THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR 15th ANNUAL LATINBEAT, JULY 11-20

FELLIPE BARBOSA’S DEBUT FEATURE
CASA GRANDE SELECTED FOR OPENING NIGHT

New York, NY (Wednesday, June 11, 2014) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today the complete lineup for the 15th edition of Latinbeat, the premier annual showcase for contemporary cinema from Latin America, running from July 11-20. This year’s festival combines personal, risk-taking works by mostly emerging filmmakers with award-winning productions. This juxtaposition, and the breadth of countries represented, speak to the growth of a film industry that began in only a few countries about 15 years ago and has now spread throughout the entire region. We are excited to celebrate this fertile state of affairs with an eclectic selection that attests to the region's continued cinematic renewal.

“Fifteen years after the reawakening of Latin American cinema in the 1990s there is greater and more varied film production, more interconnectedness among national cinemas, more organized governmental funding, more young people studying film, and more film festivals in the region,” said Latinbeat programmer Marcela Goglio. “However, it is exciting to see that the formal exploration and sense of urgency of those early films persists in the works of many new directors today, giving the region a sense of perpetual cinematic rebirth.”
Opening Night kicks off with Fellipe Barbosa’s tender, coming-of-age feature debut, Casa Grande, from Brazil, starring newcomer Thales Cavalcanti as a teen trying to transcend the limitations of his upper-class existence. A hit at Rotterdam earlier this year, the film also stars a mix of Brazilian TV stars and nonprofessional actors to highlight class differences and racism. The lineup also includes additional intimate portraits of the teenage experience, notably by filmmakers making their mark with bold feature debuts. In Argentinian director MatĂ­as Lucchesi’s Natural Sciences (which won the Grand Prix  of the Generation Kplus at the recent Berlinale), a young teenage girl escapes her boarding school to search for the father she never knew. In Samuel Kishi Leopo’s vivid We Are Mari Pepa, from Mexico, a group of high-spirited 16-year-olds in a punk band spend their time lazily rehearsing their one completed song, writing a second song, and debating whether or not to participate in an upcoming battles-of-the-bands competition.

Experimental formats and unconventional methods of filmmaking and casting are some notable traits that run through this year’s energetic lineup. Neto Villalobos’s debut feature, All About the Feathers, a screwball comedy that incorporates mostly nonprofessional actors. Telenovela superstar Miguel Ferrari’s zany and sentimental feature debut reminiscent of the early works of AlmodĂłvar, My Straight Son,  has the distinction of being the first Venezuelan film to openly deal with gay and transgender issues and features performances from some of the country’s top television  personalities. Director Jose Luis Valle’s second feature, The Searches, featuring a cast of renowned Mexican actors, was shot in black-and-white in seven days, with a budget of $1,500. Brazilians Marcelo Gomes and Cao GuimarĂŁes based their beautiful The Man of the Crowd on an Edgar Allan Poe tale and presents the visual film in an unusual format of 3:3.5 ratio, which makes it resemble a Polaroid.

Tickets and a discount package for Latinbeat will go on sale Thursday, June 19. A pre-sale to members of the Film Society of Lincoln Center for these screenings begins on Tuesday, June 17. Single screening tickets are $13; $9 for students and seniors (62+); and $8 for Film Society members. See more and pay less with a discount package starting at $30; $24 for students and seniors (62+); and $21 for Film Society members. Discount package prices apply when tickets are purchased for three or more films . Visit www.filmlinc.com for complete film festival information.

Acknowledgments: Latinbeat 2014 is programmed by Marcela Goglio and presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center with generous support from the Consulate General of Argentina in New York and the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York. Special thanks to Latinbeat’s media sponsor Remezcla, Cinema Tropical, and Maravilla.

Press Screening Schedule

Screening Venue:
The Film Society of Lincoln Center
Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam

All attendees must RSVP in advance to John Wildman at [email protected].

Monday, June 30  
11:00AM  Casa Grande (114min)
1:15PM  Natural Sciences (71m)
 
Tuesday, July 1
11:00AM  The Man in the Crowd (95 min)
1:00PM  All About the Feathers (85min)

Wednesday, July 2
11:00AM  The Searches (77min)

FILM DESCRIPTIONS & SCHEDULE

Opening Night
Casa Grande

Fellipe Barbosa, Brazil, 2014, DCP, 114m
Portuguese with English subtitles
Set in Rio, Fellipe Barbosa’s long-awaited fiction debut is a clear-eyed, empathetic portrait of a teenager who strives to transcend the limitations of his upper-middle-class family life. Seventeen-year-old Jean (an outstanding Thales Cavalcanti) contends with pressure from parental expectations, university entrance exams, and the surprising discovery of a family financial crisis in this tender, beautifully written coming-of-age story that deftly explores class differences and racism in Brazil today.
Friday, July 11, 6:15pm
Monday, July 14, 8:30pm

