latin beat: recent movies from latin america august 20 -- september 9, 1999 photo: EL SILENCIO DE NETO / THE SILENCE OF NETO

calendar | about the program Presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes featuring a special tribute to Fernanda Montenegro This program was curated by Cord Dueppe and Marcela Goglio. The films selected for Latin Beat! represent a wide range of countries, subjects and approaches to cinema. Internationally celebrated filmmakers such as Arturo Ripstein (Mexico), Francisco Lombardi (Peru), Sergio Castilla (Chile), Alejandro Saderman (Venzuela) and Fernando Pérez (Cuba) are featured alongside emerging filmmakers such as Gregorio Cramer and Martín Rejtman (Argentina), Carlos Carrera and Francisco Athié (Mexico), Paolo Agazzi (Bolivia), Beto Brant (Brazil), and Luis Argueta (Guatamala) and many more. Join us for this rare opportunity to travel into the remarkable panorama of filmmaking from Central and South America. - Richard Peña Special thanks to Ambassador Flavio Perri for making this series possible. Thanks also to the Museum of Modern Art, Cowboy International and Sony Pictures Classics. Special Event: Thursday, August 19 at Barnes and Noble Union Square (33 East 17th Street, New York, NY): Join us for film clips and a discussion with Luis Argueta, director of THE SILENCE OF NETO, and Richard Peña, Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

INVIERNO MALA VIDA / WINTERLAND LA VIDA ES SILBAR / LIFE IS TO WHISTLE EL EVANGELIO DE LAS MARAVILLAS / DIVINE EL DÍA QUE MURIÓ EL SILENCIO/ THE DAY SILENCE DIED HÉROES DE OTRA PATRIA / IDOLS WITHOUT A CAUSE aka HEROES OF THE OTHER FATHERLAND GRINGUITO UN EMBRUJO / UNDER A SPELL SILVIA PRIETO FIBRA ÓPTICA / FIBER OPTICS CIEN AÑOS DE PERDÓN/ LITTLE THIEVES, BIG THIEVES PIZZA, BIRRA, FASO / PIZZA BOOZE, SMOKES NO SE LO DIGAS A NADIE / DON'T TELL ANYONE AMANECIÓ DE GOLPE / A COUP AT DAYBREAK EL SILENCIO DE NETO / THE SILENCE OF NETO TRANSATLÁNTICO / TRANSATLANTIC OS MATADORES / BELLY UP O BAILE PERFUMADO / THE PERFUMED BALL

Argentina: INVIERNO MALA VIDA / WINTERLAND Gregorio Cramer, Argentina / France, 1997; 84m In the harsh landscapes of Patagonia, a young hustler embarks on a strange journey to find the golden sheep he has dreamed about. This tale of friendship, love, loneliness and the need to have a dream is another strong entry from the new generation of Argentinean filmmakers. Fri Aug 20: 1 and 5:30 Sat Aug 21: 4; Sun Aug 22: 8:30 Cuba LA VIDA ES SILBAR / LIFE IS TO WHISTLE Fernando Pérez, Cuba, 1998; 110m Best film, best director and six other awards, 1998 Cuban Film Festival Eighteen-year-old Bebé tells the stories of three women in presentday Havana whose lives intersect on the Day of Santa Bárbara (also known as the African saint Chango, ruler of destinies). LA VIDA is a uniquely Cuban blend of absurdist humor and mystical realism, set to the pulsating music of Bola de Nieve and Benny Moré. If that's not enough to lure you to this delightful movie, we promise that the secret of eternal happiness is revealed at the story's end! Fri Aug 20: 3 Sat Aug 21: 6 Sun Aug 22: 6:15 Mon Aug 23: 3:30 and 8:30 Mexico EL EVANGELIO DE LAS MARAVILLAS / DIVINE Arturo Ripstein, Mexico / Argentina / Spain, 1998; 112m Director Ripstein continues his fertile collaboration with screenwriter Paz Alicia Garcíadiego with a wry film that immerses us in the life of a religious sect (loosely based on a real cult from the 70s) somewhere in Mexico. New Jerusalem is a shelter for prostitutes, vagrant teenagers, misfits and social outcasts, all of whom believe that the end of the millennium also heralds the end of the world. Presiding over the community is Mamá Dorita (the glorious Katy Jurado), a dying prophetess, and Papá Basilio (Francisco Rabal, Luis Buñuel's frequent star), a wine-bibbling priest. In this strange and wonderful film, Ripstein makes us mesmerized witnesses to ceremonies that are a