44th Chicago International Film Festival
PREMIERES CINEMA OF THE AMERICAS, OCTOBER 16-29
Films from Mexico and Central and South America featured
The Chicago International Film Festival will premiere 175 films from around the world during its 44th edition, October 16-29, 2008, including innovative works emerging from Mexico and Central and South America. Every year the Festival’s Cinema of the Americas program brings the best in contemporary Latin American cinema to Chicago, and this year’s diverse program reaches from the remote Argentine pampas and the Brazilian rainforest to the bustling heart of Rio and even decades into Mexico’s future. The program of 14 Films includes Déficit, Gael Garcia Bernal’s (The Motorcycle Diaries, Babel) vibrant directorial debut; They Killed Sister Dorothy, a documentary (and Green Screen selection) about an American Catholic nun murdered in the Amazon rainforest; and Paraiso Travel, a Colombian box office hit featuring John Leguizamo.
• The Dead Girl’s Feast / A Festa da Menina Morta (Brazil), Dir. Matheus Nachtergaele
Every year, pilgrims have poured into a small community in the upper Amazon to worship at the mystical shrine of a little girl who went missing 20 years ago. The faithful await her life-changing revelations, channeled through an enigmatic local known as the Saint, but the little girl’s brother has grown tired of the exploitation of his sister’s memory by the Saint’s profiteering father. Soon, he’ll uncover an astonishing secret about them both. Portuguese with English subtitles.
Sunday 10/19 8:00pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Tuesday 10/21 6:15pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Tuesday 10/28 5:00pm – AMC River East 21
• Déficit (Mexico), Dir. Gael García Bernal
In his vibrant directorial debut, actor Gael García Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries, Babel) uses a decadent, day-long summer house party to study issues of class consciousness in Mexico. Bernal stars as the privileged, narcissistic college boy competing for the affections of a beautiful Argentine import with—much to his dismay—the groundskeeper’s son, all while trying to keep the lid on a family secret. Spanish with English subtitles.
Friday 10/24 6:00pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Monday 10/27 6:00pm – The Music Box
Tuesday 10/28 8:30pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
• Don’t Look Down / No Mires Para Abajo (Argentina), Dir. Eliseo Subiela
When his father dies, grief-stricken 19-year-old Eloy begins an unusual habit of sleepwalking. One night, stumbling across rooftops in a daze, he accidentally tumbles into the open window of his neighbor, Elvira. An expert in the therapeutic powers of Kama Sutra, Elvira tries to help Eloy cope with his loss through sex. But does Eloy, who believes his father’s spirit is visiting him in his somnambulistic state, really want to be cured? Spanish with English subtitles.
Saturday 10/18 3:45pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Sunday 10/19 8:30pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Friday 10/24 10:30pm – AMC River East 21
• I’m Gonna Explode / Voy a Explotar (Mexico), Dir. Gerardo Naranjo
Maru is a misfit longing for a soul mate. Roman has been a death-obsessed menace since his mother’s funeral. These two teens were made for each other. When they decide to run away together, leaving Maru’s single mother and Roman’s powerful congressman father searching in their wake, their buoyant young romance soon veers toward a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. Spanish with English subtitles.
Thursday 10/23 7:00pm – AMC River East 21
Friday 10/24 9:30pm – AMC River East 21
Monday 10/28 8:15pm – AMC River East 21
• La Rabia (Argentina), Dir. Albertina Carri
In a remote farming village, two families are stuck on a course that can only end in tragedy. Little Nati is a beautiful, dark-haired mute with a penchant for drawing disturbing images, shrieking at the top of her lungs, and stripping off her clothes when she’s upset. She’s upset often because she’s been witnessing her mother having a brutish, sadomasochistic affair with the enemy of her husband, whose temper is shorter than the barrel of his shotgun. Spanish with English subtitles.
Sunday 10/19 4:30pm – AMC River East 21
Thursday 10/23 8:10pm – AMC River East 21
• Lokas (Chile/Mexico) Dir. Gonzalo Justiniano
Big in heart and cheerfully zealous in its examination of an unconventional family unit, Lokas tells the story of nine-year-old Pedro, his homophobic single father, and the pair’s adjustment to moving in with Pedro’s gay grandfather. Showing great affection for its vibrant Chilean locations and colorful characters, this amusing charmer is more concerned with what it means to be a responsible man in this world than what it means to be straight or gay. Spanish with English subtitles.
Tuesday 10/21 9:45pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Wednesday 10/22 6:00pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Thursday 10/23 6:30pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
• Mirageman (Chile), Dir. Ernesto Díaz Espinoza
Full of campy, low-budget fun, Mirageman finds local bouncer and martial arts expert Maco Gutiérrez stumbling on a robbery in progress. After bravely thwarting the heist, Maco dons one of the criminals’ blue ski masks to rescue a damsel in distress. Empowered by his brush with vigilante justice, he decides to embark on a one-man quest to make the streets of Santiago safe and inspire hope in his mentally unstable little brother. But superhero living is not quite as simple as Maco assumed. Spanish with English subtitles.
Saturday 10/18 10:40pm – AMC River East 21
Wednesday 10/22 9:00pm – AMC River East 21
Friday 10/24 10:40pm – AMC River East 21
• Out of Tune / Os de Safinados (Brazil), Dir. Walter Lima Jr.
Infidelity, death, broken dreams, and political unrest swirl together with the sizzling bossa nova music at the heart of this affectionate look back at the four idealistic young musicians of Os Desafinados. Journeying from 1960s Rio to New York with dreams of transforming Brazilian music and the country itself, everything changes when bandleader Joaquim (Rodrigo Santoro, 300) meets a sizzling bossa nova singer in Central Park, and soon everyone in the band is under her spell. Portuguese with English subtitles.
