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B Y M A N U E L B L Á U A B ( H T T P : / / B E R L I N F I L M J O U R N A L . C O M / A U T H O R / M A N U E L B L A U A B / ) /

F E A T U R E D P O S T S ( H T T P : / / B E R L I N F I L M J O U R N A L . C O M / C A T E G O R Y / F E A T U R E D - P O S T S / ) ,

F E A T U R E S ( H T T P : / / B E R L I N F I L M J O U R N A L . C O M / C A T E G O R Y / F E A T U R E S / ) , L A T E S T

A R T I C L E S ( H T T P : / / B E R L I N F I L M J O U R N A L . C O M / C A T E G O R Y / L A T E S T - P O S T S / ) /

A U G U S T 2 8 , 2 0 1 4

7 LATIN AMERICANFILMMAKERS YOUOUGHT TO KNOW

ABOUT

11/2/2016 7 Latin American Filmmakers You Ought To Know About | Berlin Film Journal

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O

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ver the last ten years a subtle revolution has been taking place around the world, with the advanced lmmaking technology

allowing entire feature lms to come to existence through the use of nothing more than a cellphone. Modern-day

DSLR cameras like the Canon 500D are becoming standards for most young independents. In Latin America, this dramatic

shift has enabled the mushrooming of various lmmaking schools and the emergence of  a new type of cinema that speaks

to young lmmaker-wannabes. The echo of this trend can be seen on the big screens around the globe (except for this

year’s edition of the Venice Film Festival which, oddly enough, has decided not to include a single Latin American lm in its

program).

Berliners who partake in the yearly cinematic pilgrimage to the Berlinale each February may be familiar with some of the big lm

names coming from the Southern Hemisphere, but the fact remains that their work still rarely comes into the limelight outside of the

con nes of their national and regional milieus. These lmmakers, like most of their independent colleagues around the world, manage

to reach wider audiences almost exclusively by participating in lm festivals, before their work is transferred to DVD and Vimeo.

Here is a non-hierarchical list of Latin America’s emerging lmmakers whose lms should be treated as required viewing for every

self-respecting lmgoer.

Sebastián Lelio

(http://berlin lmjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Sebastián-Lelio-Getty-Images.jpg)

 

Argentine-born, Chilean director and editor made it into the international circuit in 2011 with El año del tigre (The Year of the Tiger

which screened at the Locarno Film Festival and at the Mar del Plata Film Festival in Argentina, a few months later .

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His latest feature lm, Gloria (2013), screened at the 2013 Berlinale, and received the Silver Bear Award for best female lead, played

by actress Paulina García. The lm also competed at the 51° New York Film Festival in October and was selected as the Chilean

contender for the Oscars by the Chilean National Academy.

In Gloria, Lelio gives a subtle tragi-comic undertone to the story of a 58 year old woman who decides to ght against loneliness and

 prejudices by leading a life of excess. Going out and having super cial affairs with several men invariably leads to disappointment

until he meets Rodolfo with whom she ends up wanting a serious relationship. But to get there, Gloria must embark on a journey of

introspection and change, revealing dark secrets which reverberate with the current political state in the country.

The particular sensibility and passion with which Lelio treats the story can also be sensed in his other lms, including The Year of the

Tiger (2011), and these subtleties allow it to unfold in unexpected ways.

Fernando Eimbcke

(http://berlin lmjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Fernando-Eimbcke-Berlinale.jpg)

Mexican director Fernando Eimbcke has two major lms under his belt – Temporada de patos, Duck Season (2004), and his latest 

Sándwich (2014). The former has had much success, with the thirty-four-year old director appearing at Cannes, Toronto, Guadalajara,

Warsaw and several other renowned  lm festivals.

Both lms are pretty intense and shot in a minimalistic and intimate way. Duck season reunites four young friends entering puberty

before one of them leaves the city. Filmed in black and white, the lm shows four characters as they spend an afternoon together

doing apparently nothing and trying to ignore the impending farewell and the fact that their reunion might be the last time they ever

see each other.

