LA CITA at Biarritz
13th Festival des Cinemas et Cultures de L'Amerique LatineBasquing in the Cinema and Culture of Latin America
by Stephen Ashton
Dateline:
Biarritz, FranceBiarritz, located near the Spanish border, is one of the principal resorts on the French Côte Basque and probably the most famous part of the Pays Basque. It came to fame in the mid 19th Century, when Empress Eugenie (the wife of Napoleon III) fell in love with this part of the Basque country and built a Palace on the beach, which is now the world class Hotel du Palais in what is referred to as “the Other South of France. The charming seaside city is a cultural mecca that boasts some of the finest cuisine in Europe.
This vibrant cosmopolitan town is traditionally related to Latin America with its presence of a strong Basque community. It is at the crossroads of Latin American and French Hispanic cultures.
Here, it is the mission of LA CITA (“The Meeting or Appointment” in Spanish) to discover cinema, literature, painting, sculpture, and music from Latin America. It is not driven by red carpet galas with tons of American stars. It is a populist event that each year since 1991 has attracted over 50,000 aficionados of Latin America cinema and culture.
In 2004 one highlight was a retrospective of 15 films honoring world-renowned Argentine filmmaker Fernando Solanas (who also received an Honorary Golden Bear for his lifetime achievement at Berlin’s Berlinale 2004). His latest documentary MEMORIA DEL SAQUEO (MEMOIR OF A PLUNDER), addresses the impact of neoliberal politics and globalization. It includes interviews and archive material that sheds light on topics such as corruption and the misuse of public funds.
“With its vivid coverage”, director Solanas said, “my film aims at contributing to the urgent and indispensable discussion under way in my country, in Latin America and in the entire world, on the inhumanity of globalization. At the same time it aspires to prove that another world is possible.”
A stand out in the Panorama section was DIAS DE SANTIAGO (Peru 2004) by Josué Méndez
Pietro Sibille gives a superbly intense performance as the young 23 -year-old war veteran, Santiago, who after several years of jungle fighting, returns home but cannot adjust to everyday life. A gritty mixture of film stocks, fluctuating colour and B&W photography, and rapid-fire cutting draws us into Santiago’s fractured world.
One of the strongest documentaries was LOS ROLLOS PERDIDOS DE PANCHO VILLA (THE LOST ROLLS OF PANCHO VILLA) by Mexican director Gregorio Rocha. Intrigued by the legendary Mexican military leader Pancho Villa's little-known relationship with Hollywood, Rocha goes on a search for lost footage that Villa commissioned from the American Mutual Film Company in 1914, allowing cameramen to follow him into war. The footage includes some of the first battle scenes captured in "moving pictures." Rocha documents his encounters as he scours film vaults and back rooms of institutions across North America and Europe for the seven reels of film that immortalized Villa. His research unveils a legacy of fictional and documentary depictions of Villa dating from the silent film era, revealing a world unsure whether to venerate or to fear this imposing figure and the forces of popular revolution that he embodied.
Prizes include:
Winner of Soleil d’Or (Golden Sun) Grand Prize for Best Feature:WHISKY ROMEO ZULU
Directed by: Enrique Piñeyro
Starring: Adolfo Yanneli, Enrique Pineyro, Carlos Portaluppi, Mercedes Morán, Martin Slipak
2004 – Argentina; 105 minutes
WHISKY ROMEO ZULU (Audience Award - Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema)
Enrique Piñeyro is both director and main character (the pilot of a shoddily run Argentine airline) of this gripping reality-based drama that gives us an inside look at a corrupt industry and bureaucracy that is bound to have viewers book their next trip on a train instead of flying.
Piñeyro’s character is driven to blow the whistle after he witnesses repeated violations of safety regulations. His efforts lead to the slow destruction of his career, his romance with his childhood sweetheart and even death threats. His warnings go unheeded resulting in the tragic real life 1997 accident of a LAPA Airlines Boeing 737.
What makes this story all the more riveting is the fact that Enrique Piñeyro is actually the pilot-turned-whistleblower in question. Only in his case he left the industry, became a noted actor and here makes his debut as a writer/director.
WHISKY ROMEO ZULU is a fast-paced thriller with convincing performances that ring true.
The commercial airplanes in the film are all real… no digital effects or green screen flight simulation. What we see are the real cabins of planes in real flight with Piñeyro himself at the controls.
Soleil d’Or (Golden Sun) for Best Actor
Roque Valero
InPUNTO Y RAYA (STEP FORWARD)
Venezuela/Columbia 2004
(Director Elia K. Schneider accepted his award.)PUNTO Y RAYA is set in the incindiary border zone of Venezuela and Columbia. Young Colombian recruit Pedro (Edgar Ramirez) is patrolling his country's border when he encounters Venezuelan Army deserter Cheito (Roque Valero), and the tragic-comic consequences of their relationship.
During a time of heightened tensions between the two countries, amidst guerrillas, drug traffickers, and other lawless people,
they must join forces to survive.The film has the humor of M.A.S.H., the tension and compassion of THE DEFIANT ONES (the two are chained together in their quest to be free of various opposing forces), and a touch of the anti-war Civil War classic A TIME OUT OF WAR as in when their two armies take a break to play a soccer game to see who wins first crack at the passing prostitutes.
The onscreen chemistry between the stoic Ramirez and the shifty Valero is compelling.
A CULTURAL FEST
Annually LA CITA celebrates the diverse culture of Latin America as well as its cinema. This latest edition was packed full with dance performances, concerts, storytelling, theater, poetry and literature readings, and photographic and art exhibitions.
One art exhibition titled 'Metamorphoses' celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Haitian revolution. Representing15 Haitian artists, the exhibition was held at La Galerie in the historic casino. Despite turmoil and political unrest, it proved that the visual arts in Haiti are flourishing as vigorously as anywhere in the Caribbean. Two master sculptors, Gabriel Bien-Aimé and Serge Jolimeau, who created works right on the balcony of the Festival venue in the old Casino(see photo), were trained by a blacksmith named Georges Liautaud. Liautaud‘s work was discovered by DeWitt Clinton Peters, an American English teacher in the 1940s. Peters set up the Centre D'Art in1952 resulting in a bevy of extraordinary artists whose delicate steel work conjure Voudou images of great beauty and mystery.
Haitian song and storytelling was celebrated as well with two events by author, songstress and storyteller Mimi Barthelemy. One session focused on her amazing telling of Haitian legends for local small children (many of whom are Haitians adopted by French families) and another a concert for adults later the same day.
Stephen Ashton is an editor of Film Festival Reporter Magazine, and a writer and photographer on film, festivals and culture. He is an editor for Food & Beverage International Magazine, is the Founder/Director of the Wine Country Film Festival and grows Pinot Noir and Syrah wine in Northern California.
