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Los amantes del Cine Latino tienen varias oportunidades para darse un gustazo estas semanas. No solo se celebra el festival LatinBeat en el Lincoln Center, sino que también se estrenan varias películas en diferentes salas de la ciudad y se presentan más de 160 películas en el Festival Internacional de Cine Latino de Nueva York (NYILFF). Veamos:

1. LatinBeat >> La Film Society reune a 11 países en el festival latino de más antiguedad de la ciudad. Hasta Agosto 24. Vean el artículo dedicado a este festival AQUI.

2. GUN HILL ROAD (Rashaad Ernesto Green, USA, 2011, 88 min, English). Angelika Film Center. Website.

A finalist for the esteemed Jury Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, GUN HILL ROAD stars Esai Morales and Judy Reyes as a Bronx couple struggling to hold their family together. When Enrique (Morales) returns from three years in prison, he finds his wife estranged by an emotional affair and his son (newcomer Harmony Santana) exploring a sexual transformation well beyond Enrique’s understanding. Still under the watchful eye of his parole officer, Enrique must become the father he needs to be or risk losing his family and freedom once again.

3. UNFINISHED SPACES.
(Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray, USA/Cuba, 2011, 86 min. In Spanish and English with English subtitles). Ends August 18. IFC Center. Website.

In 1961, three young, visionary architects were commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to create Cuba’s National Art Schools on the grounds of a former Havana golf course. Construction of their radical designs began immediately, and artists from all over the country reveled in the beauty of the schools. But as the dream of the Revolution quickly became a reality, construction was halted and the architects and their designs were deemed irrelevant in the prevailing political climate. Forty years later, the schools are in use, but decaying. Castro has invited the exiled architects back to finish their unrealized dream. Filmmakers in person Friday at 7:25pm, Saturday at 9:50pm, Sunday at 5:15pm, Monday at 7:25pm, Wednesday at 5:15pm, & Thursday at 7:25pm.

4. THE ACCORDION KINGS
(Alan Tomlinson, USA/Colombia, 2008, 60 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles). Queens Museum of Art. August 19. Website.

Travel down to Colombia and go behind the scenes of the Vallenato Kings Festival where, each April, the world’s greatest accordionists assemble to perform, compete, and celebrate the squeezebox. Meet the players and hear their stories, including pop star Carlos Vives who is from the Magdalena River region where the music originated and who popularized this folk form, and Yeime, who became the first female to win the juvenile competition in over forty years. 

5. THE TINIEST PLACE. A film by Tatiana Huezo
Opens Friday, August 19. IFC Center. One-Week Engagement!. Website.

The film tells the story of Cinquera, a tiny place nestled in the mountains amidst the humid Salvadoran jungle that was ravaged by the bloody civil war that swept El Salvador between 1980 and 1992. Huezo’s powerful and hypnotic film depicts a community that has learned to live with its sorrow, an annihilated town that re-emerges through the strength and deep love of its inhabitants for the land and people. With a lyrical eye, Huezo interweaves the simplicity of the town’s present life with tragic testimonies of the past. The Tiniest Place is ultimately a story of resilience, hope and the ability of the human being to reinvent himself after surviving a tragedy.

6. SENNA (Asif Kapadia, UK/France/USA, 2010, 106 min.). Landmark Sunshine Cinema. Website.

Brazilian Formula One racing legend Ayrton Senna's remarkable story, charting his physical and spiritual achievements on the track and off, his quest for perfection, and the mythical status he has since attained, is the subject of Senna, a documentary feature that spans his years as an F1 driver, from his opening season in 1984 to his untimely death a decade later. Far more than a film for F1 fans, Senna unfolds a remarkable story in a remarkable manner, eschewing many standard documentary techniques in favor of a more cinematic approach that makes full use of astounding footage—much of which is drawn from F1 archives and previously unseen.

7. THE LAST CIRCUS (Balada triste de trompeta). Director Álex de la Iglesia. Winner Best Director and Best Screenplay. 67th Venice film festival. Abre Agosto 19. Website.


1937: Spain is in the midst of the brutal Spanish Civil War. A "Happy" circus clown is interrupted mid-performance and forcibly recruited by a militia. Still in his costume, he is handed a machete and led into battle against National soldiers, where he single handedly massacres an entire platoon.
Fast forward to 1973, the tail end of the Franco regime.  Javier, the son of the clown, dreams of following in his father's career footsteps, but has seen too much tragedy in his life - he's simply not funny and is only equipped to play the role of the Sad Clown. He finds work in a circus where he befriends an outlandish cast of characters, but as the Sad Clown he must take the abuse of the brutish Happy Clown Sergio, who humiliates Javier daily in the name of entertainment.
It is here that he meets Natalia, a gorgeous acrobat, and abused wife of Sergio. Javier falls deeply in love with Natalia and tries to rescue her from her cruel and violent husband, unleashing Sergio's jealousy. But Natalia is torn between her affection towards Javier, and her lust for Sergio.With neither man willing to back down, this twisted love triangle evolves into a ferocious battle between Sad Clown and Happy Clown, escalating to unbelievable heights in this absurd, shocking, irreverent and unforgettable film.

8. New York International Latino Film Festival NYILFF. Hasta Agosto 21. Website.



Launched in 1999, the New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF) is now the premier Urban Latino film even in the country. The NYILFF's mission is to showcase the works of the hottest emerging Latino filmmaking talent in the US/ and Latin America, offer expansive images of the Latino experience, and celebrate the diversity and spirit of the Latino Community.

Some of the films presented this year:

* FREE CINEMA UNDER THE STARS >> TO BE HEARD
* CHICO & RITA
* OUR LATIN THING (NUESTRA COSA)
* WHITE KNIGHT
* MAGIC CITY MEMOIRS
* BOY WONDER
* MAMITAS
* LA HIJA NATURAL (THE NATURAL CHILD)
* G.W.B.
* IN HER CORNER: LATINO IN AMERICA
* GRANITO