All About the Feathers / Por las plumas
Neto Villalobos, Costa Rica, 2013, DCP, 85m

Spanish with English subtitles
Chalo is inseparable from his friend Rocky, a fighting cock he acquires to bring some excitement into his boring life as a security guard. But what Rocky brings is in fact an unexpected set of screwball adventures. Cockfighting is illegal but has a passionate following in the small Costa Rican town where Chalo lives (the film tastefully keeps the action offscreen). Neto Villalobos’s winning, dryly funny debut feature renders that world with genuine flavor and charm by a cast made up of mostly nonprofessional actors.
Thursday, July 17, 6:30pm

Cristo Rey
Leticia Tonos Paniagua, Dominican Republic, 2013, DCP, 96m

Spanish with English subtitles
In 2011, Leticia Tonos Paniagua was the first Dominican woman to direct a feature film in her country. Her follow-up, a contemporary take on Romeo and Juliet, tackles with sensitivity and a sense of urgency the tough subject of Haitian immigration in the Dominican Republic, where about one million exiles currently reside. Set in the Cristo Rey neighborhood, which is rampant with crime and police corruption, this love story between a teenager of mixed Haitian/Dominican descent and a drug lord’s sister powerfully combines a genuine feel for barrio life with the quick pace and sense of impending danger of a thriller, all the while exploring the implications of racism and xenophobia on this island divided in two.
Saturday, July 12, 6:30pm
Sunday, July 13, 4:00pm

Dust on the Tongue / Tierra en la lengua
Rubén Mendoza, Colombia, 2014, DCP, 89m

Spanish with English subtitles
Despite family patriarch Don Silvio’s abusive behavior toward friends and family, his magnetism has allowed him to remain the center of attention his entire life. When his death is imminent, he makes an unusual request—he asks two of his grandchildren to help him die. Will they take revenge? With an impeccable direction of actors and a seamless flow between fiction, documentary, and mockumentary, Mendoza displays surprising skill and boldness as he navigates the sensitive subject of veiled hostility between parents and offspring.
Saturday, July 12, 4:00pm
Sunday, July 13, 8:40pm

Holiday / Feriado
Diego Araujo, Ecuador/Argentina, 2013, DCP, 82m

Spanish with English subtitles
Sixteen-year-old Juan Pablo travels to the remote family hacienda in the Andes, where his uncle, who is involved in a corruption scandal, has taken refuge with his wife and teenage children. It is the carnival holiday of 1999, days before the collapse of Ecuador’s banking system. There, Juan Pablo meets Juano, an enigmatic, self-assured heavy-metal fan from the nearby pueblo, who opens his eyes to an entirely new, liberating world. As his country and family is heading for the abyss, the two boys’ budding friendship develops into a fragile romance, and Juan Pablo is forced to define himself against his chaotic surroundings. Daniele Luppi, who has collaborated with Norah Jones, Jack White, Ennio Morricone, and Gnarls Barkley, composed the score.
Tuesday, July 15, 4:30pm
Wednesday, July 16, 6:15pm

The Man of the Crowd / O Homem das Multidões
Marcelo Gomes & Cao GuimarĂŁes, Brazil, 2013, DCP, 95m

Portuguese with English subtitles
Loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe’s story of the same name, Marcelo Gomes and Cao Guimarães—two of the most interesting filmmakers working in Brazil today—have crafted an elegant, parsimonious, and formally impeccable story of Juvenal, a lonely train driver in Belo Horizonte, and his encounter with Margo, a station controller. Emphasizing the theme of alienation in Poe’s story (and revealing Guimarães’s work as a visual artist), the two directors opted for an unusual format, about a 3:3.5 ratio, which intriguingly makes the film resemble a Polaroid. Juvenal and Margo, who each embody a different form of urban solitude, have been brought together in this beautifully composed ode to friendship. A Curator Films Release.
Saturday, July 19, 1:00pm
Sunday, July 20, 6:15pm

Mateo
Maria Gamboa, Colombia/France, 2014, DCP, 86m

Spanish with English subtitles
Sixteen-year-old Mateo infiltrates a theater group in the violent neighborhood where he lives, and reports on the political activities of its members. But his perspective on the nature of their creative work begins to shift when he falls for a beautiful girl in the troupe. Gamboa’s tough but spirited music-infused tale is based on real-life experiences.
Sunday, July 13, 1:30pm
Tuesday, July 15, 6:30pm

