NCLAFF tells stories of Latin American individuals and countries at a “Crossroads”
The North Carolina Latin American Film Festival (NCLAFF) brings the best of current films from countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to the Triangle area, and this year includes irreverent comedies, science fiction, and timely political documentaries.
The 2018 NCLAFF, organized by the Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Duke University, begins October 3 and lasts until November 8 with 15 films from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela. All films are free and open to the public.
Special to the film festival this year is guest curator Gustavo Furtado, assistant professor of Romance Studies at Duke University (right). The Consortium chose Furtado to take the reins while NCLAFF Director Miguel Rojas-Sotelo spends a year-long sabbatical at Duke Kunshan University.
“It was a great pleasure to survey the landscape of recent Latin American film in order to curate the 2018 edition of Duke and UNC's festival,” Furtado said. “These films offer a diverse constellation of works united by their cinematic exploration of moments of transformation,” he added.
“Crossroads” is the festival’s theme this year, featuring films that depict individuals, communities, or even nations at the crossroads of danger and possibilities.
“What is most striking is the vast variety of film styles and themes–each delving into a specific world of life and experience and yet reaching out with some universal appeal,” Furtado said. “I attempted to reflect this diversity in the selection. There should be something here for everyone!”
“What is most striking is the vast variety of film styles and themes–each delving into a specific world of life and experience and yet reaching out with some universal appeal,” Furtado said. “I attempted to reflect this diversity in the selection. There should be something here for everyone!”
NCLAFF has invited award-winning Brazilian filmmaker Maria Augusta Ramos to present her documentary “O Processo, (The Trial)” following the highly publicized and polemical trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached on corruption charges. Ramos will participate in a panel on “The Crisis of Brazilian Democracy,” along with Duke History Professor John French and Wesley Hogan, director of the Center for Documentary Studies, at 5:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 26 in the Frederic Jameson Gallery on Duke’s East Campus. The following evening, “O Processo” will be screened at 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 27 in the Rubenstein Arts Center Film Theater at Duke.
Central American film historian María Lourdes Cortés will also give a talk, “La pantalla luminosa: cine centroamericano actual” at 6 p.m., Friday, October 5 in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium in the FedEx Global Education Center on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus. Her talk will be followed by “Heredera del viento (Heiress of the Wind)” at 7 p.m.
Several films will be shown off-campus in both in Durham and Chapel Hill thanks to our collaboration with the Carolina Theatre in Durham and Silverspot Cinema in Chapel Hill. On Sunday, Oct. 14, the film "Desde Allá (From Afar)" will be shown at 7 p.m. at Silverspot Cinema. Because seating is limited, this is a ticketed event. Tickets are free, but please sign up at this link.
NCLAFF will also have its first screenings at the new film theater in the Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke. "El Rey del Once (The Tenth Man)" will be shown at 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 14 in The Ruby, in addition to "O Processo (The Trial)" on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. Free parking is available across the street in the Duke Gardens auxiliary lot on Anderson Ave.
This event is made possible through funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education. Additional sponsors at Duke are the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), the Duke Brazil Initiative, the Office of Global Affairs, the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image/Screen Society/, and the Rubenstein Arts Center. At UNC-Chapel Hill: The Institute for the Study of the Americas (ISA), the Department of Romance Studies, PRAGDA, Silverspot Cinema, and the Spanish Club.
(Top photo from film "Sergio & Sergei")