Tag Archives: film

BAFICI Independent Film Festival 2013

Posted by

0

(Photo by Morgennebel)

The annual international independent film festival, better known as BAFICI, kicks off today with an abundance of colorful images from around the world, insightful documentaries, retrospectives, newcomers to the big screen, conferences, live music and more.

The festival has become one of the most important cultural events in the city ever since its first edition in 1999 and clearly expresses the industry’s boom, which saw its “rebirth” with the New Argentine Cinema wave in the nineties.  To commemorate this flourishing period in local film that brought local customs, social problems and the Argentine middle class to the screen, the festival will be screening a selection of representative films from this cultural movement.

At the Centro Cultural Recoleta there will also be screenings of short films by newcomers to the industry and live music at the auditorium to end every festival day.

Outdoor projections will also take place at the Anfiteatro Parque Centenario and there will be special screenings, including Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin documentaries, at the Planetarium.

The full festival program is available here.

Harun Farocki at Fundación Proa

Posted by

1

(Photo by Media City Film Festival)

Fundación PROA in La Boca has recently inaugurated a new exhibition of renowned German video artist and filmmaker Harun Farocki. The exhibit consists of five  video installations and screenings of his three latest films.

Farocki´s cinematographic universe is centered on the analysis of images produced by contemporary society and the forms of power involved in their production, exhibition and consumption.  Eye/Machine II (2002), for example, examines the role of images and media in the construction of war, whilst Workers Leaving the Factory in Eleven Decades shows different representations of workers throughout film history.

Fundación PROA is open from Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7pm.  Guided tours are offered from Tuesdays to Fridays at 5pm and on weekends at 3pm and 5pm. Av. Pedro de Mendoza 1929, La Boca.  4104.1000.  info@proa.org.

Buenos Aires Jazz Festival

Posted by

0

(Photo by eperales)

The Buenos Aires Jazz Festival will be taking place until the 26th of November, promising for a music filled long weekend. The event, which will feature both local and international acts, will also include special classes by international artists, film screenings and a photography exhibit.

Concerts are divided into seven different sections:

-       The international acts section will take place at the Usina del Arte in La Boca and in the Teatro Regio downtown. It will feature live acts by the Alain Jean-Marié Trio/ Cajanegra, Agustín Moya Quinteto / Alain Jean-Marie Solopiano, Dúo Ralph Towner – Javier Girotto / Kirk Lightsey Solopiano, Marc Ducret Trío / Ramon Fossati Glowing Trío, John Hollenbeck Quintet / Kirk Lightsey Trío, and Banda Mantiqueira.

-       The outdoor shows section will feature free shows on the outdoor terrace of the Centro Cultural Recoleta and the Anfiteatro Parque Centenario.

-       The jazzology section will also take place at the Centro Cultural Recoleta and features a jazz program directed by Carlos Inzillo who has brought different artists together to promote the local jazz scene.

-       There will also be an unplugged section that will feature free concerts at the Centro Cultural Recoelta’s El Aleph auditorium.

-       Every evening staring at 11.30pm there will be a jam session at La Trastienda with renowned local jazz musician Gillespi.

-       The special projects section will also take place in La Trastienda and will feature free concerts presenting new records and concepts by different artists.

-       Finally, Cruces is the section destined to bringing local and international artists together on the same stage. Upcoming concerts taking place at Cafe Vinilo and Notorious include: Danny Grissett & Jeanfrançois Prins + Juan Manuel Bayón & Luciano Ruggieri, Ugonna Okegwo, Adam Cruz & Mark Aanderud + Alejandro Demogli & Mariano Loiácono, Louis Winsberg + Ezequiel Dutil, Hernán Mandelman & Sophie Lüssi, Gilles Naturel & Philippe Soirat + Tomás Fraga & Manuel Fraga, David Gilmore & Agustín Moya + Mariano Sivori & Tomas Babjaczuk, Alfio Origlio, Jérôme Regard & Raimundo Santander + Hernán Hecht, Eric Echampard, Bruno Chevillion & Joel Holmes + Luis Nacht, and Judy Niemack & Paula Shocron Trío.

