The big screen comes to Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires’ annual celebration of independent cinema launched its 2010 edition on April 8. Buenos Aires Festival de Cine Independiente (BAFICI) showcases the best in locally produced art house cinema as well as a host of international films, many of them Latin American premieres.

The festival, which started 12 years ago, is set to welcome a quarter of a million visitors and organise over 1,000 screenings. Additional activities include debates with industry insiders, an outdoor cinema and free evening music concerts.

Argentina’s film industry has been growing rapidly over the last decade and now produces around 80 films a year. On March 7, El Secreto de sus Ojos, directed by Juan José Campanella – and the most popular film in Argentina in 2009 – picked up the best foreign-language film award at the Oscars in Los Angeles.

BAFICI has built up a well-respected reputation as a festival prepared to show bold, often risqué work that mainstream channels avoid.  “Generally Latin American colleagues refer to us as the most important festival in the region, at least in terms of independent cinema,” says festival programmer Fernando Chiappussi. “There are other bigger or more glamorous festivals, like Mar del Plata, Rio de Janeiro or Guadalajara, but BAFICI is very well established and is a dearly loved festival that gets a lot of attention.”

BAFICI has 19 films in its international awards category spanning countries from Romania to Singapore. Unlike the mainstream US movies that normally show in Argentina, the three American films up for an award are from indie directors tackling divorce and heroin addiction amongst other subjects.

Of the Argentina films at the 2010 edition, there are several innovative new works including Sebastián Lingiardi’s Las Pistas/ Lanhoyij /Nmitaxanaxac, a cleverly woven indigenous thriller, and El Rati Horror Show directed by Enrique Piñyera, denouncing contemporary political corruption.

The opening and closing films of the festival treat the years of military dictatorship, one set in the 1970s and the other in contemporary Argentina. So why does local cinema continue to tackle these issues from the past? “It’s an idea that’s still attractive due to its dramatic possibilities,” Chiappussi explains. “And, at the same time, it’s perceived as a burden because in the 80s many films were made documenting the repression, and [even now] Argentine cinema tends to be associated with this theme from abroad.”

Argentine cinema has received increased international attention over the past decade through a new generation of directors including Lucrecia Martel, Lisandro Alonso and Pablo Trapero.  The 12th edition of BAFICI runs until April 18.

www.bafici.gov.ar