Club Sándwich has also a young adolescent for its main character, a shy boy spending his summer vacation together with his young,

single mother at a hotel. The intimate relationship between the two speaks of their isolation from the rest of the world. Similarly as

in Kubrick’s The Shining, the empty hotel in Club Sándwich acts as the third character and creates an feeling of solitude interrupted by

the appearance of a young adolescent girl. A sexual awakening takes place for both youngsters and their coming of age clashes with

the possessiveness of the mother who is forced to acknowledge the end of her son’s boyhood.

11/2/2016 7 Latin American Filmmakers You Ought To Know About | Berlin Film Journal

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Fernando Eimbcke doesn’t force the narrative, but rather lets his camera capture a combination of situations playing out on an

intimate plane that everyone can relate to.

Benjamin Naishtat

(http://berlin lmjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Benjamin-Naishtat-Foto-AFP.jpg)

Benjamin Naishtat was born in Argentina in 1986 and is the youngest in the list. This year he made a breakthrough when

he presented his opera-prima, Historia del Miedo (History of fear) as part of the of cial competition program at the Berlinale. This

cinematic tour de force uses a loose narrative to create analogies between different types of fear, characters and social classes.

This emerging director had previously made four short lms, including History of Evil, presented at the Buenos Aires International

Independent Film Festival, BAFICI, in 2012. This festival in particular has been following his career and the organizers have been

quite vocal in expressing their support and enthusiasm at the premiere of his rst feature  lm.

The story is of marginal importance in History of Fear. Instead, the audience is immersed in a world of shocking violence and drama. It

is possibly the best lm of the year.

Diego & Daniel Vega

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(http://berlin lmjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Diego-Daniel-Vega.png)

Like the Coens, these Peruvian brothers work together on all of their  lms, despite the fact that Diego lives in Barcelona and Daniel is

based in Peru. Their rst feature lm, Octubre, October (2010), was shown at the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes in 2010, and was

selected to represent Chile at the 84  Academy Awards.

In 2014, their second lm, El Mudo (The mute), was screened at several major lm festivals in Latin America, including BAFICI in

Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the 54 FICCI (International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia), one of the oldest lm

festivals in the region. The story focuses on the main character, Constantino Zegarra, a  judge from Peru whose life changes

dramatically after an unsuccessful attempt on his life which renders him mute. From then on, priorities change for Zegarra, and he

takes very little interest in anything except  nding the culprit.

Despite its revenge premise, The Mute  is never an action movie, but rather an excuse to show another side of Peru and the tragi-

comical nature of different kinds of people the main character encounters on his way.

Camila José Donoso & Nicolas Videla

th

th

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Argentina lms(http://berlin lmjournal.com/tag/argentina- lms/)

Benjamin Naishtat(http://berlin lmjournal.com/tag/benjamin-naishtat/)

Camila José Donoso & Nicolas Videla(http://berlin lmjournal.com/tag/camila-jose-donoso-nicolas-videla/)

Chile lms(http://berlin lmjournal.com/tag/chile- lms/) Diego & Daniel Vega(http://berlin lmjournal.com/tag/diego-daniel-vega/)

Fernando Eimbcke(http://berlin lmjournal.com/tag/fernando-eimbcke/)

Latin American Filmmakers(http://berlin lmjournal.com/tag/latin-american- lmmakers/)

Latin American lms(http://berlin lmjournal.com/tag/latin-american- lms/) Peru lms(http://berlin lmjournal.com/tag/peru- lms/)

Sebastián Lelio(http://berlin lmjournal.com/tag/sebastian-lelio/)

S H A R E O N : F A C E B O O K ( H T T P : / / W W W . F A C E B O O K . C O M / S H A R E R . P H P ?

U = H T T P : / / B E R L I N F I L M J O U R N A L . C O M / 2 0 1 4 / 0 8 / 7 -

L A T I N - A M E R I C A N -

F I L M M A K E R S - Y O U -

O U G H T - T O - K N O W -

A B O U T / & T = 7 L A T I N

A M E R I C A N

T W I T T E R ( H T T P S : / / T W I T T E R . C O M / I N T E N T / T W E E T ?

