Overview

With a very large audience expected -some "30% more than the 100,000 people who attended last year," according to Andres Di Tella, Artistic Director of the event-, the second edition of the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (or BA FICI, as the organizers like to nickname it) unfolds in 11 different theatres throughout the city offering the Argentinean moviegoers eleven days of the best that is going on in the independent film universe.

The capital of Argentina is hosting once again one of the most important events in Latin America that focuses on independent filmmakers, writers, actors and fans of this very particular way of seeing and feeling cinema. In part due to its tremendous success during its first edition in 1999, and also because of the great number of creators attending from all over the world, but especially because the event is held on a continent where the economic and social conditions are not the most favorable for making movies. The Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival is arousing great expectations among its organizers, fans and the 110 special guests -including international press, directors, producers and a jury formed of Serge Toubiana, the director of the prestigious Cahiers du Cinéma; Alicia Garciadiego, script writer of Arturo Ripstein's films; Najwa Nimri, a dazzling spanish actress who starred in Julio Medem's The Lovers of the Artic Circle; Lita Stantic, one of Argentina's main movie producers and writers; and Richard Peña, director of the famous New York Film Festival.

The "feast" includes 425 screenings of 120 movies including special events: the six-hours long Peron, Symphony of the Feeling, the latest production that one of the most talented Argentinean directors alive, Leonardo Favio, dedicated to the charismatic leader Juan Domingo Peron; and films in post production such as La Cienaga (The Swamp), first film by the young director Lucrecia Martel.

This year, BA FICI has been divided into a wide range of sections that cover almost every aspect of the fascinating world of independent cinema. Apart from its 16 films in the Official Competition, the festival also has a Short Film Competition and several parallel sections dedicated to Authors -John Cassavetes, Orson Welles, Julio Medem, Tsai Ming Liang, Ventura Pons and the local Edgardo Cozarinsky; Cinema & Music; Midnight Movies -bizarre class B films; Argentinean Independent Cinema; Latin American Gallas featuring the best from Latin America presented by their own directors; and many interesting round tables, conferences and discussion forums, all attended by important personalities.

Darren Aronofsky, director of the award-winning American film Pi, will be the attraction of a seven-hour-long workshop on how he made his 60,000 dollar success, which is already sold out. Just like the first edition of the FICI, the special workshops programmed for this year will be packed with enthusiastic film students and fans eager to learn more from the "masters."

The highights of the Competitive Section -open to first or second films by the director- include three local productions that raise high expectations among the contestants, all of them very young and talented. Waiting for the Messiah is Daniel Burman's (26) second film. I Don't Want to Go Back Home is the rebellious tour de force of 24-year-old Albertina Carri and 76 89 03, co-directed by Flavio Nardini and Cristian Bernard, "pictures three crucial dates in the life of the country" according to the authors. They are in competition with films coming from France -Life Doesn't Scare Me directed by Noëmie Lvovsky and Human Resources by Laurent Cantet, Australia's Soft Fruit and England's East is East, along with Moonlight Whispers (Japan), But Forever in My Mind (Italy), A Bench in the Park (Spain) and the Equatorian Rodents. China is represented by Zhang Yang's Shower; Brazil with Through the Window and Julien Donkey-Boy (written by Harmony Korine, screenwriter of Kids), while The Return of the Idiot was a Czech hit at 1999's Sundance edition and The Longest Summer is Hong Kong's candidate.

Other sure bets are the latest productions by David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, the violent poetry by Takeshi Kitano, Raoul Ruiz, Steven Soderbergh, Milos Forman and the Iranian Abbas Kiarostami.

Sex Pistols' fans will delight in the screenings of The Filth and the Fury, Julien Temple's look at Syd Vicious and his punk band, screening in the parallel section dedicated to music. In short, this year's BA FICI represents -not only for porteños but for its international attendants- eleven days and nights of glory and the best of independent cinema.

