Our institution opens the new season of cultural activities with the Second Peruvian Contemporary Film Showcase, that will bring to the ICNY the best Peruvian filmography of the last decades and some of its most important filmmakers.
Below you will find all the details about the program, that you can also check out at http://secondperuvianfilm.wordpress.com/
If you would like to attend the opening night screening please let me know asap.
We hope we will see you all back in our auditorium soon!
Second Peruvian Contemporary Film Showcase at Instituto Cervantes New York
September 14th to October 5th
Instituto Cervantes New York, in collaboration with artist Lorry Salcedo and the Consulate General of Peru in New York, presents the Second Peruvian Contemporary Film Showcase. This festival features a selection of the most representative films within Peruvian cinematography and includes documentaries, short films and feature-length films. This year the program commemorates the 100th anniversary of the scientific expedition of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Cusco headed by American explorer Hiram Bingham. According to the Los Angeles Times, “the role of Indiana Jones was inspired by Bingham”. The screenings will take place at the Auditorioum of Instituto Cervantes New York every Wednesday, from September 14th to October 5th, and will be free of charge (except for the opening night), in Spanish with English subtitles.
SCREENINGS & SYNOPSIS
OPENING NIGHT, double program (by invitation only):
Selection of shorts about Machu Pichu: Programmer Lorry Salcedo will introduce the program along with film director Sergio García Meyer.
Wed 14th. 6.00pm
The feast of the goat (La fiesta del chivo), by Llucho Llosa (2006). 128 min.
Wed 14th. 6,40pm.
Note: this screening is a USA premiere and it stars Isabella Rossellini.
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 1992. Urania Cabral returns to her city of birth. She barely recognizes the decrepit, mute and immobile old man she finds there, almost inert. He is her father, Agustin Cabral, aka "The Brain," President of the Senate and right-hand man of the dictator Trujillo for many, many years, until his fall from grace. But that was long ago now. Urania looks back on these events 35 years later. She tells the story to her aunt and cousins, who cannot understand why it has been so long since she visited them, her family and her own father. Finally, Urania will confess the terrible secret that caused her to flee her home and family forever, a secret that destroyed her life for good. The Feast of the Goat is also the story of a group of men who sacrificed their lives to put an end to one of the bloodiest tyrannies in Latin America's recent past. Their ordeal is interwoven with Urania's in an intense kaleidoscope of love, hate, death, and violence. Afilm based on the extraordinary novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, blending a terrible personal drama with political conspiracy, an epic gesture and a tragic ending that marked a new era in the history of the Dominican Republic. film screening: "Six & Eight"
Triple program of documentaries and feature:
Six & Eight (Seis con ocho), by Judit Velez (2011). 45 min
Wed 21/ 6.00pm
Six & Eight tells the story of six women convicted by the crime of drug dealing known as “burriers”. Coming from different countries, these women have in common the same sentence: six years with eight months, and the sadness of being far from their children. This documentary is about the motivations that these women had to enter the illicit drug business as well as their fears, regrets and efforts to make the prison a worthy place to live.
Film presentation by Linda Villarosa.
The true story of Liz (La verdadera historia de Liz) by Eduardo Guillot (2007) 28 min.
Wed 21/ 6.55pm
This documentary takes a look at one of the most controversial cases presented to the Peruvian Truth & Reconciliation Commission. It is the case of Liz Rojas, one of the many anonymous victims of the war against terrorism in Peru and a model of courage and dignity, like those that often appear under adverse circumstances. Liz initiates a long journey, fighting with perseverance and courage to find her mother who has been unjustly taken away from her.
Film presentation by Linda Villarosa.
Paper Dove (Paloma de Papel) by Fabrizio Aguilar (2003). 90 min.
Wed 21/ 7.30pm
Juan is an ungainly and solitary man. He is no longer that eleven-year-old child from the Peruvian highlands, son of Domitila and stepson of the coward Fermin, who handed him over to fight as part of a terrorist group together with other children. A beautiful and heartbreaking story set during the violence that wracked Peru over the course of nearly two decades.
Film presentation by Linda Villarosa.
Choropampa, the price of gold (Choropampa, el precio del oro) by Ernesto Cabellos and Stephanie Boyd (2002). 75 min
Wed 28/ 6.00pm
A devastating mercury spill by the world’s richest gold mining corporation transforms a quiet peasant village in Peru’s Andean mountains into a hotbed of civil resistance. A courageous young mayor emerges to lead his people on a quest for healthcare and justice. But powerful interests conspire to thwart the villages at every turn in this epic two-year chronicle about the true price of gold.
Presentation of the film by Vera Lauer.
A fiancé in New York (Una novia en Nueva York) by Gianfranco Annichini (1987). 9min.
Wed 28/ 7.25pm
A 68-year-old Peruvian man writes to a marriage agency in New York in hopes of finding a millionaire wife who will help save him from poverty.
Film presentation by Vera Lauer.
Paradise (Paraiso) by Hector Gálvez (2010) 90 min.
Wed 28th / 7.45pm
Paraiso is a borough of displaced people situated in the outskirts of the city of Lima and this story is a walk through the lives of five youngsters who live there trapped, without opportunities, or future…But who also feel that they have to do something about it.
Film presentation by Vera Lauer.
Kukuli (Kukuli) by Luis Figueroa (1961). 63min.
Wed Oct 5th / 6pm
This masterpiece of Andean cinematography now celebrates its 50th anniversary as an absolute classic, narrated in Quechua, the language of the Incas. In the Andean world, there is a myth about a bear that kidnaps beautiful women. This legend is particularly popular in zones near the rain forest, such as the village of Paucartambo, where the movie is set. The tale most likely came from the Far East, after a long journey through Europe. Obviously, this belief was transformed upon arrival in Peru; the Andes have always been great assimilators of the culture that arrived after the Conquista, during Colonial times, and later, during the Republican era. Thus, the legend of the kidnapping bear found a place here and later took on its own life under a new conception. The kidnapping bear is a figure that resonates like few others. I would say it is associated with the telluric forces of the earth. This bear has great powers of seduction. They say it has seven penises, making it a type of “supermale” capable of seducing beautiful shepherdesses.
Radio Belen (Radio Belen) by Gianfranco Annichini (1983). 11min.
Wed Oct 5th / 7.15pm
Located right in the middle of the riverside market of Belen, in the city of Iquitos, deep in the Peruvian Amazon, this rudimentary radio station broadcasts messages for locals and travelers. Film presentation by Ana de Orbegoso y Odi Gonzáles.
October (Octubre) by Daniel y Diego Vega (2010). 83min.
Wed Oct 5th / 7.35pm
Moneylender Clemente is a man of few words. He is also the newfound love interest of Sofia, his single neighbor and a devotee who worships the Lord of Miracles each October. Their relationship begins when Clemente discovers a newborn baby girl, the product of his involvement with a prostitute who has disappeared. While Clemente searches for the mother, Sofia takes care of the moneylender's baby and helps around the house. With the arrival of these two new figures in his life, Clemente will begin to question the way he relates to others.
Film presentation by Ana de Orbegoso y Odi Gonzales.