The Garden Cinema link

The Garden Cinema is thrilled to present the first full-length season of Central American film in the UK. With feature films from Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador, and a series of shorts from countries across the isthmus, this innovative collection showcases the very best of contemporary filmmaking from the region.  

In the twentieth century, Central America was often associated internationally with civil wars, social disasters, and displaced populations. In these circumstances, very few feature-length, fiction films were produced. This landscape changed dramatically with the digital turn at the beginning of the twenty-first century, which, coupled with access to film education and training, as well as increasingly globalised funding opportunities, has meant a visible resurgence in filmmaking in the region. Indeed, between 2000-2017, more films were made than in the entire preceding 100 years. Despite this progression, there are still numerous hurdles for directing and producing films in Central America, with distribution a key concern. 

Contemporary cinema from Central America spans genres and themes, engaging with a range of visual techniques and aesthetic processes. From Viaje and El puma de Quelepa, which are shot in black and white despite their lush naturalistic settings, Abrázame como antes, which engages with neo-realist techniques of handheld camera and the use of non-professional protagonists, to directors such as Jayro Bustamante who employ an indigenous cosmovision to tell stories against oppression, these films provide complex and nuanced portrayals of the world around us. What connects the narratives of the films showcased in the festival is their preoccupation with relationships – family, kinship, the relationships we form with each other and with the world around us – often forcing us to reconsider what societal norms tell us these should look like. This collection of films also explores the region’s recent history and changing landscapes, from the place afforded to its indigenous cultures and traditional notions of family, to evolving urban and natural environments. 

The season is curated in collaboration with Liz Harvey-Kattou from the University of Westminster, with a shorts event curated by film club Cinema Mentiré. It will feature Q&As with the filmmakers (both remote and in-person), as well as post-film discussions that will help us share and unpack the films’ key themes and contexts. A couple of screenings will be preceded by live music from the region. We will be adding Central American drinks to our bar menu, including Ron Abuelo rum.

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Diseño Une

Emmy Awards 2010

Emmy Awards 2013

Escuela Mónica Herrera

Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School

Universidad Dr. José Matías Delgado

Universidad Dr. José Matías Delgado

Universidad Dr. José Matías Delgado

SED

Universidad Nacional de El Salvador

UNICAES

Universidad Dr. José Matías Delgado

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Source: The Collages of Guy Maddin – From the Current – The Criterion Collection

Guy Maddin’s hypnotic and inventive cinematic worlds are complex assemblages of interwoven materials. So it comes as no surprise that Maddin is also a passionate collagist. In June, a collection of his collage work (presented along with collages by the poet John Ashbery) was even the subject of an exhibition at Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York. But for Maddin, the physical act of creating these pieces is also a private, therapeutic affair. “I suppose the playroom of this gluey and scissory medium is where I find refuge whenever cinema’s laws feel too literal-minded,” Maddin recently told us, “where I can secretly fashion the blueprints for the little visual collisions I hope will work on the big screen.” His surreal collages exist somewhere between sensual reveries and portraits of a nightmare, through which Maddin explores the themes of nostalgia and memory present in his work.

“I’ve been going increasingly public with the results,” Maddin told us, “because the collage parties my friends and I throw, which are nothing less than Jack Smith-style happenings, but with more taffeta, are simply getting to be too much fun not to share with the world.” And he added a bit of advice to the amateur collagist: “Don’t throw out your old porn magazines, they can be recycled in far tonier ways than any old paper shredder could dream up!”

Guy Maddin is represented by Lisa Kehler Art + Projects in Winnipeg, MB Canada. www.LKAP.ca

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Alejandro Jodorowsky isn’t just a world-class art-house filmmaker, he’s also a world-class spiritual guru. In his book The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorosky, the Chilean director details his experiences while on a spiritual journey that lead him to “discard his emotional armor,” namely one encounter with Reyna d’Assia, daughter of famed spiritual healer George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, in which she imparted her father’s many axioms about life.

Source: 82 Maxims About Life That Made Alejandro Jodorowsky the Filmmaker He is Today

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http://www.metropoliscinema.net/2013/otras-miradas-other-views-2/

The IV Ibero-American Film Festival of Beirut, Lebanon. The Embassy of Spain in Lebanon and the Cervantes Institute of Beirut in collaboration with the Metropolis Association and the Embassies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela and the consulates of El Salvador, Portugal and Peru, are pleased to present the 4th edition of the Ibero-American Film Festival OTRAS MIRADAS | OTHER VIEWS.

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El arte de ver y transpirar.

La primera y última semana en Quelepa fueron quizás las más decisivas y reveladoras de todas. Obviamente es difícil asegurarlo tajantemente, ya que las que precedieron y antecedieron a estas dos, fueron el tiempo fructífero que nos permitió rodar nuestra “otra” película.

La primera semana fue cuando descubrimos que no contábamos más con el permiso vital para hacer Engrudo. La causa de esa sorpresiva y rotunda negativa no fue de carácter creativo, técnico, logístico, económico ni legal; sino ético y moral. Finalmente aceptamos esa decisión, la cual nunca compartimos, pero la asumimos respetuosamente. De un día para otro nos vimos frente a lo que parecía ser el caos, la ausencia de historia, rodeados por un entorno exuberante, sofocante y crudo, lo que entendí como la constante presencia de la imagen.

Decidimos continuar con la tarea que nos había llevado a Quelepa, hacer una película. En este caso “otra” película, diferente a Engrudo. Es así como en estos últimos meses nos dedicamos a construir una nueva historia desde sus cimientos. Escudriñamos una región profunda de Quelepa, la oculta, la que vive abajo de la aparente tranquilidad soporífera del casco urbano. Por momentos impenetrable y rígida, en otros fluida y orgánica, siempre presente y escondida. En esa ambivalencia, durante muchas oportunidades, sentí que miraba a través de los ojos de José Miguel, el actor que representaría a Carlos Ulloa. Y también sentí que José Miguel y yo, en varias ocasiones, transpirábamos lo que Carlos Ulloa en algún momento de su vida había transpirado bajo el inclemente sol del oriente salvadoreño. Supongo eso es bueno, la mirada nunca miente y el sudor desintoxica.

Ahora me siento satisfecho de anunciar la culminación a bien de nuestro rodaje. Más adelante anunciaré por este medio cuál es la “otra” película. En ese momento desactivaré esta página y todo lo que tenga que ver con Engrudo.

Quiero agradecer a cada uno de ustedes, a las personas que nos apoyaron a lo largo de este trayecto, el cual aun no termina completamente. Especialmente al equipo técnico y los pobladores de Quelepa. Son muchos, de varias ciudades y países. A todos ustedes, los que estuvieron presentes de varias formas, gracias profundas y serenas.

Me retiro de Quelepa, me llevo preguntas contestadas, respuestas crudas, recuerdos ordenados, imágenes sublimes, una historia visceral; en fin, me llevo lo que quizás vio y transpiró Carlos Ulloa, El Puma de Quelepa.

Se preguntarán ¿qué pasó en la última semana en Quelepa? Pues eso mismo, simplemente fue la última.

Victor Ruano

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