The Centro Cultural Recoleta will also feature free film screenings and a photography exhibit. Additionally, there will be special workshops and classes offered by some of the international artists who have been invited to the event.

The full festival program is available here.

Tickets for special workshops, international concerts and Cruces concerts are available for purchase here.

BAFICI Animated Film Festival

Posted by

0

(drawings and photo by Mihow_Bitata full animation here)

The inaugural edition of the BAFICI animation film festival kicks off  tomorrow with a broad program of films from around the world. The festival, which has both a selection of films for adults, and one for children will take place at the Centro Cultural San Martin. Some of the most awaited titles include Arrugas, a feature film about Alzheimer’s by the Spanish Ignacio Ferreras that recently won the Goya award for best animated film; ¨Mundo exterior “, a group of short films by international directors; Plymptoons, a compilation of renowned animator Bill Plympton’s cartoons; the six-episode Russian saga Masha and the Bear and the Japanese The Secret World of Arriety, featuring a screenplay by the acclaimed Hayao Miyazaki.

Tickets to the festival are already on sale and are 20 pesos for adults, and 10 for students and children. They can be purchased online here, or at the Centro Cultural San Martín from midday to 9pm. Sarmiento 1551, downtown.

BAN- Buenos Aires Negra Festival

Posted by

0

Throughout this week, BAN- Buenos Aires Negra, a new festival related to the detective novel will be celebrated in the city.

Literary enthusiasts will be able to participate in a variety of events including book readings and signings, as well as film screenings, theatre, photography, art, random performances, presentations by authors and forensics specialists, and mock trials.

Although the festival might be of more appeal to Spanish speakers or to those who understand Spanish at least, it still presents a wonderful opportunity to participate in the literary side of Buenos Aires, and in this genre that has become one of the pillars of the local literature. Below are some suggested festival activities (including some which English speakers can enjoy as well). The full schedule can be found here.

Tuesday 12th of June

Juicio Oral: Un Crimen Pasional. A chance to witness a mock trial about a crime of passion! Starting at 7pm. Centro Cultural General San Martin. Sarmiento 1551, Downtown.

Thursday 14th of June

Film Screening. Alias Gardelito by Lautaro Murua. This Argentine film classic from the sixties features the struggles of Toribio to make ends meet as he strives to emulate Carlos Gardel. Starting at 6pm. Centro Cultural General San Martin. Sarmiento 1551, Downtown.

Outdoor Theatre- Los Fantasmas de San Telmo (The ghosts of San Telmo) starting at 6.30pm at the famous Plaza Dorrego in San Telmo.

Interview: Hugo “La Garza” Sosa, a well known Argentine criminal will be interviewed by Ernesto Mallo, one of the festival’s organizers. Starting at 7pm. Centro Cultural General San Martin. Sarmiento 1551, Downtown.

Friday 15th of June

American author Christopher Moore will be interviewed at 8pm and then he will speak about superstition, corruption and ghosts in Thai culture at 9pm. Centro Cultural General San Martin. Sarmiento 1551, Downtown.

Saturday 16th June

Live Music- John Sundae’s Jazz Band at 7pm. Cultural General San Martin. Sarmiento 1551, Downtown

Sunday 17th of June

Film Screening: Un Oso Rojo- Adrian Caetano. This emblematic Argentine film from 2002 shows a gritty side of the city through “Oso”, a convicted prisoner who, after being released from jail, returns to his home to get to know his daughter. Cultural General San Martin. Sarmiento 1551, Downtown.