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Buenos Aires enjoys a high quality and diversified International Independent Film Festival

Among the hundreds that packed the hallways, box offices and theatres within the Abasto Cinemas –the “epicenter” of the second Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BA FICI), the event that has literally swept off the interest of local moviegoers towards the films offered during the past five days-, Argentina’s Secretary of Culture and Communications, Dario Loperfido, could be seen sharing the feast with everyone else.

Last year, the 35-year-old functionary was in charge of the city’s Secretary of Culture, and it was under his administration that the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival was first celebrated. Now promoted to the same charge but on a national basis, Loperfido declared to be “very pleased” with the development the festival is having so far. He assisted some of the films and enjoyed John Cassavetes’ Husbands, in the third screening of the retrospective dedicated to the fabulous American director, who died in 1989 and is considered the founder of independent cinema in the United States.

The privileged audiences who could get tickets for the Cassavetes cycle could share the first two films -Shadows and Faces- with veteran actor Seymour Cassel, and ask him all kinds of questions on “how was it like working with the mythical John”. At last Sunday’s screening, the guest star was Cassavetes’ friend and producer, Al Ruben, who seemed to enjoy his partner’s movie as if it was the first time he had ever seen it. He also answered the audience’s questions and stayed until almost 1 am. Ruben also highlighted the great ability Cassavetes had “as an actors’ director."

On its fifth day, the festival’s audience clearly showed a great amount of interest for the directors that are already considered as icons within the independent cinema world. Along with Cassavetes, tickets were also sold out for all the screenings of Jim Jarmusch’s latest production; the always polemic David Lynch; and Martin Scorcese, whose Bringing Out the Dead is much awaited by the public in Argentina.

As last year’s edition left a great number of people without tickets, this year the organizers decided that 10% of the tickets had to be reserved for the day of each screening. Thanks to that, patient moviegoers could queue in front of the box offices and see if they got lucky. As usual, films considered “rare jewels” in the festival also attracted a great deal of attention. Czech Republic’s Navrat Idiot –just to name one of the movies in the Competitive Section- was warmly acclaimed both by critics and the audience.

Another highlight in the second edition of BA Fici has proven to be the Galas Iberoamericanas. The special section includes some of the rarest Latin American films made in the last years, in countries such as Peru or Colombia, where films don’t get the chance to be exhibited outside their countries, even in the southern region of the continent. An example of what this kind of festival can really do for independent filmmakers is what happened with Chile’s El Chacotero Sentimental (Sentimental Joker), a film in three episodes directed by Cristian Galaz, that shows three stories taken from the radio show hosted by the young and rebellious Rumpi, where people tell whatever they feel like regarding love, sex and relationships.

The film was highly acclaimed in its country, constituing a unique success with some 850,000 viewers, an absolute record for a Chilean movie, and has subsequently gone to festivals in Europe and America. In France, for instance, they received the People’s Choice Award in the latest edition of the Festival de Toulouse. Galaz said this recognition “meant a contract for the distribution of the film both in France and in Italy”.

The Argentinean 76 89 03, co-directed by Flavio Nardini and Cristian Bernard, has been so far the national production that has attracted the most people to their screenings. Described by the critics as a very “jazzy, tasteful black-and-white dark comedy on three crucial moments in the lives of three friends," it is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Competitive Section. Damien O’Donnell’s East is East shows how England receives its immigrants and the cultures that collapse but finally adapt to each other. An exquisite Chinese film, Shower, pictures warmly how family and traditions are alike and need to be preserved in every corner of the world.

The festival continues until next Sunday, April 16th, and Leonardo Favio’s six hour long marathon documentary on Argentina’s former president and leader, Juan Domingo Peron, is one of the highly awaited “dishes” of a yet very nutritious film banquet.

