This year, Chile returns full force to present itself at the Biarritz Latin Film Festival (France). With four films in selection and two in special showings, our cinema continues to demonstrate its vitality and narrative transcendence, maintaining its place as one of the most important in South America.
From September 28th to October 4th, directors as diverse as Leonardo Medel, Francisco Bermejo, Jerónimo Rodríguez, and Nicol Costa will be representing Chile in one of the most important points of encounter for Latin American cinema in Europe, with national works that demonstrate their enormous capabilities to transcend languages and borders and connect with European audiences.
The film poised to open the 29th edition of Biarrtiz is Lina From Lima by talented director María Paz González, who is also participating in the Fiction Competition. The piece is a story of Peruvian immigration in Chile outlined by musical and dream sequences, starring Magaly Solier (The Milk of Sorrow) and has appeared in festivals such as Toronto, Palm Springs, and Mar del Plata. González has constructed a film that continues to travel more than a year after its premiere, captivating spectators for its formal originality and the empathy of its characters.
FILMS IN SELECTION
In addition to Lina From Lima, also in the fiction competition is La Verónica by Leo Medel, distributed internationally by Films Boutique and arriving at Biarritz after its grand reception at San Sebastián. It is a claustrophobic film that reflects on the connection and disconnection created by the virtual world, with acting powerhouse Mariana Di Girolamo, (Ema) who sets an exceptional milestone within performances of 2020.
The Other One by Francisco Bermejo, one of the most important Chilean documentaries of the year and winner of the Burning Lights competition at Visions du Réel, is also landing in Biarritz to continue its international run. The film, which centers on a socially isolated man who resides on a cliff, constructs a poetic vision about solitude and mental health.
One of the world premieres that will kick off at Biarritz is the first documentary short film by Ana Edwards, entitled Mundo, which explores the extended phenomenon of Evangelical conversion among indigenous peoples in South America. It delicately shows how the Earth is becoming a hostile place, where a world is eclipsed to make way for another.
“LATINOS LIVING IN THE USA” FOCUS
Every year, the festival chooses a specific focus, and this year, the magnifying glass is placed on Latinos living in the USA. A contingent section that examines the spectrum of different films that approach aspects related to immigration, which speaks to different national works that teeter between portraits of immigration and exile.
Present from Chile will be The Journey of Monalisa by Nicol Costa, a documentary that approaches the life in New York of Ivan Ojeda (Monalisa), where Ivan performs as a sex worker, travesti (a reappropriated term meaning “transvestite”), and artist. The film transports us into their world and their experiences with their friends and customers, there, where solitude, illness, and death reign, and where, despite everything, affection, optimism, and purity shine through.
The section will also show Rastreador de estatuas by Jerónimo Rodríguez, a film that wanders between parentheses and digressions, visually exploring disappearance and the identity of exile. Through cuts and narrative links, Rodríguez’s documentary-essay speaks to us about belonging and taking root.
Historically, Chile has had a overwhelming reception at the French festival, including the premieres of films like Los Perros and The Summer of Flying Fish, both directed by Marcela Said; The Family, directed by Gustavo Rondón (Venezuela, Norway, and Chile); Neruda by Pablo Larraín; El tío by Mateo Iribarren; and the short film No hay muerto malo by Emilio Díaz. This year, despite the global pandemic, Chile maintains its strong presence at the key festival for the development of Latin American cinema.
