Cool Summer
Refreshing Latin American films and events in London
It looks like summer has finally arrived. Wimbledon, Pride, Notting Hill Carnival… British summertime is all about making the most of the long days and enjoying the great outdoors while we can, and if the last few days are anything to go by, it looks like summer ‘24 will be a scorcher!
But for those of you looking to take some refuge from London’s steaming streets, we’ve hand-picked some alternative events offering a break from all the alfresco activities.
Pride screenings, a great new Central London cinema, Latin American photography, and free tickets! Here’s our guide to some terrific Latin American happenings in London over the next couple of months.
Pride Screenings from Cinema Mentiré
Cinema Mentiré are a London-based film club showing rare and unique Latin American films.
To celebrate Pride this weekend, they have partnered up with a couple of like-minded film organisations to screen two unique Brazilian stories. Both films premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, and are also set in regions of Brazil that are not traditionally seen on the big screen and are little-known to international audiences.
THURSDAY 27TH JUNE – 7.30 PM
The Cinema Museum - TICKETS £8:
Cinema Mentiré and Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest present:
DRY WIND | VENTO SECO (dir. Daniel Nolasco, 2022, Brazil, 110min)
The area around Catalan in Brazil’s state of Goiás is dry, very dry. Sandro’s life here is somewhat monotonous. He works in a fertiliser factory, goes swimming and spends his evenings doing jigsaw puzzles of landscapes. Sandro has a purely physical relationship with his colleague Ricardo. He always seems to be a bit of an outsider, not comfortable in his own skin, not really belonging. When Maicon, a man straight out of a Tom of Finland illustration, shows up in their small town and flirts with Ricardo, Sandro’s burgeoning feelings of jealousy set a change in motion.
This film contains scenes of explicit sexual content.
“Offbeat, mischievous, explicit debut.” Variety
SATURDAY 29th JUNE -7 PM
Latin American House -Free entry
Cinema Mentiré and Cine Brazil present:
ALICE JÚNIOR (dir. Gil Baroni, 2019, Brazil, 87min)
Alice is a trans teenager who has a video channel on YouTube and is eagerly awaiting her first kiss. But when her father announces they will be leaving the vibrant Brazilian city of Recife, and moving to a small, conservative town in the south, Alice has to prepare herself for the prudery and small-mindedness she will confront there. She begins studying in a Catholic school and it is not long before she is bullied. But Alice doesn’t let the initial hostility get her down.
The Garden Cinema
Nestling down an unpretentious side street in the heart of London’s Holborn, The Garden Cinema could well be our new favourite film venue. The cinema first opened its doors in March 2022, but popped up on our radar following some recent Latin American screenings including their inaugural New Central American Cinema season, and their sold out screening of The Invention of the Other following its premiere at Sheffield Doc Fest.
Their mission is simple, to programme “films of all genres that are true to life, well made, that left us feeling better or wiser for having seen them.” We can’t wait to see what other surprises the programmers have up their sleeves for the autumn.
WIN TICKETS TO STREET ART DOC CHILE ESTYLE
Back by popular demand following a sell-out screening earlier this month, the documentary Chile Estyle will be showing at The Garden Cinema once again in July. We have a pair of complimentary tickets up for grabs for one of our lucky subscribers.
In order to enter, simply answer the following question:
Q: Who is the director of the documentary Chile Estyle?
A. Pablo Neruda
B. Pablo Aravena
C. Pablo Escobar
Please email your answer to argentinefilm@gmail.com along with your name and email address by Monday July 8th and we will pick one winner at random on Wednesday July 10th. The winner will be notified by email and will need to collect their tickets from the Box Office at The Garden Cinema an hour before the screening on July 13th
Chile Estyle – Dir. Pablo Aravena, Canada 2022
Sat 13 July – 4 pm - Tickets
Latin American has a long history of muralism and street art. Pablo Aravenza’s documentary Chile Estyle looks at the Chilean graffiti artists who defend several causes, including anti-racism, anti-consumerism and anti-machism
Santiago de Chile has been cited for years as an international forerunner of political street art – owing perhaps to its muralism movement of the 1960s which advocated social change in parallel with the student movement in Paris, and the birth of graffiti movements in Philadelphia and New York. The documentary shows how prior pro-public movements like Mexican muralists shaped what was to come – including David Alfaro Siqueiros, who used walls to converse with the citizenry in the 1930s and 40s at home and in Chile.
Drawing a narrative line from supporting indigenous and working people, to the Ramona Parra Brigade of political painting during Pinochet´s dictatorship, to the pixaçao scene in Brazil, and to the stencil culture in Argentina, Chile Estyl highlights the forces that inspired Chilean grafiteros to make their mark in Santiago, Valparaiso, and other regions of the country. With a sense of conviction, Chile Estyle shows that many origins of this global movement went far beyond style.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the Director.
Exhibition: Graciela Iturbide: Shadowlines
The Photographer’s Gallery
Fri 14 Jun 2024 - Sun 22 Sep 2024
We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of legendary Argentine photographer Sara Facio last week. Facio was known for photographing some of the most important Argentine and Latin American cultural figures of the last century including Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar and Maria Elena Walsh, with many of her portraits becoming the definitive images for those writers.
Another iconic Latin American photographer, is Mexico’s Graciela Iturbide, who exhibition Shadowlines recently opened at The Photographer’s Gallery in London.
For over 50 years, Iturbide’s work has explored the people and culture of Mexico through striking black-and-white photographs. One of the best-known photographers of her generation, her photographs juxtapose rural and urban, traditional and modern, documenting the Seri people of the Sonoran Desert and the cholo gangs of Los Angeles and Tujuana. Her subjects were often indigenous tribes, and Shadowlines includes her most iconic series Juchitan de las Mujeres (1979-1989). Here, she offers a sensitive glimpse into traditions and struggles of the Zoptec of Tehuantepec, including their matriarchal system.
“Death-soaked genius from a Mexican master.” The Guardian
Price: £8 (£5 concession). Advance: £6.50 (£4 concession). Admission is free on Fridays after 5pm.
OPEN CALL – ARGENTINE ARTIST RESIDENCY AT STUDIO VOLTAIRE
DEADLINE: 30th JUNE 2024
Apply now to take part in a new residency opportunity for an Argentine artist who has connections to the UK. The residency will offer important opportunities for self-led artistic and professional development, exchange and experimentation by offering an artist the space, time and resources they need to research and realise ongoing projects or to produce new work.
Find out more here.
That’s all for now,
¡Saludos!
The Argentine Film Festival Team