wonderful mish-mash of medieval processions, cinematic drama and modern Third World decadence. - Toronto International Film Festival catalogue Sat Aug 21: 8:30 Sun Aug 22: 4 Mon Aug 23: 1 and 6:15 Bolivia: EL DÍA QUE MURIÓ EL SILENCIO / THE DAY SILENCE DIED Paolo Agazzi, Bolivia, 1998; 108m If Gabriel Garciá Márquez and Howard Stern ever collaborated, they might have concocted something like this irresistible dark comedy. In the sleepy village of Villaserena, a young man arrives with a generator, radio and loudspeakers. Soon the speakers are blaring a bizarre mix of local gossip, announcements of lost hens, regional music and Elvis Presley. But little by little forbidden and scandalous stories buried in the past of its inhabitants are added to the mix. Imagine the chaos that ensues! Wed Aug 25: 1 and 6:15 Thurs Aug 26: 1 and 9 Puerto Rico: HÉROES DE OTRA PATRIA / HEROES WITHOUT A CAUSE aka HEROES OF THE OTHER FATHERLAND Iván Dariel Ortíz, Puerto Rico, 1998; 90m HÉROES portrays the courageous participation and terrible plight of Puerto Rican soldiers in Vietnam and the hardships endured by their families. The story, based on a real-life incident, unfolds through the intimate account of the experiences of two young soliders: Carlos, who wonders whether Puerto Ricans should be fighting in this war at all, and Raúl, a loyal soldier with a North American, military upbringing. Along with thousands of other young boricuas, both Carlos and Raúl become hapless victims of the war. Wed Aug 25: 3:15 and 8:30 Thurs Aug 26: 3:15 Chile: GRINGUITO Sergio Castilla, Chile, 1998; 90m Here's a charming family movie about an eight-year-old boy who has grown up in New York but whose family returns to their native Chile. Lonely and anxious, Ivan runs away for two days to explore Santiago, during which time he learns about his new surroundings and the reality of being a foreigner in his own country. Fri Aug 27: 1 and 6 Sat Aug 28: 6:40 Sun Aug 29: 4 Mexico: UN EMBRUJO / UNDER A SPELL Carlos Carrera, Mexico, 1998; 130m Sometime in the late 20s, in the coastal town of Progreso, a handsome longshoreman's son falls for his beautiful schoolteacher, many years his senior. Their friendship eventually results in Eliseo's initiation into love. But Felipa keeps her true affections for a sailor who visits her secretly and occasionally. When his body washes up on the beach, her liaison with Eliseo is exposed, she is branded a witch by the townspeople and forced to leave town. Epic in sweep and visually sumptuous, Carlos Carrera's new film paints a vivid portrait of Mexico in the 20s, governed by the Socialists, in the throes of revolution. Blanca Guerra is unforgettable as the woman whose passion is both her curse and salvation. (Official Oscar entry, Best Foreign Language Film) Fri Aug 27: 3:15 and 8:30 Sat Aug 28: 4 Argentina: SILVIA PRIETO Martín Rejtman, Argentina, 1999; 92m In this delightful deadpan comedy set in Buenos Aires, author and filmmaker Martin Rejtman contemplates the ephemeral nature of identity through the interactions of a clique of twentysomething postcollegiate misfits-most notably the sweetly vacant title character Silvia Prieto (Rosario Bléfari). On her 27th birthday, this post-modern Holly Golightly decides to radically change her life: she gets a job in a coffee bar, buys a canary, and stops smoking pot. But restless Silvia is soon on the move again, running into a suave, Armani-clad gentleman at the seaside. Along the way, she discovers another Silvia Prieto, about whom our heroine develops a bizarre obsession that may or may not lead to unraveling the riddle of her own identity. Rejtman's keen ear for dialogue, his affection for his characters, and his ability to coax clever nuance out of the ordinary produce a film full of daft charm. Sat Aug 28: 9 Sun Aug 29: 6:30 Mon Aug 30: 3:15 and 7:45 Tues Aug 31: 1 Mexico: FIBRA ÓPTICA / FIBER OPTICS Francisco Athié, Mexico, 1998; 100m