of film production, while discussion sessions tackle broader issues within the industry. The varied selection of talks aims to create more of a dialogue between students and established industry figures. Two key themes emerge from the programming of this year’s Talent Campus, and those which provoked the most discussion, were the impact of new technology, as well as the benefits of, and potential risks of reliance on, capital available for film makers from European film funds.

New technology seems to be a mixed blessing for Latin American film makers. The fall in the price of technology makes more adventurous projects possible on smaller budgets. But, technology is also driving a shift in viewing habits away from cinemas towards laptops. While piracy further reduces the chance of recouping art house budgets, perhaps even more worrying is that the internet seems to be attacking the dominance of the feature film itself as a medium, with people viewing ever shorter clips online. Rotter admits it seems to be getting harder to get people’s attention and this fear is reflected in the title of one of the sessions: Film after Film.

However, when I ask the students whether they feel threatened by these changes, or feel among a dying breed, they seem unfazed, instead seeing new developments as an exciting challenge. Paraguayan Hugo Cataldo is bullish about the feature film’s ability to survive, as “photography never killed painting.” When asked whether he is thinking about producing for new mediums, such as YouTube, he stressed “I’ll find the story first, and then I’ll find the medium that allows me to tell that story the best.”

There is a noticeable confidence among the students and part of this must come from seeing each other’s work in screenings sessions. The quality, imagination, and diversity of the work on offer inspires great hope for what is to come. There is a clear desire to break new ground, and to move beyond established genres of recent Latin American cinema.

Venzuelan scriptwriter Nelson Urdaneta’s ambitious idea to develop a film dealing with the concept of time reflects a growing urge to move away from the realist trend and delve more into experimental film. Another brave student puts his hand up to venture a historical epic covering General Roca’s euphemistically named campaign of the desert. The guest directors on stage laugh given the minute budgets they had for their own films, but there is a sense of the growing possibilities available.

The international attention and acclaim Latin American cinema has attracted helps to foster this growing confidence.

Another key element of Talent Campus is the presence of European film funds, many of which – such as Hubert Bals fund and Berlin film festival’s world cinema fund – have provided key support over the past two decades.

European funds have been crucial in enabling the current generation to make films. Paz Fabrega’s ‘Agua fría de mar’ is perhaps the most international of them all, having received support from more than five funds and nearly all of those represented at Talent Campus. This is exceptional, but many have at least two foreign co-producers. The funds’ attentions remains focused on Latin America and they are now seeking to empower the next generation of film makers with their production and development capital.

Latin American cinema is clearly an international phenomenon. Talent Campus aims to develop the growing dialogue that now exists for this new generation of Latin American film makers, connected with one another and integrated into the global film-making world. While this has immense benefits, there are also worries as to how this will affect Latin American film.

Buenos Aires has one of the most cosmopolitan student populations in the world. In fact many of the invited Talents from outside Argentina study here, and all seem to be at home in this pan-American crowd. Many have also studied in Europe, and all over the world. This is perhaps the most well-integrated generation of Latin Americans ever.

But are the local voices of recent Latin American cinema, which have given it so much of its powerful honesty, condemned to shift towards more less individual voices as a result of these trends?

Ariel Rotter claims he does not think there is anything to worry about, as “making a film will always remain a deeply personal experience”. The increased travel and interconnectivity has not diminished the personal nature of the shorts these students have made, nor indeed the projects they are looking to develop.

Hugo Cataldo agrees with Rotter, saying that studying outside Paraguay has allowed him to gain a better perspective on his own country and understand it more deeply. He remains committed to telling the stories closest to him. Lina Rodriguez echoes this, as experiences outside her home country have been crucial in giving her perspective to examine through film the unique place of women inside her native Colombia.

Problems aside from shifting identities, new technology or the practicalities of funding projects, what emerges is a generation that aims to rise above theoretical debates. Venezuelan Bárbara Hertiman captured the mood of the group with her ambition to make “films with an artistic quality that anyone can relate to”, and said she truly understood what that meant after showing her short to her niece and bringing the six year old to tears. The students I met all cared passionately about making personal films that speak from their own experiences and highly developed consciousness of their continent, but that explore truths with universal resonance. If Talent Campus succeeds in empowering them to do this, the future of Latin American cinema is in good hands.

The Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BAFICI) returns on 6th April for its thirteenth edition. One of the most prominent film festivals in the world, it is renowned as an important outlet for independent cinema, where innovative and daring films can be shown.

Over the course of 12 days, 325 feature length films will be screened, alongside more than 100 short films. These range from world premières by foreign directors to artisan creations from small Argentine towns. The eclectic mix of themes is one of the attractions of BAFICI, as well as the numerous workshops, seminars and talks hosted by leading figures of the film industry. Free open-air screenings have become one of the most popular parts of the festival and there will be two locations offering the chance to watch a film beneath the sun or the stars. BAFICITO was inaugurated in 2010, a category of the festival showing films for young children, and it will continue this year.

The festival, while focusing on promoting independent films in an accessible, non-elitist fashion, also features three competitions; the International Film Competition, the Argentine Film Competition and the Argentine Short Film Competition. Awards are given for the best film and the best director in each of these categories, while the international competition also awards the best actor, the best actress and the best script. There is also a Human Rights Award given to a feature length film.

The international competition includes 19 films, of which two are Argentine: ‘The Student’, a film by Santiago Mitre dealing with the world of politics in the universities of Buenos Aires, and ‘Yatasto’, a film by Hermes Paralluelo about a family of rubbish recyclers. There are also films by Federico Veiroj, Daniel Hendler, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Argyris Papadimitropoulos, Joao Nicolau, Michelangelo Frammartino, Nikola Lezaic, Marie Losier, and Mercedes Alvarez, among others.

The Argentine competition includes 11 films; ‘Amateur’, by Néstor Frenkel; ‘The Animal Race’, by Nicolás Grosso; ‘In the Future’, by Mauro Andrizzi; ‘Today I Was Not Afraid’ , by Ivan Fund; ‘Ostende’, by Laura Citarella; ‘January’, by Cynthia Grabenja and Marcelo Scoccia; ‘Girlfriends – Godmothers – 15 Years’, by Diego y Pablo Levy; ‘The Stones’, by Román Cárdenas; ‘Sipo’hi – The Place of Mandur’, by Sebastián Lingiardi; ‘The Swimming Pool’, by Matías Bringeri and ‘A Mysterious World’, by Rodrigo Moreno, which recently competed in the Berlin film festival.

The festival takes place in various cinemas around Buenos Aires, in Abasto, Recoleta, Belgrano, San Nicolas, Villa Crespo and La Boca. The two open-air cinemas are located at Pasaje Carlos Gardel 3100, Abasto, and Plaza San Martin de Tours, Recoleta.

Foreign films are required to have Spanish or English subtitles, while Argentine films are required to include English subtitles. This provides a unique opportunity for those who only understand a small amount of Spanish to enjoy locally made films.

Tickets can be hard to purchase for some of the highly anticipated films and it is advisable to buy them in advance. They are available now in Cine Hoyts Abasto, Avenida Corrientes 3247 and the Casa de la Cultura, Avenida de Mayo 575. Alternatively they can be bought online via www.tuentrada.com. In previous years, more than 200,000 people have attended screenings at each festival and more are expected this year. So do not hesitate – choose some films and get hold of tickets in advance. At a cost of only $12, the pocket will not be stretched too much.

Visit the official website, which has summaries of all the films, in English, for more details of the festival – www.bafici.gov.ar.