Utopia Group, Santiago Segura’s Bowfinger Intl. Pictures in Spain, and France’s Melocoton Film.
Diego Parietti as an Argentine porn actor who thinks he’s like France’s Serge Gainsbourg, Attieh said Monday in San Sebastian.
7. A sea-change in Latin American cinema: The rise in its overall quality. The Forum explains why. Looking at its directors’ C.V.s, their formal education is not just as good as many young U.S. or European filmmakers, it’s the same. A case in point: Brazil’s Giuliana Monteiro, at the Forum with her first feature film, Road to Livramento, studied at Tisch School of Arts and is the recipient of a BAFTA Fellowship.
8. Running a Forum and Films in Progress pix-in-post showcase, San Sebastian “aims to support films at different stages of their making,” said festival director Jose Luis Rebordinos.
No wishful thinking. Just one of multiple examples: A 2014 Forum entry, Chilean Fernando Guzzoni’s Jesus plays in San Sebastian’s 2016 competition.
9. Mostly lacking strong public broadcasters, Latin America’s vibrant documentary production remains anchored most often in feature filmmaking. The Forum bears that out with three docu-features: La Mami, from Mexico-based Spaniard Luara Herrero Garvin; Suarez’s Two Degrees From Autumn, from Spain’s El Dedo en el Ojo (Not All is Vigil, Paula); and Sandra Gugliotta’s Suicidios telefonicas, a chronicle of the mobbing tactics used to slash head-count at Argentina’s telcos, privatised from 1990.
10. Some young filmmakers - Venezuela’s George Walker Torres (Sin Vuelta) in Black Dog- still favour coming-of-age tales. Produced by Venezuela’s Cine Cercano/Películas Prescindibles. Other Forum titles project a world where parents are absent - as in Hogar,
set in a nun’s home for teenage mothers.
Suggesting the consolidation of a new inflexion in Latin America filmmaking, however, more Forum features consider regeneration in a crisis-ridden world. In 7:35, two former students attempt to track down the author of their school massacre, seeking closure. In Las hijas
de Alonso, two Costa Rican daughters seek out their father, who disappeared off the map in Panama a decade earlier. At least a trio of potential features - Irene, Una periodista and La Civil - portray strong female protagonists who seek positive social change. All is not lost for Latin America.
JOHN HOPEWELL
EMILIANO DE PABLOS