In AFI’s New Series, the Films Are Foreign, the Themes Are Not

From depictions of Mexico’s colonial days, to modern-day struggles in contemporary Cuba to the quaint lives of youngsters in Catalonia, the vibrancy and diversity of contemporary Latin cinema will be on display this week.

For the first time in its 13-year history, the American Film Institute will feature what it hopes will be an annual Latin Cinema series during its international film festival, which starts today.

“Latin cinema has become one of the most important emerging cinemas in the world,” said festival director Jon Fitzgerald. “Audiences want to see them, but it’s difficult for these kinds of films to find screens.”

Added Mexican director Eduardo Rossoff, whose first film, “Ave Maria,” will kick off the Latin series today: “I think that when there is a good film, language matters less. The stories that are being made in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico are international, universal stories. It just so happens they are in Spanish.”

Just as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Fuentes, Octavio Paz and Mario Vargas Llosa put Latin American novels on the map in Europe and the U.S., today’s promising Latin filmmakers could have the same impact for film, said Eduardo Machado, director of “Exiles in New York,” which is also part of the Latin film series.

“What is changing is the perception--now people are saying these movies need to be seen and that is very important,” said Machado.

“Ave Maria,” set in colonial Mexico, stars Mexican actress Tere Lopez Tarin, as the daughter of a Spanish duke who dares to question the abusive behavior of Spanish soldiers toward the native population.

*

The Brazilian film “The Call of the Oboe,” directed by Claudio MacDowell, will be featured Saturday. The movie follows a terminally ill musician, played by Paulo Betti, who hopes to spend his final days teaching music in a quiet Paraguayan village. His music brings the village to life and instills in him a sense of purpose.

The film, spoken in Portuguese and Spanish, features a diverse cast with actors from Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. The film blends elements of the Italian neo-realism from the 1940s and Latin American magical realism.

The Argentine film “The Lighthouse,” directed by Eduardo Mignona, will also debut on Saturday. The film addresses the lives of two young girls who are left orphans after a car accident kills their parents and younger brother.

Catalan director Marc Recha’s film “The Tree of Cherries” will also be shown on Saturday. Recha made his film in Catalan (the language of Catalonia, a province in Spain), something that was outlawed under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The movie is set in a small village where the departure of the town’s only doctor forces the villagers to question their own reasons for staying behind.

On Sunday, the Cuban film “Life Is to Whistle,” by Fernando Perez, will be screened. The film is a somewhat surreal take on life in contemporary Cuba and how love and destiny intertwine. Perez shows the absurdity, hardship and occasional joy of life in a society on the edge.

“Exiles in New York,” directed by Machado, an award-winning Cuban American playwright, will premiere on Tuesday. The movie, Machado’s first foray into film, takes on the American Dream as two young illegal immigrants find new lives in Manhattan.

The last film in the series is the Mexican film “Under a Spell,” by Carlos Carrera. The film, which stars popular Mexican actress Blanca Guerra, is set in a small fishing village in the 1930s where loneliness and abuse lead to a scandalous affair between the town’s teacher and her young pupil.

* The Latin Cinema Series runs today through Oct. 29. For tickets and schedule information: (323) 520-2000.