A love story and a thriller at once, FIBRA ÓPTICA begins with the murder of an important trade union leader, a homicide that looks at first glance like an ordinary crime of passion. In actuality, as unemployed reporter Marco Antonio, and Magaña, a low-rent lawyer, discover-coming from different points of view-the death is a link in a widespread money-laundering operation. Sun Aug 29: 8:45 Mon Aug 30: 1 and 5:30 Tues Aug 31: 3 Venezuela: CIEN AÑOS DE PERDÓN / LITTLE THIEVES, BIG THIEVES Alejandro Saderman, 1998; 102m One of the funniest Latin American comedies in years is based on Venezuela's recent banking crisis, which originated from corruption within the establishment and led to the financial ruin of most of the population. Four middle-aged childhood friends decide to put an end to their desperate financial crisis by robbing a bank, using the same reasoning that big bankers use to rob their own banks. Fri Sept 3: 1 and 5 Sun Sept 5: 6:15 Argentina: PIZZA, BIRRA, FASO / PIZZA BOOZE, SMOKES Bruno Stagnaro and Adrian Caetano, 1997; 83m This gritty, no-holds-barred look at a group of Buenos Aires street kids was the sensation of the 1997 Mar del Plata Film Festival-where it won prizes for both Best First Film and Best Latin American Film-and then went on to be a box-office smash in Argentina, helping to bring a new generation of filmgoers to the Argentine cinema. Co-directors Stagnaro and Caetano brilliantly capture the texture of their young subjects' lives-the very particular slang, the almost theatrical posturing, the liberal sprinkling of elements of U.S. street culture-allowing us to experience their demi-monde without romanticizing it. The cast, all nonprofessionals, is simply terrific. Fri Sept 3: 3:15 and 7:15 Sat Sept 4: 4 Peru: NO SE LO DIGAS A NADIE / DON'T TELL ANYONE Francisco Lombardi, 1998; 114m The new film by Peru's acclaimed director is based on the bestselling autobiographical novel by writer and talk show host Jaime Bayley (the Oprah Winfrey of Latin America). The story describes a young man's quest-from Peru to Miami and back-for sexual identity while escaping from an abusive father and religious mother. Director Lombardi charts Joaquín's difficult journey with tenderness and nonjudgmental compassion. Fri Sept 3: 9; Sat Sept 4: 5:45 and 10 Venezuela: AMANECIÓ DE GOLPE / A COUP AT DAYBREAK Carlos Azpurúa, 1998; 97m An attempted coup d'etat breaks the calm of the Caracas night. During the first minutes, all will be confusion: is the president dead? Has the military surrounded the city? A COUP AT DAYBREAK spins off the attempt to overthrow the oldest continuing democracy in Latin America to paint a revealing portrait of a society which on the most personal, intimate level already seems on the verge of collapse. Weaving together several distinct stories, taken from characters in various walks of life and from different social strata, the film shows how each individual suddenly sees how their own personal situations are being re-defined by the political turmoil threatening to engulf the country. A COUP AT DAYBREAK is also an excellent example of the successful adaptation of television-style storytelling to the movies. Sat Sept 4: 8 Mon Sept 6: 1 Wed Sept 8: 3:15 Guatemala: EL SILENCIO DE NETO / THE SILENCE OF NETO Luis Argueta, 1994; 106m The leitmotif of silence and its possible consequences runs through this film in poetic, colorful and eloquent images. Neto is a chubby, bright boy who struggles between the silence and strict obedience imposed on him by his conservative parents and a need to explore beyond the secluded protection of his traditional family's household. His secret hideaways and adventurous escapes with friends into the mountains, a brief romance with a schoolmate and the presence of a mysterious travelling uncle who always surprises Neto with exotic gifts from abroad-all of these experiences are emblematic of a country's search for