In Focus: Cinema Tropical


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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 02 May 2011 01:00

Written by Brad Balfour

From May 4 - 16, 2011, the Museum of Modern Art is featuring the work of Cinema Tropical, the New York-based non-profit media arts organization.

The first decade of the 21st century has witnessed an unexpected and astonishing film renaissance throughout Latin America. This program celebrates that extraordinary flourishing of Latin American film by screening the films promoted by the organization in the past 10 years.

Largely influenced and inspired by the so-called New Argentine Cinema, and propelled by creative hybrid models of production, a young and enthusiastic generation of filmmakers is drastically changing how the region sees and represents itself on the big screen.

Founded in 2001 by Carlos A. Gutiérrez and Monika Wagenberg, Cinema Tropical has played a major role in introducing U.S. audiences to this burgeoning Latin American cinema. The organization began distributing, programming, and promoting Latin American film at the outset of the biggest boom in Latin American cinema in decades, and this series presents standout examples by some of the region’s most accomplished and innovative contemporary filmmakers.

The series is organized by Department of Film Curator Jytte Jensen (with special thanks to Mary Jane Marcasiano, Mara Behrens, Tatiana García, Amber Shields and Emmanuel Foyatier).

Historias extraordinarias / Extraordinary Stories
dir. Mariano Llinás. Z
starring Walter Jakob, Agustín Mendilaharzu, Llinás
(Argentina, 2008)
Three unconnected tales featuring main characters known only as X, Z, and H, respectively, branch out into a labyrinth of plots and subplots in a vast narrative that moves from a small town in Argentina to Africa and back. Llinás’ four-hour film is the single most accomplished work in recent Argentine cinema, an audacious celebration of the art of storytelling in cinema. The director will be present for two of the screenings.

Turistas
wr./dir. Alicia Scherson
starring Aline Kuppenheim, Marcelo Alonso, Diego Noguera
(Chile, 2009)
After a heated argument on their way to vacation, Carla, a woman in her mid-30s, is ditched by her husband, so she decides to continue the trip by herself. She arrives at a lush National Park, where a series of incidents and encounters send on a personal adventure. Scherson's enticingly fresh take on the road movie is a resonant meditation on emotion. 

Trópico de Cáncer / Tropic of Cancer
dir. Eugenio Polgovsky (Mexico, 2004)
The powerful documentary is a meticulous account of the perilous conditions faced by a group of families living in the arid desert. In their quest for survival, they hunt animals to sell on the highway. Visually astonishing and with a surprising narrative drive, Polgovsky’s documentary debut—along with his follow-up film The Inheritors—has established him as one of Mexico’s most promising documentarians.

Copacabana
dir. Martín Rejtman
(Argentina, 2007)
Taking the annual celebration of the Virgin of Copacabana in a Bolivian neighborhood in Buenos Aires as its point of departure, Rejtman’s first incursion into nonfiction filmmaking is a sober, meticulous portrait of Argentina's Bolivian community. Featuring minutely detailed mise-en-scène and minimal dialogue, Rejtman’s work is playfully structured in reverse, as the film begins with the festivities, follows with the rehearsals, and ends with the immigrants' original journey from Bolivia.

Entrenamiento elemental para actores / Elementary Training for Actors
wr./dir. Martín Rejtman, Federico León
starring Fabián Arenillas, Ulises Bercovich, Luca Damperat
(Argentina, 2009)
Rejtman, a longtime Cinema Tropical favorite (the organization released his films Silvia Prieto and The Magic Gloves), is often referred to as the father of New Argentinean Cinema. In this sharp, witty featurette about a theater workshop for children lead by a fervent professor, Rejtman remains true to the deadpan minimalist humor that distinguishes his earlier work. Rejtman introduces the film on Friday, the New York premiere.

Toro negro
dir. Pedro González-Rubio, Carlos Armella
(Mexico, 2005)
This film delves deep into the life of Fernando Pacheco, a hapless young bullfighter who fights not in big arenas but at parties in small Mayan communities in the Yucatán Peninsula. Fernando is heartwarming and honest, but he's also an alcoholic, prone to violent outbursts and impulsive behavior. González-Rubio (director of the acclaimed Alamar) and Armella show Fernando's raw human passion and conflicts from a disturbingly intimate distance. Introduced by González-Rubio on Friday, May 13.

25 Watts
wr./dir. Pablo Stoll, Juan Pablo Rebella
starring Daniel Hendler, Jorge Temponi, Alfonso Tort
(Uruguay, 2001)
This year marks the 10th anniversary of 25 Watts, Stoll and the late Rebella's debut, which consolidated Uruguay’s influential role in the recent revitalization of Latin American cinema. A wry, fresh, and funny slacker comedy shot in black and white in Montevideo, this film launched Control Z Films, the production company created by Stoll, Rebella, and Fernando Epstein that initiated a prolific and exciting period for young Uruguayan filmmakers.

Santiago
dir. João Moreira Salles
(Brazil, 2006)
The filmmaker interviews his family's remarkable Brazilian butler, a complex, cultured man adept in diplomatic missions and scholarly research. Ultimately, Santiago becomes a profound meditation on memory, social class and the very nature of documentary filmmaking. Introduced by Salles on Wednesday, May 11.

Una semana solos / A Week Alone
dir. Celina Murga
starring Natalia Gómez Alarcón, Manuel Aparicio, Mateo Braun
(Argentina, 2008)
Murga’s follow-up to her acclaimed Ana and the Others follows a group of kids in a gated community in suburban Buenos Aires who are left alone while their parents are on holiday. Murga’s film is a subtle exploration of class and childhood. Both screenings introduced by Murga.

El vuelco del cangrejo / Crab Trap
wr./dir. Oscar Ruiz Navia
starring Rodrigo Vélez, Arnobio Salazar Rivas, Jaime Andrés Castaño
(Colombia, 
2009)
Daniel, a mysterious man from the city, arrives in an isolated village on Colombia's Pacific coast and gets a temporary job to raise enough money to move on. During his stay, he encounters the local Afro-Colombian traditions and sees how they’re challenged by recently arrived neighbors. Featuring stunningly beautiful cinematography, Navia’s debut feature exemplifies the best of the up-and-coming Colombian cinema movement. 

O ceu de Suely / Love for Sale / Suely in the Sky
wr./dir. Karim Aïnouz
starring Hermila Guedes, Maria Menezes, Georgina Castro
(Brazil, 2006)
Aïnouz, one of the filmmakers at the forefront of contemporary Brazilian cinema, follows his internationally successful debut Madame Satã with a very different portrait of an indomitable survivor. Returning to her hometown in poverty-stricken northeastern Brazil, Hermila awaits the arrival of her boyfriend, but her spunk and zest for life take on an increasingly desperate edge when it becomes clear that he will not be coming. The director’s major achievement is making the soulful decency of the townspeople and the rich colors of the empty landscape an integral part of the characterization of Hermila, who remains likeable despite even her most desperately miscalculated actions. 

For more information, go to www.moma.org/film

In Focus: Cinema Tropical
May 4–16, 2011

The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street
New York City
212-708-9400