Slack Friday
Enjoy our roundup of films from Mexico, Brazil and Costa Rica, plus Paddington’s Peruvian heritage
Latin American highlights at LFF ‘24
Olivia and the Clouds (Olivia y las nubes, Dominican Republic, 2024)
Olivia, haunted by a past love that lives under her bed, trades flowers with it for comforting rain clouds. Barbara, rejected by Mauricio, escapes reality through her art projects. Mauricio’s regrets lead him to be swallowed by the earth, while Ramón, smitten by Olivia, imagines she has become a plant that sits in his window.
Tomás Pichardo-Espaillat’s visually astonishing debut, Olivia and the Clouds surreally explores the power of love’s memory with intertwined stories of connection, heartbreak and trauma. The Dominican director was inspired by Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage and the concept of emotional illiteracy: how sometimes we grow up without knowing how to relate to one another. Using a dizzying kaleidoscope of traditional animation as well as other stylistic forms, this vivid debut competed in Locarno’s Concorso Cineasti del Presente section, "the space for the filmmakers of the present and the cinema of tomorrow" before screening at LFF, and signals the arrival of a fresh and uniquely distinct voice in the world of animation.
We’ll be looking out for any upcoming UK screenings in 2025.
I’m Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui, Brazil-France, 2024)
Many films have dealt with the subject of the dictatorships in Latin America, but in I’m Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui, 2024) Walter Salles presents an intimate look at how one family is affected. His first drama feature since 2012, the film is based on Marcelo Pavia’s book about what happened to his father Rubens, and took 40 years to bring to the screen. The director of Central Station and Motorcycle Diaries knew the family personally, and spent a lot of time at their house growing up.
I’m Still Here stars the great Fernanda Torres (who also starred in Salles’ first feature Foreign Land) as Eunice Pavia who, faced with her husband’s forced disappearance, must fight for justice and reinvent herself to keep her family together.
A “grippingly, profoundly touching film” which also sees a cameo from Central Station’s Fernanda Montenegro as the ageing Eunice.
I’m Still Here was recently released in Brazil and has had 1.8 million admissions to date. “It is becoming a kind of cultural, sociological political phenomenon,” Salles commented recently. “We couldn’t anticipate that. And it made me think now that literature, cinema, music, can be incredible instruments against oblivion.”
I’m Still Here will be released in the UK in early 2025.
Latin American film releases and events in London and beyond
Emilia Peréz + Screen Talk: Fri 6th Dec - Barbican, London
French director Jacques Audiard was twice the winner of the Best Film Award at LFF (A Prophet, Rust and Bone) with his new film perhaps the most surprisingly amongst the Latin American selection this year. Seemingly untroubled by any accusations of cultural appropriation, the Mexican-set Emilia Peréz presents a musical fantasy in which an undervalued lawyer is recruited by the leader of a drugs cartel to help them undergo a gender-affirming transformation, and begin to live their true self. Surprisingly, the musical numbers do not distract, but add emotion to the story, which took the top award at Cannes this year and is hotly tipped for the upcoming Oscars.
Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña and director Jacques Audiard will be live on stage and in conversation after the screening. Book here
Emilia Peréz is also currently available on Netflix.
Memories of a Burning Body (Memorias de un cuerpo que arde, Costa Rica-Spain, 2024)
The experiences of three women in their 60s and 70s are distilled into one composite character by Costa Rican director Antonella Sudasassi Furniss in her docu-drama Memories of a Burning Body. The resulting film is a tender exploration of desire and sexuality, from a generation who grew up in a society where female sexuality was taboo, but who appear to have found a reawakening in their later years.
The film won the Panorama Audience Award for Best Feature following its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, and has been selected as Costa Rica’s entry for the 2025 Academy Awards.
Catch Memories of a Burning Body at Manchester’s HOME cinema from today, and Glasgow’s Film Theatre between 10-12 December.
Invisible Women Present She Packs A Punch - various dates
Invisible Women present She Packs a Punch, two female-led films showcasing the female action stars of Mexico’s Golden Age cinema, directed by René Cardona, one of the most prolific film directors of the era.
A star in his own right alongside the likes of Esther Fernandéz and Tito Guízar, Cardona befriended Rudolf Valentino, and became known for writing, directing and starring in Havana Shadows (Sombras habaneras, 1930), the first Spanish-language film made in Hollywood. He went on to direct over 100 films.
She Packs A Punch highlights Cardona’s The Panther Women (Las mujeres panteras, 1967) and The Bat Woman (La mujer murciélago, 1968) both of which were unique in featuring luchadoras - female lucha libre wrestlers who were not allowed to compete in the ring at the time - and which became cult classics.
The season is touring the UK with screenings still available in Manchester, Dundee and Bristol.
New mural honours Paddington’s Peruvian heritage
Unless you’ve been hiding under a pile of marmalade sandwiches recently, you’ll be aware that London’s most famous bear has returned to the big screen for the third film in the Paddington franchise. To mark the release of Paddington In Peru, distributors StudioCanal commissioned Peruvian-born artist Gisella Stapleton to paint a special mural, which can now be seen outside Waterloo station. Paddington has also been honoured with the title of London’s first-ever Welcome Ambassador by Visit London.
We caught up with Gisella to find out more about her creation.
AFF: How did the commission for the mural come about and what was the initial brief?
GS: StudioCanal sent me an email telling me that they wanted to commission an artwork for a movie. When they told me it was for the Paddington film I couldn’t believe it. I’m such a fan of Paddington; I absolutely love this cute bear!
The first brief said that they wanted a mural that celebrates Paddington as a multicultural icon, both proudly Peruvian and British, and a symbol of the diversity in London. About the style, they said that they loved my series of Goddess, so they wanted me to create Paddington in that style, full of colours and Peruvian patterns, flowers, leaves, etc.
AFF: Did you know from the beginning that you would use the quote from Mrs Brown?
GS: Not from the very beginning because the idea was a bit open, but we both love that quote, and we thought it would be perfect for the message we wanted to communicate about diversity.
AFF: Can you tell us about your decision to blend Andean art with the image of Paddington and how you used the tradition of the Retalbo Ayacuchano?
GS: I had this first idea of showing an interpretation of a heart of Paddington with open doors where two big loves live together, the love for his country (Peru) and the love for they place he lives now (London) which represents also the heart of any immigrant. But because I wanted to show the Peruvian side of Paddington through some traditional elements from our culture, I started a little research about the Andean bear and where they live in Peru, and I came across an article talking about the community of bears in the Region of La Mar in Ayacucho. When I read Ayacucho, the Retablo with the doors open came to my mind immediately.
AFF: Paddington is London's first Welcome Ambassador - what does he represent for you?
GS: And I absolutely love that! But for me also he represents kindness, I love my kids watching and learning from him. And I have to say, they feel so proud that he’s Peruvian.
You've lived in London for 13 years - how do you feel London has changed during that time?
London has been always an open and cosmopolitan city, but obviously every year London - and the world in general - are becoming more aware about the importance of diversity and the need of inclusivity, a place where everybody feels accepted.
AFF: Do you feel there is more awareness in London now, about Latin Americans and Latin American culture generally?
GS: A bit more yes but still not as it should be.
AFF: Do you have a favourite Peruvian spot in London?
GS: My favourite Peruvian spots are all the Peruvian restaurants in London - they are all good, I’m such as fan of our food.
AFF: What’s next for you?
GS: I’m working on a commission for Kew Gardens, for the Orchid Festival, so I’ll be exhibiting a few big pieces there, I hope you can come!
AFF: Thank you for your time.
That’s all for now,
¡Saludos!
The Argentine Film Festival Team