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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Alongside a tide of pensioner rallies and a workers strike that crippled a day’s transportation, the 26th edition of the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (Bafici) managed another explosive set of diverse screenings and industry discussions that wrapped on April 13, after 13 days of cinematic indulgence.
An awards ceremony, held at La Boca’s Usina del Arte Saturday evening, ushered in the final day of the buoyant affair, Laura Casabe’s “The Virgin of the Quarry Lake,” “Under the Flags, the Sun” from Juanjo Pereira, and Tomás Terzano’s latest short “The Banner,” (“El Banner”) taking top plaudits.
The meticulously curated program coaxed throngs of cinephiles to six arthouse and mainstream venues nestled in the heart of the city’s theater district, Teatro San Martin, acting as the event’s industry hub. The Museo del Cine, south-of-center, held special screenings and events in parallel. 298 films from 44 countries were on offer this year, 116 of these titles from Argentina.
“This year we had more than 100,000 attendees. Bafici continues to establish itself as one of the city’s main cultural meeting points, where the accessibility and quality of activities remain fundamental pillars of its success,” Bafici artistic director Javier Porta Fouz told Variety.
“I was afraid that this year we wouldn’t have the impact we once had. Fortunately, the public decided to support the festival, as did the Argentine film community. We’re happy. As Jean Cocteau said, ‘culture tends to flourish in difficult times.’”
Divesting in the arts was never on the agenda for Buenos Aires, as the city breaks from the sentiment of rapid cuts to arts funding by supplementing the film industry as best it can. Not only focused on bringing prestigious talents to the circuit, the fest ensures the event is accessible — a ticket costing less than half the price of the popcorn and soda combo you’ll find at the concession stand.
“Making the festival accessible to the public is a major achievement that reflects a firm commitment to democratizing culture. This goal is achieved through a successful collaboration between the public and private sectors. Although part of the funding comes from the Buenos Aires City Government, we also have the support of companies, institutions and embassies, which contribute significant resources,” Porta Fouz remarked.
“Over the years, the festival’s undergone various changes without losing its identity, while also gaining prestige,” he added. “This has generated significant interest from private stakeholders, who now want to be part of the event and contribute to its success. This support not only covers the festival’s operating costs, but also fosters greater diversification of activities and programming, thus enriching the experience for attendees.”
Bafici succeeded in it aim of platforming films that never left the audience indifferent. Titles ranged from the arthouse-extreme, showcased in Alexandre Rockwell’s unlikely buddy film “Lump” and Spain’s Goya-nominated Berlinale darling Ion de Sosa’s provocative “Mamántula,” to the avant-garde with “Bomba Bernal” from Khavn and “The Suit” from Heinz Emigholz.
Narratives further tackled mortality with Manuela Irene’s nostalgic “The Monster of Xibalba” and Karni Haneman’s droll roadtrip feature “Tom’s 2nd Suicide” while making room for searing social satire through Radu Jude’s condemnation of capital rot, “Kontinental 25” and Julie Delpy’s affecting refugee comedy “Les Barbares” and showcasing a bit of fantasy, as seen in Locarno Open Doors alum Yashira Jordan’s (“Diamond”) latest short “Dragón,” which screened to a heaving crowd—offering a cinematically textured glimpse of quotidian Bolivia, the backdrop to a story centering on vigilante justice and adolescent distraction.
A handful of British counterculture docs highlighting the life and times of defiant musicians Polystyrene (“Polystyrene: I Am A Cliche”) and The Slits (“Here to be Heard: The Story of the Slits”) sat alongside films exploring identity, like Javier Van de Couter’s adaptation of Camila Sosa Villada’s novel “Thesis on a Domestication,”which received a special mention and is produced by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna’s La Corriente del Golfo.
Another buzz title, “Heads or Fails,” an over-the-top Belgian comedy of errors from Lenny and Harpo Guit, (“Aimer perdre”), earned burgeoning theater-turned-film actor Maria Cavalier-Bazan the best international performance plaudit for her depiction of the film’s boundless, crass and magnetic anti-heroine, Armande Pigeon.
“I look forward to each new edition of the festival, there’s always something to be discovered—from an unrecognized director whose film I’m seeing for the first time, to a debutant presenting their first project or someone highly established whose films have never screened in Buenos Aires,” explained Federico Sanchez, who’s attended the festival since its inception.
Time after time, the same situation presents itself. Even with the overwhelming abundance of films that the catalog presents each year, each edition leaves its own mark. This happens so frequently that it can’t be a coincidence that I choose the films that fulfill that objective. With that, I recognize its identity: repeating that discovery, rediscovering the novelty, a return to the unknown,” he added.