BAFICI- Independent Film in Buenos Aires

Posted by

0

(Photo by Judy**)

Every year crowds of film enthusiasts gather at the Abasto shopping mall to take note and buy tickets for the many screenings they will attend the days to come. The Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente, more commonly known as BAFICI, is after all, one of the city’s most popular cultural events of the year. It is also the most important film festival of Latin America, and consequently a good opportunity to get in touch, not only with independent cinematography, but also with the Latin American culture and film industry, which is at a very prolific moment.

Some of our picks for this year’s BAFICI include:

Narcisa Hirsch retrospective:

Narcisa Hirsch was born in Berlin in 1928, but has lived in Argentina since a very young age and is a pioneer in the Argentine experimental circle. Her works include installations, graffitis and experimental films. Four Hirsch programs will be exhibited in the festival; program one will feature works that deal with identity with an autobiographical twist, the second program is thematically more diverse and will explore the filmmaker’s style,  the third program will include five films screened in their original 16mm format and the fourth program will showcase some of her documentaries. More information here.

El Rascacielo Latino by Sebastian Schindel:

This documentary by Sebastian Schindel is about the Palacio Barolo, often mentioned in this blog as one of the city’s highlights. If architecture and literature are you’re thing, then surely you will enjoy both the documentary and a visit to the place itself. Find timetables here.

Dromomanos by Luis Ortega

Argentine film maker Luis Ortega depicts an estranged and marginal world where he tells the tale of five wanderers who roam the city’s streets and a shanty town, each with their own coping strategy (a trio fascinated with pigs, an alcoholic psychiatrist and a neuropsychiatric patient who believes to have found the love of his life). The world the director shows is nocturnal and lyrical, imprinting his artistic vision of the city and the characters that explore it. More information here.

Joy Division  and Meeting People is Easy by Grant Gee

These two documentaries, one about Joy Division, the other about Radiohead’s 1997 OK Computer tour, are built in a way that the bands’ idiosyncrasies are depicted through the visual decisions and the points of view that the director chooses to describe them. More information here.

This year also features a special program for children (BAFICITO) where two animated films -Supernovas, a love story between a rocket scientist and a star, and Victor y Garu, about the intergalactic adventures of two friends-  will be screened at the Planetarium. See program here.

There will also be free outdoor screenings of eight films (two of them for children) at Anfiteatro del Parque Centenario. Find the program here.

The full BAFICI program is available here. We recommend you buy tickets as soon as you can as they do sell out fast.

Cortázar-Perec Biennial

Posted by

0

(Staging for “La vie mode d’emploi”, written by Georges Perec. Photo by Raya y punto.)

Writing, photography and jazz come together today and tomorrow at the Cortázar-Perec Biennial, where the work of two renowned authors, the Argentine Julio Cortázar and the French Georges Perec, will be celebrated. The event will consist of academic talks on literary subjects at La Academia del Sur, and a series of film projections, a photography exhibit, and a jazz concert at the Centro Cultural San Martín.

For the biennial, three stories by Cortázar and three stories by Perec will be distributed for free on Av. Corrientes. Additionally, the city`s bares notables will be receiving copies of Rayuela and Cuentos Completos by Cortazar.

Find the full program here.

Illustrious Argentines: Carlos Gardel

Posted by

2

(Photo by Sebastian-Dario)

Carlos Gardel is a controversial Argentine icon. For starters, he wasn’t born in Argentina; according to the official version he was born on the 11th of December of 1890 in Toulouse, France but many dispute he was an illegitimate child born in Uruguay. At the age of three he moved  with his mother from France to Buenos Aires.  They settled in the neighborhood of Abasto but it wasn´t until later on in his life that he was nationalized as an Argentine.

His music career began early on after dropping out of high school. He already had a great singing voice and was baptized “El Zorzal Criollo” (The Criollo Thrush) by one of his first musical influences, José Betinotti with whom he sang duets, who encouraged him to start singing popular songs at the neighborhood cafes and bars.  Together they recorded their first album and began touring, acquiring increasing popularity. Gardel then went on to star in the silent film “Flor de Durazno”  which brought him even more attention and it was during this period that he began to sing tangos renewing the genres identity.  In 1918 he recorded Flor de Fango and in 1919  De Vuelta al Bulín, progressively building his career.