Monday 10/20 6:30pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Wednesday 10/22 4:45pm – AMC River East 21
Saturday 10/25 12:50pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
• Paraiso Travel (USA /Colombia), Dir. Simon Brand
Reina will do anything to get into the United States. Marlon will do anything for Reina. All-consuming desire—hers for the American Dream and his for her heart—will lead these teens on a harrowing odyssey from their middle-class homes in Colombia to the immigrant-thick neighborhoods of New York. But when Marlon loses his teenage queen in Queens, he will have to face a frightening new country on his own. This Colombian box office hit stars Aldemar Correa, Ana de la Reguera, Angelica Blandon, and John Leguizamo. English, Spanish with English subtitles.
Thursday 10/23 4:00pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Sunday 10/26 8:15pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Monday 10/27 6:00pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
• Personal Belongings (Cuba), Dir. Alejandro Brugués
Poised for departure, but unable to secure a travel visa, Ernesto spends nights inside of his car, headlights perched toward the limitless ocean, unbound by responsibility or attachments. Nearby, in another part of town, Ana—reeling from the abandonment of her family—gathers herself and sets out to prove to that Cuba is the only place she wants to be. When their paths cross… Spanish with English subtitles.
Friday 10/24 8:40pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Saturday 10/25 5:30pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Monday 10/27 3:45pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
• Sleep Dealer (Mexico/USA), Dir. Alex Rivera
In Rivera’s ambitious sci-fi debut, Memo Cruz lives with his family on a dried-up Santa Ana farm in the militarized, corporation-controlled, closed-border world of the not-so-distant future. After his father is mistaken for a terrorist and killed by a drone warplane, Memo travels to Tijuana to labor in a virtual sweatshop. Here he meets the alluring writer Luz, who inadvertently leads Memo down a path that can unseal his struggling family’s fate. English, Spanish with English subtitles.
Tuesday 10/21 8:45pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Wednesday 10/22 8:30pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
• The Sky, the Earth, and the Rain / El Cielo, La Tierra y La Lluvia (Chile), Dir. José Luis Torres Leiva
Intoxicating visuals highlight this meditation on loneliness and isolation. Torres Leiva is an artist with the camera, and in effect he paints a hushed portrait of a few interconnected characters searching for love or sex or familial affection against the rain-soaked rural coast of Chile. Like any great painting, the viewers are challenged to fill in the blanks of the story. That the young director entrusts his audience with this task is refreshing. Spanish with English subtitles.
Friday 10/17 6:10pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Saturday 10/18 3:20pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Monday 10/20 4:00pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
• They Killed Sister Dorothy (USA/Brazil), Dir. Daniel Junge
For 72-year-old Sister Dorothy, a Catholic nun from Ohio, being in the Amazon rainforest was “like walking in God’s arms.” Moving to Brazil in 1967 to work with the poor, Dorothy later became the passionate champion of a government initiative to stop local deforestation and promote sustainable living. So why was this “Angel of the Amazon” found shot seven times on the forest floor in 2005? Martin Sheen narrates. English, Portuguese with English subtitles.
Friday 10/17 8:15pm – AMC River East 21
Saturday 10/18 5:15pm – AMC River East 21
• The Zone / La Zona (Mexico), Dir. Rodrigo Plá
On the eve of Alejandro’s 16th birthday, three teenage thieves infiltrate La Zona—Mexico City’s most exclusive gated community—resulting in the murder of Alejandro’s neighbor, the accidental death of a security guard, and the vigilante murder of two would-be thieves. Fortified with an intricate series of security measures, the seemingly autonomous community exists outside of police jurisdiction, leaving the surviving thief trapped within La Zona’s vengeful borders. Spanish with English subtitles.
Sunday 10/19 12:15pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Saturday 10/25 8:30pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
Tuesday 10/28 6:15pm – AMC 600 N. Michigan Ave 9
About the 44th Chicago International Film Festival
As it has for 43 years, the 44th Chicago International Film Festival, October 16 – 29, 2008, presented by Cinema/Chicago, will offer moviegoers the best new films from around the world, with several exciting additions, including a “Festival Village” and the launch of Green Screen, a series celebrating our natural environment, the power and artistry of filmmaking, and the intersection between the two. In its fifth decade, the Festival still brings appearances by legendary international actors and directors and an impressive film line-up for which the Festival is known. Audiences will be captivated by over 150 films from around the world, from full-length features to thoughtful documentaries and vibrant shorts, which showcase both established and promising new filmmakers.
Passes and tickets are available by visiting www.chicagofilmfestival.com or www.ticketmaster.com, or by calling 312-902-1500.
For up-to-date and detailed Festival information, call 312-332-FILM
About Cinema/Chicago
Cinema/Chicago, a not for profit, tax exempt cultural and educational organization, presents the annual Chicago International Film Festival, North America’s oldest competitive international film festival, organized to encourage better understanding between cultures and its people and to make a positive contribution to the art form of the moving image. Subscribers to Cinema/Chicago’s membership program form a loyal core audience for the organization and are granted access to more than 15 free film screenings and sneak previews throughout the year. Cinema/Chicago also offers year-round educational programs designed for students and the deaf and hard of hearing to provide new film experiences and offer insight into other cultures, languages, and ideas. These programs include the Educational Outreach Program, the Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and the Black Perspectives Program.
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