Feeling a little overwhelmed by the BAFICI catalogue and not sure where to start? Here’s a list of ten films that you may still be in time to get tickets for — but move quickly, as most of the films on this list are sure to sell out!
Berberian Sound Studio (courtesy of BAFICI)
Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland). At an Italian sound studio in the 1970s, the timid, unimposing sound engineer Gilderoy has just arrived to do the sound for a horror film. Strickland pays homage to the low-budget giallo horror flicks so popular in Italy in the 1970s in this wacky film where the line between life and art begins to blur.
O som au redor (Kleber Mendonça Filho). There is one thing that the well-to-do across Latin America share: a constant sense of danger, the threat of being robbed or violated. This is seemingly the focus of this film, which follows two security guards working in an affluent neighborhood in Recife, Brazil. The sounds are as constant as the threats — tapping, barking, the scratching of metal, water running — in an atmosphere wrought with paranoia.
El loro y el cisne (courtesy of BAFICI)
El Loro y El Cisne (Alejo Moguillansky). This young Argentina director is back at BAFICI after his 2009 film Castro won the best film award in the Argentine competition. This fictional film is about the making of a documentary about a dance troupe, exploring work, creativity and love. Another must-see in this year’s Argentine competition.
Centro Histórico (Aki Kaurismäki, Pedro Costa, Victor Erice, Manoel de Oliveira). The Portuguese city of Guimaraes commissioned four directors to make this film to celebrate its selection as a European Culture Capital. These four contemporary filmmakers engage the city in various ways, telling the story of a man working in a bar, a textile factor that has closed, tourists before an imposing bronze statue of Portugal’s first king, and the 1974 revolution.
Los Posibles (Santiago Mitre, Juan Onofri Barbato). This is Santiago Mitre’s second film after his stunning entry in Argentine cinema with ‘El Estudiante’, a sort of political thriller based on the dirty dealings of student politics at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. Los Posibles is a film adaption of the dance show created by choreographer Juan Onofri Barbato.
Ma Belle Gosse (Shalimar Preuss). In this impressive film debut by Shalimar Preuss, a teenage girl at the beach for a family vacation hides a secret: she has an epistolary relationship with a prison inmate. The film took the French film award at the Belfort International Film Festival in 2012 and promises to be a favorite at this year’s festival.
Call Girl (courtesy of BAFICI)
Call Girl (Mikael Marcimain). Based on a political scandal that occurred in Sweden in the 1970s, this film tells the story of two adolescents living in a home for girls who are recruited as prostitutes. As it progresses, they work their way up to sleeping with some of the top Swedish politicians. Macrimain offers a faithful recreation of the 1970s with its disco music, tacky colours, and general free-for-all.
The Great North Korean Picture Show (Lynn Lee, James Leong). This film is on Artistic Director Marcelo Panozzo’s list of the top ten films to see at BAFICI 2013. It offers an inside look at the only film school of North Korea, where aspiring filmmakers learn not only technique but also how to shape the national imaginary. A unique look at the creation and perpetuation of propaganda.
Viola (courtesy of BAFICI)
Viola (Matías Piñeiro). Tickets are going fast for this film by yet another young Argentine director, Matías Piñeiro, who won an award at last year’s Buenos Aires Lab. Viola is a delivery girl who brings pirated DVDs from Metropolis, the company she has started with her boyfriend. The film follows her down the streets of Buenos Aires and leads us into Viola‘s world.
Hahaha (or any of the fifteen films by Hong Sang Soo). This BAFICI offers a retrospective of all fifteen films by the magnificent Korean director whose off-kilter films explore the awkward way we communicate with friends, lovers, strangers, the people we meet. The retrospective goes from the first film that made a name for Sang Soo in film festivals worldwide, ‘The Day a Pig Fell into a Well’, to his latest film, ‘Nobody’s Daughter Haewon’.
Just a reminder, tickets are on sale either online (with a credit card) at www.buenosaires.gob.ar/festivales, at the Village Recoleta Mall (Vicente López and Junín, 4th floor, every day from 10AM to 8PM) or at Casa de la Culture (Av. de Mayo 575, Monday through Friday from 10AM-8PM). Check back here at the Independent for film reviews once the festival kicks off!
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