Saludos Sydney and welcome to the 4th Sydney Latin American Film Festival – the biggest selection of Latin American films ever shown in Australia!

FOR FULL DETAILS PLEASE VISIT www.sydneylatinofilmfestival.org

Dendy Opera Quays
Wednesday 2nd September - Tuesday 8th September 09
BOOK NOW on 02 9247 3800 or at www.moshtix.com.au

TICKET PRICES

Single sessions
Adult $15 / Concession $12

Dendy Opera Quays 3 session pass (excluding Opening Night + Closing Night)
Adult $39 / Concession $30 - the 3 session deal can only be booked in person at the Cinema box office

Opening Night - Australian Premiere Filmmaker Q&A, pre-screening entertainment + Vivaz Fiesta
Adult $45 / Concession $40

Closing Night - Australian Premiere Filmmaker Q&A + pre-screening entertainment + drinks
Adult $25 / Concession $20

2009 PROGRAMME

CLICK on the film title below for full details.

Shawn Garry, 2007, Chile, 100min, Spanish / English
Wednesday 2nd September, 7:00pm.  OPENING NIGHT EVENT + Q&A

Visually stunning, multi-award winning road movie with a story that spans from Spain to Southern Chile. Beautiful Sofia has led a full and happy life in Barcelona, but the sudden death of her mother sends her reeling. A mysterious “return-to-sender” letter reveals that her mother lived her happiest days far from Spain, in a remote place called Desierto Sur. Filled with sorrow, Sofia leaves Spain for Chile and sets off on a road trip in search of the remote and unknown place. Set against the magical landscapes of the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile, an unlikely story of self-discovery unfolds as Sofia places her trust in Nadia, Gustavo and a transvestite hooker. Join us for the opening night film presented by the film’s producer Mauricio Arriagada, followed by the Vivaz Opening Night Fiesta.

Cuba, the Value of Utopia

Yanara Guayasamin, 2006, Ecuador, 120min, Documentary, Spanish / English
Thursday 3rd September, 6:00pm

A profound documentary about the revolutionary generation. The notion that the past is always present is a powerful one in Cuba. A poet, a songstress, a painter and even Fidel himself are the characters through whom Yanara Guayasamín recreates the Cuban Revolution and its aftermath. What do the witnesses and survivors of this bloody struggle have to say today, 50 years later? Their lives, their battles, their dreams and memories help build a vivid portrait of an entire generation and its leader.

Bagatela

Jorge Caballero, 2008, Colombia, 74min, Documentary, Spanish / English
Thursday 3rd September, 7:30pm

Just what happens when you end up on the wrong side of the law in Bogotá?
In Bogotá, as in many third world cities, most people who find themselves embroiled in the criminal justice system have committed minor misdemeanors that reflect their abject social reality. Nonetheless, the justice system comes down hard on these people. Selling pirated CDs, stealing a cell phone or simply sleeping on the street can mean years in prison. Bagatela paints a portrait of justice by looking closely at the petty crimes that take place each moment on the streets of Bogotá – a city used to living with both violence and inequality.
Screening with Buenas Intenciones (Mexico).

Manuela & Manuel

Raul Marchand, 2007, Puerto Rico, 90min, Comedy, Spanish / English
Thursday 3rd September, 8:15pm

A wacky comedy about a boy, who enjoys being a girl, trying to be a boy. Deep inside, Manuel has always been Manuela. Amid the worst romantic debacle of her life, Manuela (a drag club diva) reinvents herself as Manuel in order to pass as the fiancée of her best friend Coca, who is pregnant from a one-night stand and must face her conservative family. Hidden identities, misunderstandings and the tension between two friends pretending to be what they are not set the stage for a colourful and vibrant story. A lively marriage of screwball comedy and drama, Manuela and Manuel is a visually captivating story about two friends performing in the melodrama of Latin American life.
Screening with Yo Dual (Mexico/Cuba)

La Clase

José Antonio Varela, 2007, Venezuela, 90min, Feature, Spanish / English
Friday 4th September, 7:00pm

A compelling drama about class difference in Venezuela. Beautiful Tita is a promising young violinist, who lives in a rough neighbourhood in Caracas. Being part of a symphony orchestra gives her great satisfaction, but a violent incident shakes her peace of mind compelling her to accept a friend’s offer of a flat in a wealthier part of town. Little by little she begins to move away from her family and old friends, aligning herself with her new love who offers her an escape into a new world. Ultimately though her country’s reality will take her to a definitive crossroad.
Screening with Cunaro (Venezuela

