Day 1: Cine Las Americas Film Festival [4.21.2011]

This is the 14^th year of Austin’s perennial Cine Las Americas, which focuses on films from the two Americas (North and South) with occasional forays into films from Spain and Portugal. I still remember the day that Lara Coger came to Austin Film Society to discuss her plans to have a film festival, which at the beginning would focus on films primarily from Cuba. Along with Celeste (Serna) Quesada as co-director, the festival grew.  Lara went off to explore and report on stories from various countries. After Celeste went on to get married and have two wonderful children with Adrian, CLA kind of tottered a bit until Eugenio del Bosque and Jacqueline Rush Rivera put it back on its feet and turned it into a very important festival. After Jacqueline’s departure, Eugenio and Jean Lauer have continued to make Cine Las Americas Film Festival an absolute joy to attend, with dozens of important, entertaining, and enlightening feature films, documentaries, and shorts of all kinds. For this 14^th edition there will be eight days of programming, mostly at the Alamo S. Lamar, with some free shows at the Mexican American Cultural Center.

Austin Film Society is co-sponsoring the amazing NOSTALGIA DE LA LUZ on Saturday.

Ticket and pass information, as well as listing of other films in the eight day festival.

Films for Thursday 21 April

LAS MARIMBAS DEL INFIERNO (Marimbas from Hell)
Regional Premiere
Julio Hernández Cordón, Guatemala, Comedy/Drama, 2010, 73 min, HD, Color
Spanish with English subtitles
7pm, Alamo South Lamar

Judging from the film description and the trailer, this film would be right at home in the Alamo’s Fantastic Fest. Looks and sounds like a must-see. Cine Las Americas description: “Don Alfonso, a victim of an extortion scheme, fearfully flees his home, accompanied only by his marimba. When he loses his job as a musician due to a dwindling interest in marimba music, he decides to take drastic measures and begins to fuse traditional marimba music with heavy metal. Together with his godson Chiquilin, a street-wise kid hooked on sniffing glue, and Blacko, a medical doctor and ex-Satan-worshiper turned fundamentalist-Orthodox-Jew-born-again Christian, the trio comes together as Marimbas del Infierno, playing a new style of music never imagined nor heard before. Winner of the 16th Valdivia Film Co-production Sessions & Venture Forum, and Hubert Bals Grant for digital production at the 2011 Rotterdam Film Festival.” More info and trailer>> 

RETRATOS EN UN MAR DE MENTIRAS (Portraits in a Sea of Lies)
Austin Premiere
Carlos Gaviria, Colombia, Drama, 2009, 90 min, 35mm, Color
Spanish with English subtitles
9:45pm, Alamo S. Lamar

“After the death of their grandfather, Jairo, a roaming photographer, and Marina, his young, amnesiac and mute cousin, decide to try to recover the land from which Marina was displaced years ago. During the trip along the coast towards Bogotá, the story of her traumatic past begins to unfold. Upon reaching their hometown, they are kidnapped by paramilitaries, and while attempting to flee, Jairo is wounded. Marina is then faced with potentially losing Jairo along with her family’s land forever, while also confronting the painful memories of her past.” – CLA description. More info and trailer >>

Emergencia Youth Film Competition

4-6pm, Mexican American Cultural Center
[600 River Street, the continuation of Holly St. west of I35]
Free

Come out and support the 13 short films made by young filmmakers from San Antonio (6), Calgary (Canada), New York, Austin, Flagstaff, St Paul (Minnesota), Tulalip Reservation (Washington), and Seattle. See what is on their minds and how they represent their lives, concerns, and hopes in a variety of styles and genres. More info>>  

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