The Militant / El lugar del hijo
Manuel Nieto, Uruguay, 2013, DCP, 121m

Spanish with English subtitles
Ariel, a student leading a 2002 occupation at a Montevideo university, receives news of his father's death in Salto. Leaving the city and all its protests and solidarity movements behind, Ariel embarks on a very personal journey as he settles into the tranquil countryside—an area under-explored in Uruguayan cinema—and learns that he has to manage his father’s inheritance, including his debts and a lover who’s still living in his house. In this fascinating story of rebirth, Nieto crafts a clever metaphor for the country of Uruguay, which its youth will someday inherit and have to learn how to manage, in their own search for restoration.
Thursday, July 17, 8:45pm
Friday, July 18, 4:00pm

My Straight Son/Azul, No Tan Rosa 
Miguel Ferrari, Venezuela, 2013, 35mm, 113m

Spanish with English subtitles
Famous telenovela actor Miguel Ferrari’s debut feature, which won Best Iberoamerican Film at this year’s Goya Awards (the Spanish Oscars), is the first Venezuelan film to openly deal with gay and transgender issues—still mostly taboo in the country. While telling the story of the romantic relationship between a fashion photographer (Guillermo García) a handsome surgeon (Sócrates Serrano), the film also explores with great panache and lots of heart an array of other topics, including teenage love, homophobia, and what it’s like to be a gay parent to an estranged teenage son. Proudly sentimental and reminiscent of Almodóvar’s early melodramas, but also taut, polished, and sexy, My Straight Son features performances by many of Venezuela’s TV personalities. A TLA Releasing release.
Thursday, July 17, 3:30pm
Saturday, July 19, 8:30pm

Natural Sciences / Ciencias Naturales
MatĂ­as Lucchesi, Argentina/France, 2014, DCP, 71m

Spanish with English subtitles
Determined to find the father she never knew, 12-year-old Lila (Paula Hertzog) escapes her remote boarding school tucked away in the impressive Sierra de Córdoba mountains. This sweet coming-of-age story about love and perseverance won Berlin’s Generation Kplus Grand Prix as well as Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress at the Guadalajara Film Festival this year.
Friday, July 11, 9:15pm
Monday, July 14, 6:20pm

Paradise / ParaĂ­so
Mariana Chenillo, Mexico, 2013, DCP, 105m

Spanish with English subtitles
Mariana Chenillo’s sophomore feature displays a warmth and delight in life that couldn't be further from the dark humor of her acclaimed debut, Nora’s Will (Latinbeat ’09). This unpretentious romantic comedy about a happy overweight couple from the suburban middle-class neighborhood Satelite (the “paradise” of the title) takes refreshingly unexpected turns, as their move to Mexico City launches them both on a journey of self-discovery.
Friday, July 18, 9:00pm
Sunday, July 20, 3:30pm

Reimon
Rodrigo Moreno, Argentina/Germany, 2014, DCP, 72m

Spanish with English subtitles
Documentary and fiction are almost indistinguishable in this minimalist but powerfully eloquent film by the director of El custodio and Un mundo misterioso. Moreno closely observes the daily routines of Reimon, a young woman from northeastern Argentina who commutes long distances from her suburban neighborhood to her job cleaning houses in Buenos Aires. In one of these homes, a young couple read passages from Marx’s Das Kapital out loud as she dusts and cooks… And though the film is practically silent, staying true to Reimon’s introspective cadence, the juxtaposition of her daily reality with that of her employers says it all.
Friday, July 18, 6:45pm
Sunday, July 20, 8:30pm

Root / Raiz
MatĂ­as Rojas Valencia, Chile, 2013, DCP, 87m

Spanish with English subtitles
In this hypnotic story of redemption and rebirth, a young woman embarks on a road trip through lush remote locations in southern Chile to find the father of a recently orphaned child. Having just returned from the city to the hostile environment of her home in Puerto Varas, Amalia leaves again with 9-year-old Cristobál on a dilapidated truck. The two clash, bond, and grieve in the almost mystical qualities of the region’s breathtaking natural beauty. In his impressive debut feature, Matías Rojas Valencia tells an intensely moving story with very few elements, skillfully incorporating the natural setting as a mirror through which we can witness the characters’ deep inner transformations.
Saturday, July 12, 1:30pm
Wednesday, July 16, 8:30pm

