4th July, 2008
Welcome to the 6th Discovering Latin America film festival! A unique window into the cultural diversity of Latin America. Come and enjoy beautiful scenery and extraordinary stories that will show you Latin American love, humour, resilience, and values, through the thoughts and feelings of ordinary Latin Americans.
We also invite you to appreciate the talent of Latin American productions which, without access to large Hollywood budgets, still manage to achieve excellent quality through extraordinary creativity, human stories, brilliant narrative and scenery. This edition was designed to entertain London film lovers, those interested in Latin American culture, as well as native Latin Americans missing their home countries.
The Festival features recent productions, including many UK premieres, such as the award winners XXY (Argentina/France/Spain, 2007) and Suely in the Sky (Brazil, 2006), as well as Mauricio’s Diary (Cuba, 2006), Happy Desert (Brazil, 2007), The Night Buffalo, featuring Diego Luna (Mexico, 2007), Crossing a Shadow (2006) Peru’s candidate for the Oscar of Best Foreign Film and A Ton of Luck (Colombia, 2006), the movie which achieved the largest audience in Colombia’s Film history. Film lovers will also be able to enjoy internationally acclaimed works such as City of God (Brazil, 2002), Secuestro Express (Venezuela, 2005), and Central Station (Brazil, 1998). Once again, our public will have an opportunity to participate in the ‘DLA Film Festival Audience Award’ voting for their favourite feature film.
Among the documentaries, the highlights are the award winner Santiago (Brazil, 2006), the equally lauded The Sugar Curtain which narrates the story of the Cuban revolution and dream and Maquilapolis (Mexico/USA, 2006), co-presented with the Human Rights Watch Festival.
Those interested in diving deeper into Latin American cinema will have the opportunity to attend Q&As with Mexican actor Diego Luna, producer Pablo Cruz, Brazilian director Paulo Caldas and Peruvian director Augusto Tamayo. The Film & Culture event at the Tate Modern, Film Synergies: Latin American and European Co-productions, includes a panel discussion, with special focus on the film Black Butterfly, by Francisco Lombardi (Spain/Peru, 2006). Fans of the painter Fernando Botero will have the opportunity to attend Q&As with BBC producer Richard Collings on Botero’s “Big Fat Art”.
Like in previous editions of the Film Festival, our main focus is to raise funds for the less privileged people back in Latin America; this year all proceeds will be in invested in an educational project targeting poor children and young adults in Rio de Janerio, Brazil (through TASK Brazil®).
Help us to make a difference and let the magic and spirit of Latin America touch all your senses!!!
Claudia Ruiz
DLA Film Festival Director