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| Colombia's Oscar nominee Embrace of the Serpent is a LAFF must-see. Photo courtesy of Northern Banner Releasing |
Showroom
Dir. Fernando Molnar | Argentina | 76 min.
Wed, Apr. 27 at 7:00 PM
The films from Argentina are often among the strongest
offerings from Latin America at this festival or elsewhere. They do commercial
films right and their industry is on the rise with hits like The Secret in Their Eyes and Wild Tales making it big over here.
Proof of this success is evident in director Fernando Molnar’s crossover from
documentary to drama for LAFF’s Opening Night film Showroom. Molnar’s best known for the disability/music doc Mundo Alas, so this quirky dramedy about
a man re-inventing himself following the economic downturn should, at the very
least, bring the same spirit of his last film for an enjoyable kick off to the
fest.
Michaëlle Jean: A Woman with Purpose
Dir. Jean-Daniel
Lafond | Haiti/Canada | 52 min.
Thurs, Apr.
28 at 7 :00 PM
One nice thing about the CFI’s global scope is that the mix
of international stories helps put Canadian content into perspective. This NFB
co-pro, for example, offers a portrait of former Governor General Michaëlle
Jean, who was the first black woman to hold the prestigious position as the
Queen’s representative in Canada. This biography of the Haitian-born former GG
look’s at Jean’s commitment to activist causes during her tenure and shows how
she transformed a role that Canadians often dismiss as outdated and ceremonial.
The doc recently screened in Toronto to a positive response at the Bloor Hot
Docs Cinema. (No review, unfortunately, since another POV writer said he’d cover it… but then didn’t! Dommage.)
***Note: director Jean-Daniel Lafond will attend the
screening!
Embrace of the Serpent
Dir. Ciro
Guerra | Colombia | 125 min.
Wed, May 4 at 6:30 PM
If there’s a must-see film at LAFF this year, it’s Colombia’s
spectacular Oscar nominee Embrace of the
Serpent. Catch it for the novelty of being the dark horse in the recent
Best Foreign Language Film race, but it’s one of the strangest films ever to
catch the Academy’s attention. This two-pronged snake bites with a dual
narrative that looks at Colombia’s legacy of colonialism through parallel
narratives that brings Amazonian shaman Karamakate back through troubled waters
as he takes two foreigners on separate trips through down the river. This
strange and impressionistic film is a surreal odyssey that calls to mind the
early Cinema Novo films of Brazil with its artful black and white
cinematography and powerful images.
Review: Embrace of the Serpent becomes stranger
and dreamier the further one goes into the forest, for the deeper one goes, the
darker it gets. The strangeness of the film increases as Karamakate “heals” his
passengers, particularly Theo who suffers some sort of near-fatal ailment, by
blowing a powdery smoke up his nose. The effect injects the viewer with hypnotic
reverie—Embrace of the Serpent is
like licking a hallucinogenic frog and eating some popcorn—as images and sounds
whirl, putting jaguars, reptiles, and birds as intense symbols of folklore,
roots, tradition, and corruption. Don’t try to make sense of it in a linear
fashion, but rather drink it down and swim in its intoxicating waters. [Read the full review here.]
The Pearl Button
Dir. Patricio Guzmán | Chile/France/Spain | 82 min.
Sat, May 14 at 2:00 PM
Moviegoers who find themselves under the spell of Embrace of the Serpent will want to
check out this equally odd documentary from master filmmaker Patricio Guzmán. The Pearl Button explores the dark
waters of Chile’s history of colonialism through two disparate stories that the
filmmaker connects with the coincidental fastener of a pearl button. The film
begins as a philosophical meditation of the existential nature of water and its
relationship with humans, but rather than tread the ripples of an eco doc, Guzmán
dives deeper to look at the dark underbelly beneath the surface. The Pearl Button screens as part of the
CFI’s South ßàNorth: Cinema Across
Borders sidebar, which invites festivalgoers to plunge into the films with
in-depth panel discussions.
Review: “They say
that water has a memory. I believe it also has a voice,” muses filmmaker
Patricio Guzmán (Nostalgia for the Light) in the
philosophical voiceover that flows atop The Pearl Button.
This poetic film recalls the work of Chris Marker, Peter Mettler, and Jennifer
Baichwal with its awesomely stirring visuals and images of the natural
landscape. Guzmán wades deep into the complex colonial history of his native
Chile as he explores the failure to capitalise on, or adequately cultivate, the
immense shorelines that border the nation. 2670 miles of coastline is a lot of
area to cover, as is the history of the annihilation of the indigenous groups
who first inhabited Chile’s shores, yet Guzmán all but plunges to the depths of
Marianas Trench in The Pearl Button’s
search for answers. [Read the full review at POV.]
Ixcanul
Dir. Jayro Bustamante | Guatemala
| 91 min.
Fri, May 13 at 7:00 PM
Here’s one that I caught at TIFF last year that’s worth
another look. Ixcanul, which was
Guatemala’s first-ever submission to the Oscars last year, does something
totally different for documentary and drama alike by creating a narrative
around the people who dwell on the hills of an active volcano and asking real
villagers to play roles comparable to themselves in a parable about the tenuous
relationship between indigenous communities and settlers. The film is
especially strong for its striking visuals as Bustamante harness the foreboding
power of the landscape with the volcanic ash that sweeps the hillsides. Oh, and
it’s pronounced Ish-can-ewl, as noted
by the helpful TIFF volunteer who had a handy guide ready for any festivalgoer
who garbled the title in the rush line. (Which was everyone.) Other Latin
American Oscar bids at the festival include Panama’s official submission Box 25.
Review: The volcanic landscape of Ixcanul is awesome. This visually
sweeping film, Guatemala's official submission for Best Foreign Language Film
in this year's Oscar race, evokes a mode of ethnographic filmmaking that fuses
smartly with drama. Ixcanul offers
beautiful scenery as director Jayro Bustamante gives an uncontrived portrait of
life for a family of coffee farmers living nearby a volcano. (Ixcanul translates to 'volcano'.) [Read the full review here.]
The 2016 Latin American Film
Festival runs April 27 – May 14.
All screenings are at the River
Building Theatre, Carleton University.
Please visit www.cfi-icf.ca for the full line-up.