In 1923 he formed the duet Gardel-Razzano until the later began having trouble with his voice and became Gardel’s manager. Once more as a solo singer his fame skyrocketed as he became increasingly popular in Spain and France.

The talented singer and songwriter began to interact with the silver screen once again on the production of 15 short films, and on one of his trips to France he formed a friendship with non other than Charles Chaplin who opened new doors to him. In 1931 he signed a contract with Paramount pictures to record Luces de Buenos Aires which was musicalized by several tango composers of the time. The film became a hit with the Spanish public and it is said that movie theatres were often asked to pause and rewind the film to play the part where Gardel sang over and over.

His cinematographic and musical career continued to expand and he moved to New York where he participated in many productions until he died in a plane crash in Medellin, Colombia, in 1935.

The talented “Zorzal Criollo” has since become the most remembered tango legend the Buenos Aires streets have seen.

More on Carlos Gardel can be seen in his Abasto house which is now a museum that not only shows exhibits on Gardel and other influential tango composers and singers, but also stages live music and screenings of tango films. Jean Jaurés 735, Abasto. 4964-2015.

The Argentine Gaucho

Posted by

1

(Photo by tim ellis)

The gaucho is one of the few local characters which the national culture has adopted as truly Argentine. Allthough the origins of these nomadic cattle herders is ambiguous it is generally accepted that they appeared after colonization as the offspring of Natives with Europeans. A few things characterized this new generation of locals; one was their skill riding horses and handling cattle, another was their nomadic nature. They were also proficient with knives, boleadoras and guitars and many of them were payadores, which means they recited poetic stories about their lives to the strum of the guitar. It is the gauchesque payadas that led to the posterior gauchesque literature that was key to transforming the Gaucho into an emblematic national character.

The image of the gaucho was not always positive. For a long time they were considered to be outlaws and rebels, and as social castaways they were readily sent to fight the civil wars. Once the wars were over, there was no place in society for gauchos, so they were culturally resignified. The parallel influx of immigrants to the city had created a need for a national identity, and for the countryside to become appealing as it was the land that needed to be populated. Amidst this context, gauchesque literature, which portrayed the life, tradition and used the language of the gauchos, found its perfect place. From then on, through the local literature of emblematic authors such as José Hernandez who wrote the famous Martín Fierro, Leopoldo Lugones who wrote La Guerra Gaucha and  Ricardo Güiraldes, who wrote Don Segundo Sombra, amongst others, the gaucho acquired a mythical place in society.

Popular literary adaptations to film were also made from gauchesque novels, completing the insertion of this rustic character into the Argentine culture. Some noticeable examples are Juan Moreira adapted to film by Leonardo Fabio, Los Hijos de Fierro, which makes a parallelism between Peron and Martin Fierro, by Pino Solanas and Don Facundo Sombra adapted to film by Manuel Antín.

Buenos Aires JAZZ 2011

Posted by

0

(image by Glaucus Noia)

Starting today the City will be filled with mellifluous notes from saxophones, pianos, clarinets, trumpets, guitars and other musical instruments as the annual international Jazz festival kicks off.  Renown American pianist, Kenny Werner, will be inaugurating the event at the Teatro Coliseo starting 8.30pm whilst a photo exhibit and free concerts by local and international musicians will be offered at the Centro Cultural Recoleta throughout the week. Other activities including screenings, conferences, classes, interviews and of course live acts, including a show by Brazilian mandolin superstar Hamilton de Holanda, will be held at the different bars and stages of Buenos Aires whilst every night will end with a spontaneous jam session at the Trastienda Club in which musicians and public will be welcome to participate.

More information on the festival is available here.