Americans are very interested in Latin-American films," avers Marcos Antonio,
director of this year's Providence Festival of New Latin American Cinema (and
of Mayor Cianci's Office of Hispanic Affairs). That might go some way toward
explaining why, 10 years on, the festival is stronger than ever.
The festival's original intent, Antonio says, was to "create a new market for
the filmmakers from Latin America and to bring American audiences films from
the Latin American community." So far, it seems to have accomplished that goal
quite nicely. Slowly but surely, Latin American films are creeping out of the
art houses and into the consciousness of the mainstream American movie-going
public. Witness, for example, the surprising box office success of this year's
funny, racy Y tu mamá también, which is from Mexico. Or of
Brazil's Central Station which, in addition to being Oscar-nominated for
Best Foreign Language film in 1999, featured a leading actress, Fernanda
Montenegro, who competed with Hollywood box-office favorites like Meryl Streep
and Gwyneth Paltrow for the Best Actress nod.
This year, the festival is proudly showcasing "the best of the best." All of
the 10 feature films being screened (they're interspersed with a goodly number
of smaller documentaries and shorts) are Best Picture-winners of Latin American
film festivals from around the globe. "There's one [festival] in France,
there's another one in Berlin, there's another in Tokyo," Antonio explains.
"All over the world there are Latin American film festivals. We're taking those
films that won the first prize in all of them, and they're going to come over
here to compete for the best film of Latin America."
Among the contenders: Andruchka Waddington's Yo, tu, ellos (which opens
the festival on Friday, April 19 at the Hoyts Providence 16), a quirky,
based-on-a true-story tale of a woman who lives with her three husbands in
rural northeast Brazil; Fernando ha vuelto (screens Saturday, April 20
at the Rhode Island School of Design Auditorium), Silvio Caiozzi's harrowing
documentary about one of Chile's legions of "detenido desaparecido,"
those who vanished under Augusto Pinochet's CIA-sponsored reign; Vìctor
Gaviria's gritty La vendedora de las rosas (screens Sunday, April 21 at
RISD), the story of a 13-year-old urchin who sells flowers to survive on
Bogota's hardscrabble streets; Augusto Tamayo San Román's El bien
esquivo (screens Wednesday, April 24 at RISD), a Pervuvian film about a
half-Incan, half-Spanish soldier who, in 1618, returns to colonial Peru from
Europe to prove his legitimacy.
It's a program that is breathtaking in its diversity: Films in Spanish,
Portuguese, and English. Stories set in the arid deserts of northern Mexico,
the hardscrabble streets of a Central American city, and the jungles of Brazil.
One of them even takes place in Rhody. Screened as an adjunct to the festival,
Dean Barnes's Westerly-filmed By the Sea (screens April 28 at 7 p.m. at
the Castle Cinema Café) is the story of a woman rediscovering her Cuban
roots in little old Weekapaug. "Whenever a film is made in Rhode Island, we
give it a push," Antonio explains. "We try to help it by showcasing it. [By
the Sea] is not technically part of the festival, but we're helping it to
get noticed."
The best film of the series -- as decided by a panel of judges from Brazil,
Chile, Cuba, and Argentina -- will be awarded . . . well, the Best Film Award
at a ceremony at the Rhode Island Convention Center on April 27. The Anthony
Quinn Award for Excellence in Film and the Arts is a first-time award, which
will be bestowed on none other than Zorro himself, Antonio Banderas. He'll
receive it at a black tie gala on April 19 at the Biltmore Hotel, where the
ceremony will be broadcast via satellite to Europe and Latin America. And, yes,
Melanie Griffith is due to be in attendance.
Last year, Bristol's own Quinn received the festival's lifetime achievement
award shortly before he passed away. The new award that bears his name is
represented by a sculpture of Quinn's Oscar-winning role, Zorba the Greek,
which was molded by the actor himself. The three-time Oscar winner's children
will be in attendance to see their father's award accepted.
So, why Antonio Banderas? Marcos Antonio's answer is automatic: "He's done
over 50 films. Plus, he's a hell of a man. He came from a good family, and is
definitely an example of someone who deserves it. He has a good image for
people to follow."
And, yes, Banderas happens to be Hispanic. But, like the audience of the
festival itself, the Anthony Quinn Award is equal-opportunity. "Mind that most
of the people that come to this are not Latino," Antonio says. "They're people
from every walk of life. And when Anthony Quinn decided to do this, the first
thing he said was, `This award is to be given to anybody who deserves it. It's
not about religion, color, creed. It doesn't matter.' So Antonio Banderas is
Spanish, but next year we might give it to Sidney Poitier or Sophia Loren."
But forget Hollywood glitterati, just for a second. The stated goal of this
festival is to bring films to the attention of the public that, while
lesser-known, are no lesser films than some of Hollywood's best. So is Antonio
partial to any particular of the "best of the best"? At first, heoming, I liked
every one of them." With some prodding, though, he confesses to a fondness for
Yo, tu, ellos.
"It's just a beautiful love story," he says. "A lot of the films they make
over there, because they don't have special effects, have to be a more humane.
That moves me a lot. Most of the films from Latin America have a human touch
that you can't find any place else."
And the viewing public seems to be recognizing this. Antonio tells of
screening the film Amores perros last year: "We had 350 extra people
standing up in the theater, and we couldn't show the film until they left. The
police had to usher them out, because we just didn't have seats."
So will attendance this year be the biggest yet?
"I think so," Antonio says, before pausing a moment and reconsidering. "No, I
know so."
For more information, call (401) 454-6478 or visit www.latin-americanfilmfestival.org.
Issue Date: April 19 - 25, 2002
