“The Festival is very different from the others and it is good that it is so. He Mar del Plata Film Festival What sets him apart is his relationship with the public. There are other festivals that work more for the industry, for the press, for the red carpet, but there is no closeness, participation and shared culture with the directors staying after presenting the film. I think that in this there is a cinephilia that participates in the festival, there is a lack of prejudice to approach very different proposals and a closeness to cinema that is felt and that the guests want to return,” he expressed. Fernando Juan Limapresident of Mar del Plata International Film Festival.
The only film festival Latin American Class Aclassified by International Federation of Association of Film Producers (FIAPF)will celebrate its 38th edition this Thursday 2nd to Sunday 12th November with a set of more than 150 movies of all lengths and all formats. As usual, at this event there will be several dozen talks, book presentations and debates, with the aim of giving a refuge to cinema, at a time when the paradigm of watching movies on the big screen, through the usual commercial channels , is in decline. This year the Auditorium Theaterthe six rooms of the Paseo Aldrey, the Unzué Space and Chauvín Creation Centeradded to the Teatro Colon, will be the exhibition venues.
The meeting will focus on 40 years of democracy and will begin with a screening of the restored version of “Pink Corner Man” (1962), directed by Rene Mugica, based on the story of the same name by Jorge Luis Borges. The closing will be ten days later with “Autumn leaves”the most recent work of Aki Kaurismäki. “There is a cut that points to several things at the same time. On the one hand, being attentive to what is happening in the world, to what is new and contemporary, and, on the other hand, to the various perspectives. At the same time, we are thinking about historical cinema, so there is a prominent place for spotlights, retrospectives and restored films. In that sense, you have to find that balance. The common fact is that they are good films and interesting directors,” said the head of the festival, in dialogue with Noticias.
Among the most recommended proposals of this contest we can mention “Close the eyes”of Victor Erice; “The book of solutions”of Michael Gondry; “Eureka”, of Lisandro Alonso; “Mixtape La Pampa”of Andres Di Tella;” “In Our Day”of Hong Sangsoo; “The beast”of Bertrand Bonello; “The practice”, of Martin Rejtmanand “The Snow Society”by J.uan Antonio Bayona. “What has been happening for years is that we have a growing audience and target all types of viewers. Programming that appeals to the widest audience possible. Be it supporting Argentine cinema, in all its forms, styles and searches; or reflect the best of the cinematographic year,” he explained Pablo Conde, artistic director of the festival and programmer of the classic section Zero hour.
“Festivals became a place of real resistance, they always were, but now it is very noticeable, because a good part of what is shown at festivals is not released in theaters. It is the opportunity to see a film that may never be released in our country. Both auteur cinema and Latin American, European or Asian cinema do not have the impact they used to have. Firstly, there are few films that are released from those latitudes and then they do not attract the public as much as they used to. “Festivals became safe places to go look for those films,” declared Conde. The programming will maintain its seven competitive sections International, Latin American and Argentina, for both short and feature films, Altered States and Work in Progress. In addition to the usual thematic sections, although reduced in number of titles.
The International competition will have eleven films, three of them local and exhibited as world premieres. “Elena knows,” adaptation of the book of the same name Claudia Pineiro directed by Anahí Berneri, starring Mercedes Morán and Erica Rivas; “A ship left me taking me away”Realized by Cecilia Kang, inspired by historical events; and the debut “The souls” of Laura Basombrío that proposes a dreamlike journey to the cosmogony of his ancestors. For its part, the Latin American Competition will have nine productions from across the region, including three from Argentina.. “The castle”, of Martin Benchimol; “The wind that sweeps away”, Paula Hernandez and “Undefined things”of Maria Aparicio. In addition to the official awards, these films will compete for the Special awards from SIGNIS and the Association of Cinematographic Chroniclers of Argentinaadding the awards from the different associations of professionals of the seventh art.
“The festival is unthinkable, without the rule of law and without democracy. The festival began in 1954 and we are in 2023 and we are in the 38th edition. The reality is that absolute freedom is needed, a framework of diversity that in other times was not tolerated and that is why this year we celebrate 40 years of democracy by launching a book , which has to do with the end of censorship. It is the first time that we have four decades without institutional censorship. This should be something that corresponds, but in our country it is unfortunately a novelty,” Lima explained and added: “There is an Argentine and Latin American accent, also a look. It is not healthy that the cinema that we can know comes from a Eurocentric perspective and cut. It is not better or worse, it is different. It is important that the festival is not a replicator of the models of Cannes or Berlin. It is an ecosystem because the festival has dialogue and support in other festivals.”
“This year we have the focus on the work of Adolfo Aristarain, to whom we gave a lifetime achievement award to someone who is a number one in our cinema. Our cinema, no matter when, is always alive,” declared Conde and added: “The lack of democracy brings to hand the lack of voices. The silencing The festival was stopped during the dictatorial period and was held again in democracy because it was a necessity. Thinking about cinema is thinking about ourselves. “We celebrate 40 years of uncensored cinema.” For this reason, the usual institutional short films that are shown on a rotating basis prior to each screening will have as raw material some of the materials prohibited during the dictatorships and that were recovered from the archive of the Film Rating Body and whose digitization was in charge of Cubic, Argentina Sono Film and the Society for Audiovisual Heritage.
It is estimated that last year the Mar del Plata International Film Festival was attended by a number close to two hundred thousand spectators, among all the venues and open screens in the different sites of the spa city. Even without the event having started, the pre-sale of tickets is sold out and they were completely sold out in a matter of hours. The president of the festival, Fernando Juan Lima, reflected: “Mar del Plata occupies a place in our culture and in our imagination. A closeness was built with the spaces and the formation of an audience, which has generated trying new things and which the absolutely heterogeneous public has accompanied. When someone from the audience asks a director a question, he looks for an answer. There is something very level and close between the viewer and the artist that is unique to Mar del Plata.”
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