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France, Italy and the Czech Republic were acclaimed winners

On Saturday, April 15th, the audience that filled up the biggest theatre at the Abasto de Buenos Aires -an ancient general supplies market turned into a cultural and commercial spot in the old neighbourhood where Carlos Gardel used to sing his tangos in the first decades of the XXth century- cheered when they heard that Resources Humaines (Human Resources), the opera prima for French director Laurent Cantet, was given the Best Film award.

A prestigious jury formed of Paz Alicia Garciadiego (Mexico); Spanish actress Najwa Nimri; New York Film Festival director Richard Peña; Lita Stantic (Argentina); Daniel Schmidt (Switzerland) and Rosemarie Troche (USA) chose Cantet's "tour de force" portraying a young business graduate from a Parisian university that has to deal with budget and personnel cuts -including his own father- at a factory in his small hometown, as the best of the sixteen films in the Official Selection.

The star of the film, also an award-winner at San Sebastian 99, the young talent Jalil Lespert, received the prize on behalf of Cantet, and said he felt "very proud to take such an important recognition back to France. Laurent will be thrilled, especially knowing it was given to us in a country that is such a long way from home". Lespert also received -from the hands of Liliana Barela, Subsecretary of Cultural Action of the Government of Buenos Aires- one of the most expected trophies of the festival: the Audience Award.

But there was more reserved for the new French independent filmmakers. The fresh, colorful La vie ne me fait pas peur (Life doesn't scare me), a comedy on the lives of four girls during the 70s and 80s directed by Noëmie Lvovsky, granted her the Best Director award. And Europe also retained the Best Actress award, shared by Czech players Tatiana Vilhelmova and Anna Geislerova, for the well acclaimed Navrat Idiot. Its director, Sasa Gedeon, had to thank the jury twice: he also obtained the Best Screenplay award. The Best Actor award, however, went to the United States. It was given to Ewen Bremmer, the difficult character portrayed on Harmonie Korine's Julien Donkey-Boy.

There was only one recognition for Latin America. The jurors decided on a Special Mention for the Argentinean actor Eduardo Piñeyro, for his role in Daniel Burman's Esperando al Mesias (Waiting for the Messiah). And both the Photography Directors Guild of Argentina and the OCIC (International Catholic Cinema Organization) chose Italy's Come te nessuno mai (But forever in my mind) by Gabriele Muccino as the recipient of their prizes.

Apart from the Official Selection, short films also had their own carreer to the top. The Best Short award finally went to Five Feet High and Rising by the American Peter Sollett. Other prizes were taken by Brazil, England and Spain, whose Hongos (Mushrooms), got the anticipated Public Award.

In the ceremony that opened with a well-done videoclip compiling spontaneous scenes shot during the BA FICI -and showed in fast motion, many of the authorities of Buenos Aires thanked both the audience, critics and special guests for the success of the event. Ricardo Manetti, its General Director, declared that "thanks to the effort and dedication of all involved in the festival organization, its third edition is widely assured".

Other than the excellent retrospectives dedicated to John Cassavetes, Orson Welles, Edgardo Cozarinsky, Ventura Pons and Julio Medem; the Midnight Section with bizarre, class-B movies; the Galas Iberoamericanas that showed real surprises coming from other South American countries and the round tables and conferences, the special guest director Darren Aronofsky and his executive producer, Eric Watson, charmed the audience through a seven-hour long seminar called "The Phi Case", presented by the International Programmes Director at the Sundance Institute, the Argentinean Patricia Boero. Both Americans seemed extremely happy to be in Buenos Aires, and explained every detail on the planning, realization and distribution of their tremendously successful 60,000-dollar debut, that hit both festivals and box offices all over the world in 1999.

The organizers of the second BA FICI said that their expectations "have been really fulfilled". The 100,000 attendants -according to the information provided- represented 25% more than last year's edition. Students, actors, producers, distributors, writers, directors, journalists and cinephiles shared eleven days, enjoying a vast and diverse program that included some of the best productions in independent cinema from every corner of the world.

FilmFestivals.com reporter
Clara Fernandez Escudero