O R I G I N A L _ R E F E R E R = H T T P : / / B E R L I N F I L M J O U R N A L . C O M / 2 0 1 4 / 0 8 / 7 -

L A T I N - A M E R I C A N -

F I L M M A K E R S - Y O U -

O U G H T - T O - K N O W -

A B O U T / & T E X T = 7

L A T I N A M E R I C A N

P I N T E R E S T ( H T T P : / / Y O U R U R L H E R E . C O M / / P I N T E R E S T . C O M / P I N / C R E A T E / B U T T O N / ?

U R L = H T T P : / / B E R L I N F I L M J O U R N A L . C O M / 2 0 1 4 / 0 8 / 7 -

L A T I N - A M E R I C A N -

F I L M M A K E R S - Y O U -

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A B O U T / & M E D I A = H T T P : / / B E R L I N F I L M J O U R N A L . C O M / W P -

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H L = E N -

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L A T I N - A M E R I C A N -

F I L M M A K E R S - Y O U -

(http://berlin lmjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Camila-José-Donoso-Nicolas-Videla-via-CinemaChile.jpg)

It is not strange that among the top seven directors from a continent with more than thirty countries Chileans are in the majority.

Chile has one of the fastest growing lm industries in Latin America.

This year, Camila José Donoso and Nicolas Videla presented their rst co-directed lm, Naomi Campbell. The genre-bending

picture combines documentary style and ction. The main character, Yermén, is a transsexual woman determined to get the

operation needed to complete her transformation. The lms portrays her hopes and dreams being manipulated by a reality show that

promises its winner a ticket to the operating table. Naomi Campbell combines a probable ctional story featuring a real-life character

with short clips lmed by Yermén herself, using her cellphone to capture the daily life in the slums.

Unlike the nefarious Slumdog Millionaire (2008), the lm doesn’t capitalize of the audience’s pity for the main character. Is a simple

story of a person who yearns for a brighter future and is determined to get there at all costs.

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F I L M M A K E R S Y O U

O U G H T T O K N O W

A B O U T )

F I L M M A K E R S Y O U

O U G H T T O K N O W

A B O U T & T W _ P = T W E E T B U T T O N & U R L = H T T P : / / B E R L I N F I L M J O U R N A L . C O M / 2 0 1 4 / 0 8 / 7 -

L A T I N - A M E R I C A N -

F I L M M A K E R S - Y O U -

O U G H T - T O - K N O W -

A B O U T / & V I A = B E R L I N

F I L M J O U R N A L )

1 0 2 4 X 5 1 2 . J P G & D E S C R I P T I O N = 7

L A T I N A M E R I C A N

F I L M M A K E R S Y O U

O U G H T T O K N O W

A B O U T )

O U G H T - T O - K N O W -

A B O U T / )

Manuel Bláuab (http://berlinfilmjournal.com/author/manuelblauab/)Writer wannabe and Simpsons maniac, life is a ction based on that show. I love to quote.

T w i t t e r ( h t t p s : / / t w i t t e r . c o m / h t t p s : / / t w i t t e r . c o m / b l a u a b )

F a c e b o o k ( h t t p : / / f a c e b o o k . c o m / h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / B l a u a b s )

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P R E V I O U S A R T I C L E

UFA FILM NÄCHTE: THE CABINET OF DR.

CALIGARI(HTTP://BERLINFILMJOURNAL.COM/2014/08/UFA-

FILM-NACHTE-THE-CABINET-OF-DR-CALIGARI/)

N E X T A R T I C L E

PASOLINI AND SCANDAL IN

BERLIN(HTTP://BERLINFILMJOURNAL.COM/2014/09/PASOLINI-

AND-SCANDAL-IN-BERLIN/)

F E B R U A R Y 4 , 2 0 1 6 N O V E M B E R 2 0 , 2 0 1 5

Y O U M A Y A L S O L I K E

(http://berlin lmjournal.com/2016/02/revolutionizing-adult-cinema-an-

interview-with-erika-lust/)

(http://berlin lmjournal.com/2015/11/interview-with-tangerine-director-

sean-baker/)