13 November 2018

Cine Latino 2018 @ Palace Electric

| Ariel Larkey
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For the third year running, Cine Latino is back at Palace Electric Cinemas. The break-away from the Spanish Film Festival starts this week and runs from 14 28 November, screening 26 films across a variety of categories.

Through food and football, Latin America is already well and truly on the map. On this side of the Pacific, festivals like these are working to bring their films to new audiences. In fact, the programming on offer at Cine Latino 2018 will offer the trifecta – food, football, film.

The countries most strongly represented across the festival’s three categories this year are Mexico (Opening Night and Closing Night), Argentina (Cine Argentina) and Cuba (Retrospective).

Alfonso Cuarón's Roma

Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma (2018).

The work of Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity; Children of Men) will book-end the festival with his latest, Roma (2018) opening proceedings on Wednesday, 14 November. Tracing the life of a middle-class Mexico City family in the early 70s, this black-and-white passion project is presented in partnership with the Embassy of Mexico. Screening 6:45 PM with an after-party to follow. Tickets $40/$45 for members/non-members.

Tu Mamá También

Y Tu Mamá También (2001).

For a special Closing Night event, the festival will take a road-trip back to 2001 with Y Tu Mamá También – a defining early work in Cuarón’s celebrated career. Starring a young Gael García Bernal (Amores Perros; The Motorcycle Diaries), Diego Luna (Narcos: Mexico) and Spanish siren Maribel Verdú (Pan’s Labyrinth), the film garnered much attention upon release for its explicit sex. Albeit a vital ingredient, this resonant piece offered more than just the on-screen intimacy it portrayed. With a drink on arrival from 6:30 PM, this very special 2K Restoration will screen Wednesday, 28 November, 6:45 PM. Tickets $23/$27 for member/non-members.

With several highlights to look out for, the Contemporary Selection will feature 13 new films from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Paraguay.

From the little-known pocket of Paraguay comes Winner of Best Film at the 2018 Sydney Film Festival, The Heiresses, which tells a moving modern-day tale of female personal rediscovery in the country’s capital, Asunción.

Birds of Passage

Birds of Passage (2018).

From visionary directors Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego (Embrace of the Serpent) comes Birds of Passage – an ocular epic illuminating the origins of the Colombian drug trade from the perspective of a proud indigenous family in the north of the country, featuring native Wayuu dialect.

Two eye-catching Australian Premieres feature in the form of Brazil’s Loveling – the story of a mother-of-four dealing with the ripple effects of her eldest son being offered the chance to pursue his sporting dreams abroad; and, from the Dominican Republic, Luis – the challenging tale of a Chief of Police with a hard stance on drugs who must deal with his own son’s transgressions.

There will also be three special documentary inclusions: Nossa Chape: Our Team about the tragedy of the 2016 Chapecoense football team plane crash; No Dress Code Required which follows gay couple Victor and Fernando who become lightning rods for change as they try to marry in their Mexican hometown; and Pope Francis: A Man of His Word – an intimate and cinematic tête a tête with the first ever Pope from the Americas, brought to the screen by legendary director Wim Wenders (Buena Vista Social Club).

Ten Days Without Mum

Ten Days Without Mum (2017)

Cine Argentina will showcase eight up-to-the-minute Premieres including comedy, crime, drama, thriller and romance – including a mid-festival Special Event screening on Wednesday, 21 November of the hit family comedy Ten Days Without Mum from director Ariel Winograd. When an exhausted mother of four takes a much-needed sabbatical from domestic duties, her bumbling husband is left entirely to his own devices for an ensuing period of solo-parenting mayhem. Reception featuring Argentinian drinks, bites and music from 6:30 PM; screening from 7:00 PM. Tickets $30/$35 for members/non-members.

Animal

Animal (2018)

Other Argentinian highlights to look out for: Animal from Academy Award-winning screenwriter Armando Bo (Birdman); El Ángel recounting the dramatic true story of the ‘Angel of Death’ – a killer as beautiful as he was bloody; Reys Education which explores the complex and confronting realities of youth crime in the country through the relationship between a security guard and a teen criminal; and legal crime drama The Accused about a 21 year-old on trial for the murder of her best friend.

Cuba Libre

Cuba Libre (2015)

Co-presented by the Melbourne Cuban Festival Association, the special three-film Cuban Retrospective will screen 1898 coming-of-age drama Cuba Libre (2015); musical biopic El Benny (2006); and 1956 Fulgencio Batista dictatorship-period literary drama Hello Hemingway (1990). Tickets $10.

Family flashback films will also be included across the festival’s two weekends respectively: Coco (Sat 17 & Sun 18 Nov) and Ferdinand (Sat 24 & Sun 25 Nov) at 10:30 AM with tickets only $8.

For more information on films, screening times and ticket prices, visit the Official Website.

Pick up the Official Programme at Palace Electric.

Feliz festival!

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