The Searches / Las bĂşsquedas
Jose Luis Valle, Mexico, 2013, DCP, 77m

Spanish with English subtitles
The parallel stories of a widow and a widower come together in the elegant and sober second feature by the award-winning Jose Luis Valle, a director of Salvadoran-Mexican descent. Made in just seven days, and shot in black-and-white, with a budget of $1,500, the film exhibits that a large part of Valle’s talent resides in his capacity to tell a taut, polished, and intriguing story with the fewest of elements—great and renowned Mexican actors notwithstanding (Gustavo Sánchez Parra, Arcelia Ramírez, Gabino Rodríguez). Chance, revenge, solitude, and redemption are some of the themes explored by this small gem of a film.
Saturday, July 19, 6:00pm

The Summer of Flying Fish / El verano de los peces voladores
Marcela Said, Chile/France, 2013, DCP, 95m

Spanish with English subtitles
Don Francisco is celebrated for the effective if increasingly violent ways he employs to exterminate the carp that overpopulate the artificial lake on his property in the majestically beautiful areas of Curarrehue, Coñaripe, and Liquiñe in southern Chile. His beloved 16-year-old daughter, Manena, seems to be the only one aware of the growing tension surrounding them, as the demands of the Mapuche Indians that have lived and worked in the area for centuries have gone unheard for too long. Said brings her sharp observational skills as a documentarian to this fiction/nonfiction hybrid, working on location with nonprofessional actors to create a quietly powerful denunciation of environmental destruction and social injustice. But she also succeeds in crafting a moving and vivid youth drama through Manena’s tricky predicament, caught between loyalty to her family and to what she knows is right.
Sunday, July 13, 6:30pm
Monday, July 14, 4:00pm

We Are Mari Pepa / Somos Mari Pepa
Samuel Kishi Leopo, Mexico, 2013, DCP, 95m

Spanish with English subtitles
As the school year ends, the 16-year-olds who make up the title punk band are free to skateboard, play soccer, and rehearse the one—obscene yet catchy—song they’ve written. Samuel Kishi Leopo vividly captures the carefree spirit of the teenagers' summer vacation, with closely observed, carefully drawn characters and a pitch-perfect score (by his brother Kenji Kishi). The summer finally ends and the leisurely days—palpitating with music, desire, and camaraderie—give way to reality, bringing this vibrant portrait of youth at a pivotal moment full circle. A FiGa Films release.
Saturday, July 12, 9:00pm
Tuesday, July 15, 8:30pm

Public Screening Schedule

Screening Venues:
The Film Society of Lincoln Center
Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam

Friday, July 11
6:15PM Casa Grande (114m)
9:15PM Natural Sciences (71m)

Saturday, July 12
1:30PM Root (87m)
4:00PM Dust on the Tongue (89m)
6:30PM Cristo Rey (96m)
9:00PM We Are Mari Pepa (95m)

Sunday, July 13
1:30PM Mateo (86m)
4:00PM Cristo Rey (96m)
6:30PM The Summer of Flying Fish (95m)
8:40PM Dust on the Tongue (89m)

Monday, July 14
4:00PM The Summer of Flying Fish (95m)
6:20PM Natural Sciences (71m)
8:30PM Casa Grande (114m)

Tuesday, July 15
4:30PM Holiday (82m)
6:30PM Mateo (86m)
8:30PM We Are Mari Pepa (95m)

Wednesday, July 16
6:15PM Holiday (82m)
8:30PM Root (87m)

Thursday, July 17
3:30PM My Straight Son (113m)
6:30PM All About the Feathers (85m)
8:45PM The Militant (121m)

Friday, July 18
4:00PM The Militant (121m)
6:45PM Reimon (72m)
9:00PM Paradise (105m)

Saturday, July 19
1:00PM The Man of the Crowd (95m)
6:00PM The Searches (77m)
8:30PM My Straight Son (113m)

Sunday, July 20
3:30PM Paradise (105m)
6:15PM The Man of the Crowd (95m)
8:30PM Reimon (72m)

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility, and understanding of the moving image. The Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year’s most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, LatinBeat, New Directors/New Films, NewFest, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema and Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Comment magazine, the Film Society recognizes an artist's unique achievement in film with the prestigious Chaplin Award. The Film Society’s state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at Lincoln Center, provide a home for year-round programs and the New York City film community.

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Royal Bank of Canada, Jaeger-LeCoultre, American Airlines, The New York Times, Stella Artois, the Kobal Collection, Trump International Hotel and Tower, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

For more information, visit www.filmlinc.com and follow @filmlinc on Twitter.

For Media specific inquiries, please contact:
John Wildman, (212) 875-5419
[email protected]

David Ninh, (212) 875-5423
[email protected]