Rain/Lluvia

Paula Hernandez, 2007, Argentina, 110min, Feature, Spanish / English
Friday 4th September, 9:00pm

Multi-award winning drama about Roberto and Alma, two people who meet in a traffic jam in a rain-soaked Buenos Aires.
It has been raining non-stop in Buenos Aires for three days. Alma and Roberto have not yet met. Immersed in their own solitude and at the mercy of the weather, they confront their own fears, uncertainties and losses. Alma has recently left the man she has lived with for nine years. Roberto has come back to the country after almost thirty years abroad. Here he has nothing, just a father in a coma, with whom he has no relationship, and an apartment that has to be emptied. In the middle of a traffic jam, Alma’s car door opens unexpectedly. Roberto gets in. Alma, without knowing exactly why, lets him stay, unaware of what this sudden encounter will bring.
Screening with Despierta (Ecuador)

Local Shorts

Australia
Saturday 5th September, 2:30pm

Don’t miss this diverse line-up of local films competing for the prestigious $3000 Local Filmmakers Award. Our local talent have covered the full spectrum of themes ranging from thoughtful reflective pieces to comedy - there’s something for every cinefile.

Memory (Alvaro D. Ruiz, 5min)
Amanecer (Alvaro D. Ruiz, 14min)
I am (Samantha Pineda, 3min)
Tico (Samantha Pineda, 2min)
Picante - a tale of mis-intiendos (Camilo
Haley, 6min)
Solid, liquid, gas (Alejandra Canales, 3min)
4 Rolls (Gustavo Nazareth Faraco, 11min)
1st person (Viviana Villamar, 28min)
Trapped (Alison Plasto, 17min)

The Water Colorist/El Acuarelista

Daniel Ró, 2008, Peru, 88min, Comedy, Spanish / English
Saturday 5th September, 5:00pm

A beautifully shot film about an artist trying to deal with the demands of society.
Quitting his job as a clerk and moving out of the family home, ‘T’ attempts to fulfil a lifelong dream to become a watercolour artist. An old apartment block in the city centre provides the perfect backdrop to bring to life his vision. But his perfect solitude is interrupted by his nosy, small-minded neighbours. Escaping to the privacy of his bathroom, can ‘T’ finally paint his watercolour? Channeling the black humour of Kafka, The Watercolorist is a disquieting metaphor about yielding control of our lives to others and a reflection on our need for self-discovery and freedom.
Screening with El Silencio de los sapos (Venezuela)

How Could I Not Love You

Víctor Jesús Avelar Martínez, 2007, México, 80 min, Feature, Spanish / English
Saturday 5th September, 7:00pm

A coming of age drama about love, football and dreams.
Hugo and Julia are high school sweethearts with separate dreams and goals, but with the same passion for soccer and their beloved team the University PUMAS. In the end, their different personalities will lead each of them along a separate path, and both will learn the hard way that in this life, everything has a price. This coming of age film about love, football and dreams captures the gritty reality of life in Mexico City.
Screening with Así Es (USA / Mexico)

Meet the Head of Juan Perez

Emilio Portes, 2007, Mexico, 83min, Comedy, Spanish / English
Saturday 5th September, 9:00pm

A comedy that cuts a little bit too close to the bone.
This hilarious black comedy sees B-grade magician Juan Pérez the Great hurtling through a series of misadventures as he tries to keep his job in the circus. He promises a sensational never-before-seen beheading act, but to pull it off, he must find a guillotine. The trouble really starts when he breaks into a history museum to pilfer the genuine article – a guillotine that carries a deadly curse.
Screening with Filaberto (Mexico/Cuba)

Inal Mama - Sacred and Profane

Eduardo López Zavala, 2008, Bolivia / Venezuela, 85min, Documentary, Spanish / Quechua / Guaraní / English
Sunday 6th September, 2:00pm

A political, visual and musical essay on the role of the coca leaf, and its by-product, cocaine in Bolivian cultures.
Screening with Chimbumbe (Colombia/Mexico)laberto (Mexico/Cuba)

Amantes - Latin Lovers (Shorts)

Sunday 6th September, 4:00pm

Who says Latin lovers are always macho, young and straight? The Sydney Latin American Film Festival presents a showcase of shorts on Latin love that defies the stereotype.

No me pidas que no lo lamento (Constanza Fernández, Chile, 14min)
Two women with different ideas on love bare their hearts to each other.

