Australia's largest festival of Latin American cinema, the Cine Latino Film Festival returns to Palace Cinemas, kicking off in Melbourne from 13-28 November, Canberra from 14-28 Nov, Sydney from 15-28 Nov, Brisbane from 21 Nov-2 Dec and Perth 6-16 Dec this year. Get your FAQs straight HERE. Featuring films from across the region, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Paraguay, there's a strong lineup of critically acclaimed films, many of which have been submitted to 'represent' at the upcoming Oscars®.
Catering to all tastes, you'll find thrillers, smash-hit comedies, as well as a Cuban retrospective to enjoy some classics from Havana on the big screen, including eight of the most recent box office Argentinean hits. Get your programs for Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth, online. Group bookings may be the way to go to enjoy time out with family, friends and colleagues.
Special events for Opening Night (Roma) and Closing Night (Y Tu Mamá También) run across the board for all states, including Ten Days Without Mum, with Sydney holding an extra special event with An Unexpected Love.
Opening Night's Roma is a most personal project to date from Academy Award-winning director and writer Alfonso Cuarón. Inspired by the women from his childhood, Alfonso delivers an artful ode to the matriarchy that shaped his world. It follows Cleo, a young domestic worker from Mixteco heritage descent and her co-worker Adela, also Mixteca and chronicles a turbulent year in the lives of a middle-class family in 1970s Mexico City. Sofia is a mum of four, trying to cope during the extended absence of her husband. Filmed in luminous black and white, it's intimate, gut-wrenching and ultimately life-affirming how one family maintains its balance in a time of personal, social and political strife.
Closing Night's Y Tu Mamá También is also directed by Alfonso Cuarón, a breakout hit and perfectly balanced road comedy. Julio and Tenoch are seventeen-year-olds and longtime friends despite their different backgrounds. While their girlfriends are away in Europe they are looking forward to a summer of fun and foolishness.
During a wedding, they meet Luisa, the 28-year-old wife of Tenoch's scholarly cousin, and try to convince her to go on a road trip to a made-up beach paradise the two claim is on the Oaxacan coast. To their surprise, she agrees, and so begins the tension between two friends who are not so quietly vying for her affection. Jealousies and savage arguments bubble up, which may completely destroy their friendship. This is definitely a film not to be missed.
Ten Days Without Mom, a hilarious box-office hit, when a father is forced to swap places with his wife to take care of his unruly kids. Dad's in charge of what he thinks 'taking the children to school' is all mum does, after reproaching her, saying he'd love to be in her place. Mum is long gone for a much needed 10-day break, leaving dad who generally is no help at all, to take care of the chaos. The highest grossing Argentine film of 2017, enjoy how a family learns to connect more deeply, beautiful and messy though they may be.
An Unexpected Love is a smart, funny, and hugely entertaining Rom-com. A long-married couple starts to question the true meaning of love, once their babies leave the nest. Suddenly faced with the hole left by the last child leaving to study abroad, they realise their feelings for each other have shifted. They consciously decide to uncouple and begin to explore the world of the newly-single, to hilarious and unexpected results. It's intelligent, perceptive, and totally delightful, going on to become one of the biggest films of the year.
Birds of Passage demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Almost mythical, it's filled with eye-popping traditional costumes and culture, surreal imagery, vivid sound design and glorious widescreen cinematography. It's a unique sensory adventure, an epic, visually exquisite story about the origin of the Columbian drug trade, told through the eyes of a proud indigenous family. It's where the trappings of wealth and power soon incite a war that threatens to tear people and ancient traditions apart.