freedom and need to come to terms with its violent, silenced past. Sun Sept 5: 4 Mon Sept 6: 5 Wed Sept 8: 1 Uruguay: TRANSATLÁNTICO / TRANSATLANTIC Christine Laurent, 1997; 110m An intimate film told from the POV of a Frenchwoman who makes her first visit to Montevideo to reunite with her lover, whom she hasn't seen in one year. Unable to find him, she embarks on a search in which she discovers a distant, yet strangely familiar, part of the world. Sun Sept 5: 8:30 Tues Sept 7: 1 Brazil: OS MATADORES / BELLY UP Beto Brant, 1997; 90m Here's a fast-paced gangster film with a twist, featuring unexpected plot turns, parodies of gangster cliches, and realistic portraits of ruthless men. When a young car thief joins the ranks of hired killers in a seedy Brazil-Paraguay border town, BELLY UP interweaves presentday action with stories of the gang's past. Director Beto Brant made several music videos for the rock group group Titas before making BELLY UP, his first feature film-another example of the cross-fertilization between Latin film and pop music. Mon Sept 6: 3 and 7:15 O BAILE PERFUMADO / THE PERFUMED BALL Lirio Ferreira and Paulo Caldas, 1997; 93m In the 1920s and 1930s, outlaw bands took de facto control over several of the states of northeastern Brazil. Adorned in heavily decorated outfits full of religious and mystic symbols, these bandits, known as cangaceiros, were widely seen as popular, Robin Hood-like heroes, especially when they attacked rich landowners and government authorities. The most powerful, and famous, of the cangaceiros was Lampiao, whose exploits continue to be celebrated in plays, poems, songs and films. In 1930, a traveling Lebanese salesman ran into Lampiao and his men; when it was discovered that the salesman had a movie camera, the bandits began to pose and act out for him, creating an invaluable photographic record of this most legendary figure. THE PERFUMED BALL is a fascinating, revealing re-creation of this event that offers a provocative meditation on those images that become history. Mon Sept 6: 9:15 Tues Sept 7: 3:15

Fernanda Montenegro CENTRAL STATION

Latin Beat! honors Fernanda Montenegro, Mulher da Vida* The Film Society and the Consulate General of Brazil in New York City present a tribute to the legendary Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro, world-renowned for her role in Walter Salles' CENTRAL STATION, a performance that garnered her a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress. A self-made woman, Montenegro began her acting career as a teenager in radio soap operas, then made her stage debut in 1950-appearing with Fernando Torres, who later became her husband. During the 60s, she became a grande dame of Brazilian television, participating in dramas and elaborate soap operas. In 1964, she debuted on the screen, in Leon Hirszman's A FALECIDA (from a novel by Nelson Rodrigues), though the theater continued to be her first love. This Brazilian Judi Dench has been acclaimed for her "rubber face," her incredible capacity to change expressions and convincingly project her character's features. "I belong to a non-romantic generation," says Montenegro, "without much glamour. I don't like interpreters who only work when the center of the stage is his or hers. I also hate subservient casts. I like to work with prominent actors, who are part of the ritual and isolated from destructive competition." After this remarkable actress's triumph in CENTRAL STATION, she appeared in Traição, a three-episode film directed by her son Claudio Torres. A FALECIDA / THE DECEASED Leon Hirszman, 1965; 85m Montenegro plays a woman obsessed with the notion of having a wonderfully elaborate funeral, as compensation for a miserable existence. Zulmira becomes convinced she is about to die, despite her doctor's protestations to the contrary. Earmarking a sizeable chunk of money to pay for her extavagant sendoff to the next world, Zulmira