Argentine cinema takes center stage at Bafici

The 27th Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BAFICI) is set to return to the city from April 15 to 26, boasting a record-breaking lineup featuring 327 titles, including a significant presence of 147 Argentine short and feature-length films, the majority of which are world premieres. Organized by the Buenos Aires City Culture Ministry, the festival will feature 112 world premieres from countries as diverse as Spain, France, India, Thailand, and Iran.  At the official announcement on Tuesday, City Culture Minister Gabriela Ricardes highlighted the festival’s enduring relevance, noting that over 4,000 films were submitted for consideration this year.“In a context where cinema attendance is facing challenges, the festival reaffirms that the audiences are there when you offer diversity and quality in an accessible way,” Ricardes said.  Culture minister Gabriela Ricardes and Bafici director Javier Porta Fouz For Javier Porta Fouz, the festival’s artistic director since 2016, the 27th BAFICI’s serves as both a look toward the “new waves” of cinema and a reflection on its own history, as its Careers section will highlight directors who actually debuted at the festival decades ago.  Porta Fouz also invited audiences to discover “that cinema you didn’t know you liked,” emphasizing the festival’s role in expanding the audience’s film horizons. The programme includes three main competitions: the International Official Competition, the Argentine Official Competition, and the Vanguard and Genre Competition.  Out of competition Beyond the competitive slots, attendees can explore over 20 sections, including BAFICITO for younger audiences, Rescates (Rescues), and special focuses on specific auteurs. In addition to screenings, the festival will host a variety of industry activities, including masterclasses and workshops. The festival’s Opening Film will be Matias Szulanski’s Pride and Prejudice, about the shooting of an adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic set in present day Mar del Plata. With more than a dozen films in less than a decade, the prolific Argentine filmmaker will also present A Summer Tale in the Careers section and A Friend’s Friend in the Argentine Competition.Argentine cinema also takes center stage with lifetime achievement awards for two pivotal figures: Raúl Perrone and Ana Poliak. Perrone holds the record as the director with most screenings in BAFICI history, while Poliak holds the distinction of being the first Argentine to win the festival’s International Competition back in 2004 with Parapalos.  Argentine filmmaker Liliana Paolinelli’s early shorts and medium-length films will be the subject of a Focus. International focuses include Hungarian director György Pálfi and young Japanese filmmaker Yugo Sakamoto, the latter known for his fast-paced, genre-blending style.  The festival also welcomes back radical Catalan director Pere Portabella for a new retrospective that will include films not seen in his previous 2006 Bafici Focus. The work of Galician director Ángel Santos will also be featured, tracing his evolution from the influence of the Nouvelle Vague to his most recent projects. In the Rescues section, highlights include Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money, Mike Judge’s Idiocracy, and seminal Argentine films like Rodrigo Moscoso’s Modelo 73 and Enrique Bellande’s Mary’s City. Rodrigo Moscoso’s Modelo 73 A collaborative effort with the National Film Board of Canada will bring a diverse selection of restored films to Buenos Aires, including David Cronenberg’s modern cult classic Shivers and Michel Brault’s 1974 political drama Les Ordres, which won the best director prize for Brault in that year’s Cannes Film Festival.   Tickets go on sale April 6 through the festival’s website and at the Teatro San Martín. General admission is priced at 5,000 pesos, with discounts available for students and seniors. A special pass for 10 tickets is available for 30,000 pesos.  This year, festival venues include the Sala Lugones, Teatro Alvear, 25 de Mayo Cultural Center, Cinépolis Plaza Houssay and Recoleta, Cacodelphia Cine Arte, Usina del Arte, and the Buenos Aires Film Museum. Several screenings and activities will also be offered free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis.  Full programming details can be found at bafici.org.