Mi torero y lo arriesgado del amor (Jose Miguel Zuniga, Chile, 30min)
Unrequited love, obsession and drag shows make for an emotionally-charged cocktail

Así está bien (Alejandro Alberto Soto Goico, Dominican Republic /Cuba, 10min)
A father struggles to reconcile his sexuality and his obligations to his family.

Atlántico (Fabio A. Meira de Sousa, Brazil/Cuba, 13min)
A touching story of two tortured souls clinging to each other for support.

Adán y Eva (Laura Muñoz, Venezuela, 14min)
True love knows no age.

The Beetle KFZ-1348

Gabriel Mascaro & Marcelo Pedroso, 2008, Brazil, 81min, Doco, Portuguese/ English
Sunday 6th September, 6:00pm

Follow the intriguing journey of the Beetle KFZ-1348 through 40 years of Brazilian history.
In 1965 a young São Paulo civil engineer buys a VW Beetle. Forty years later the car ends up in a Recife scrap yard, with the license plate KFZ-1348. Over four decades this same little car changes hands several times: from a São Paulo businessman, to a hairdresser in the interior of Pernambuco State. This Beetle takes on a unique meaning for each owner as it charts various historic moments in the story of modern Brazil. The Beetle KFZ-1348 goes in search of each owner’s story, offering us a window into Brazilian society.
Screening with Hombre vs meteorito (Argentina)

Radio Carazon

Roberto Artiagoitia, 2007, Chile, 107min, Comedy, Spanish / English
Sunday 6th September, 8:00pm

A stellar Chilean cast in three provocative tales of love and sex.
Radio Corazon is a top rating radio program where callers share their most intimate secrets with host Rumpy and his listeners. Tune into the sexy, dramatic and turbulent lives of three individuals as they share their life experiences on-air. The Initiation: Three teenage girls swear an oath to become “women” before finishing high school. My Daughter-in-Law: A young man is discouraged from marriage by his friend as his wedding day approaches. His fiancée moves in with him and his mother; a move that will forever change the close relationship shared between mother and son. Fairy Tale: The matriarch of the aristocratic Covarrubias family has a terminal disease. From her deathbed, she constructs an outrageous plan to take care of her family after she’s gone.
Screening with Oda a la piña (Cuba)

The Healing / La Curacion

Yoni Goldstein, 2008, Ecuador / USA, 56min, Documentary, Spanish / Quechua / English
Monday 7th August, 6:00pm
Microcinema - free entry

La Curación is an exploration of the human body as “a porous and permeable subject” through a prism of Ecuadorian narratives, songs, and folk tales.
Consider the nature of traditional medicine through the eyes of epileptic revolutionaries, fire-breathing shamans and poet physicians as they discuss embodiment through politics, ritual and disease. Set against the lush volcanic vistas of Ecuador, this unprecedented documentary covers the three distinct cultural groups - the globalised mestizos in Quito, the Quechua-speaking indigenous people of Otavalo and Peguche and the Afro-Ecuadorian population on the northern coast.
Join us after the film for a lively panel discussion.

When Clouds Clear

Danielle Bernstein & Anne Slick, 2008, USA / Ecuador, 77min, Documentary, Spanish / English
Tuesday 8th September, 6:00pm + Q&A DISCUSSION
Microcinema - free entry

When Clouds Clear recounts one remote community’s radical resistance to a proposed copper mine that threatened to destroy their way of life forever. As two mining companies become increasingly brazen in their attempts to infiltrate and control the remote town of Junín in northern Ecuador, the community forms a united resistance in order to survive. Still, some citizens are wooed by promises of wealth, causing irreparable divisions between families and friends. Suddenly these once peaceful farmers find themselves thrust into a dangerous world of corruption, splintered households, murder and arson as they fight to protect their land and families.
Join us afterwards for an engaging panel discussion.

Saens Pena Square / Praça Saens Pena

Vinicius Reis, 2008, Brazil, 100min, Feature, Portuguese / English
Tuesday 8th September, 7:00pm. CLOSING NIGHT EVENT

The film that swept awards this year at Recife, Brazil.
It’s all relatively straightforward at the beginning - Paulo works as a high school teacher, his wife Teresa is the local shopkeeper, and their daughter Bel is still at school. They live in a rented flat in Saens Peña Square, in the heart of Tijuca, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. That all changes when Paolo receives an unexpected and alluring job offer which has the potential to have a profound effect on the routine of his family and even jeopardise his 20-year marriage. Set in early 2003, the story plays out against the backdrop of Lula’s first term as President of Brazil and the US invasion of Iraq.
Meet the filmmaker and join us for pre-screening drinks and samba in the cinema foyer.