From September 30th to October 6th in the city of Biarritz (southeast France), the 28th version of Festival Biarritz Amérique Latine will take place, an event dedicated to promoting Latin American cinema and culture, in addition to opening possibilities for distribution and co-production. Chile will be represented by several films in competitive and non-competitive categories.
Participating in the Fiction Competition is Song Without a Name by Melina León, which participated this year in the prestigious Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film is produced by León, along with Mike J. Whittier and national director of photography Inti Briones, who also performed in that role. Also selected is Land of Ashes, first film by Sofía Quirós, which also participated in Cannes 2019 in the Critics’ Week feature film competition. Land of Ashes is a co-production between Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina, and France, whose cinematography was done by Chilean DP Francisca Sáez.
Participating in the Short Film Competition are Aicha by Vinko Tomicic, produced by Álvaro Manzano and Francisco Hevia, which premiered internationally at the 2019 Guadalajara Film Festival, and Hector, directed by Victoria Giesen Carvajal and produced by Rebeca Gutiérrez of Pinda Producciones, which premiered internationally at the Berlin Film Festival.
Screening in the Documentary category is Lemebel by Joanna Reposi Garibaldi, produced by Solita Films, which premiered internationally in the Panorama competition at the Berlinale, where it was granted the Teddy Award for Best LGBT+ themed Documentary.
Participating in Focus Patagonia — a category that Biarritz website specifies is a “cinematic selection of 10 films, accompanied by their directors, … an invitation to discover Patagonia and accept losing North,” — are the films The Pearl Button by Patricio Guzmán, Rey by Niles Atallah, and The Wind Knows I’m Coming Back Home by José Luis Torres Leiva.
To be exhibited outside of the competition is The Cordillera of Dreams by Patricio Guzmán, a film that premiered in the non-competitive category at the Cannes Film Festival, Special Screenings, winning the L’Œil d’or (Golden Eye) for Best Documentary.