parlays a cold into a terminal illness, making her husband (Ivan Candido) promise to use her savings for her funeral service. Needless to say, since A FALECIDA is a Brazilian comedy dark as dark can be, her husband decides that Zulmira's spectacular last rites can't hold a candle to life's little pleasures in the here and now. Wed Sept 1: 1 Thurs Sept 2: 6 ELES NAO USAM BLACK-TIE / THEY DON'T WEAR BLACK TIE Leon Hirszman, 1981; 134m The late 1970s in Brazil saw a wave of industrial strikes which signaled the growing popular resentment against the military dictators who had ruled since 1964. In this atmosphere, Leon Hirszman-one of the founders of Cinema Novo-decided to bring to the screen a classic of Brazilian political theater. Written in the 1950s, the play nonetheless contained themes that seemed startlingly contemporary. Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, author of the original play, appears as Otavio, a longtime leftist disturbed by the rising militancy of the merging generation of union activists-including his own son. Fernanda Montenegro is his wife, Romana; her fine, understated performance is the sensitive spine of this bold, brave work. Rarely has a working-class milieu been depicted with greater sensitivity and less romanticism. Guarnieri and Montenegro are not presented as role models, but as complex, at times confused individuals, trying to live by principles in a world increasingly ruled by violent passions. Wed Sept 1: 3 Thurs Sept 2: 8:15 TUDO BEM / EVERYTHING'S ALL RIGHT Arnaldo Jabor, 1977; 110m One of the wildest, most madcap of Brazilian comedies. A middle-class family in Rio decides to finally re-model its apartment; the construction workers-all slum-dwellers from the mountainous shanty-towns surrounding Rio's fashionable neighborhoods-move in and gradually begin taking command of the living space, forming an alliance with the family's domestic help. When one of their maids is suddenly stricken with stigmata, the apartment is transformed into a shrine, as the faithful begin flooding through the doors. And at the center of all this delicious chaos is Elvira (Fernanda Montenegro), the family matriarch, who furiously tries to hold things together while keeping a watchful eye on her husband (Paulo Gracindo). Montenegro here shows her great talent for comedy, exuding an exasperated sense of dignity even as her world spins out of control. Wed Sept 1: 6:30 Thurs Sept 2: 1 CENTRAL STATION Walter Salles, 1998; 115m In CENTRAL STATION's opening scenes, colorful crowds of Brazilians stream into and out of a Rio de Janeiro train, pushing through doors and windows. It's the brutal vitality of a nation in motion, and it sets the tone for a picturesque road movie that charts Brazil's renaissance through a little boy's search for his father and an old woman's emotional reawakening. When we first meet Dora (Fernanda Montenegro), this frozen-hearted, sour-faced woman is the epitome of immobility: day after day, she sits in the train station selling her letter-writing skills to all comers, but often doesn't bother to mail these precious messages. When a bus runs over a woman who's paid Dora to write a pleading note to her son's long-missing dad, orphaned Joshue (Vinicius de Oliveira) is up for grabs. After an abortive attempt to sell Joshue for a new TV, the aspiring couch potato finds herself reluctantly propelled into an occasionally Felliniesque odyssey through the hinterlands of Brazil's sertão where Dora and her sidekick find unexpected faith and family. Salles' film is fueled by the tough / tender performances of Montenegro and de Oliveira, an airport shoeshine boy the director cast over 1,500 other hopefuls. (Montenegro was nominated for an acting Oscar, and CENTRAL STATION was in the running for Best Foreign Film award.) Wed Sept 1: 9:10 Thurs Sept 2: 3:30 * "Woman of Life," the title of a song written in honor of Fernanda Montenegro.