“That rare way of existing — so that each edition is different but, at the same time, maintains DNA from previous editions, is another characteristic that defines the city of Buenos Aires: the coexistence of cultures, thousands of attendees from all over the world who enjoy independent cinema every year, cinema that hopefully never stops being made. Let’s hope the festival always remains here,” he said.
Perhaps the most lauded entries to the fest were the Argentina premieres from Casabe, Van de Couter and Lucía Seles. Tickets sold out in record time and frantic fans seeking entry via social media platforms and even turning up to the venue to see if they could snag a spot in the aisle. Short film programs were highly sought after and many efforts took home plaudits. Tomás Terzano’s “The Banner,” featuring “Puan” lead Marcelo Subiotto, presents a maddening and disjointed day-in-the-life tale and nabbed both best short and best director in the Argentine competition.
“Argentine films bring a lot of people to Bafici, often all three screenings they have are sold out — some very quickly, as was the case with ‘The Virgin of the Quarry Lake,’ ‘Thesis on a Domestication.’ It’s true that most of these films don’t have as many viewers when they’re released. One could say: ‘Well, at Bafici you have the premiere, people close to the film go.’ But there’s something else that a film festival like Bafici offers, it allows you to have conversations, it’s a meeting place, and I think that has something to do with the number of people who go to see Argentine films,” Porta Fouz relayed.
“Argentine cinema is underexploited. It’s cinema that should be seen by more people in cinemas, although there are now other, increasingly widespread, ways of watching films. I always said that the issue of public policies for distribution and exhibition had to be improved, taking as a model what was done in France, which last year had a 44% market share for its own cinema,” he explained.
Amidst the jubilant chaos, industry folk from abroad could be overheard discussing their fondness for the city, with Toronto creative Sook-Yin Lee (“Shortbus”), an Avant-Garde and Genre jury member, even sporting an oversized tee of Argentina’s most loveable enfant terrible, Mafalda, while praising the city’s arts scene before a sold-out screening of her latest film “Paying For It.” An adaptation of Chester Brown’s graphic novel the film defiantly documents the taboos around sex work and the folly of modern romance.
Filmmaker Amalia Ulman experienced an equally emotive screening experience and homecoming, introducing the zany Chloë Sevigny-fronted comedy “Magic Farm,” which premiered at Sundance, to a full house that included family members and residents of the town where they filmed who proudly expressed their love for the artist after a round of questions from inquisitive audience members – several local non-pros were cast in the project.
Screenwriter-director Bebe Kamin (“The Children of the War”) and resilient producer Lita Stantic, behind Lucrecia Martel’s “La Ciénaga,” both received Lifetime Achievement Awards this year, imparting dogged wisdom to creatives whammied by tumultuous audiovisual change.
“Certain actions, certain attitudes that have to do with repression, aggression, insult, with mistreatment, have become structurally embedded in this historical moment in Argentina,” said Kamin. “Those in charge of film policy in Argentina—officials, executives— are not really film people. They’ve had a dismissive attitude, they ignore the film community as a whole, they do things that in no way represent the spirit and the desire of the film community. In that sense, they don’t know who we are. We’re technicians, scriptwriters, we’re a number of people who work for and promote the culture and identity of Argentina. We deserve respect. Cinema is history, cinema is people, cinema is the drama it experiences — the comedies. Cinema is an activity that has contributed to the culture of this country for more than 110 years,” Kamin relayed.
Stantic mirrored the sentiment, concluding, “We have to fight so that our cinema continues to exist. In the 50-odd years that I’ve been in the world of cinema, there have often been complications — we even went through a sinister dictatorship— but we kept going. Honestly, long live Argentine cinema.”
BAFICI PRIZES
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Grand Prize
“Under the Flags, the Sun,” (Juanjo Pereira, Paraguay, Argentina, U.S., France, Germany)
Best Feature Film
“That Summer in Paris,” (Valentine Cadic, France)
Best Short Film
“My Mother is a Cow,” (Moara Passoni, Brazil)
Best Director
Tomás Alzamora Muñoz (“Designation of Origin,” Chile)
Special Jury Prize:
“A Day Cut Short,” (María Villar, Argentina)
Best Performance
Maria Cavalier-Bazan (“Heads or Fails,” Belgium)
ARGENTINE COMPETITION
Grand Prize
“The Virgin of the Quarry Lake,” (Laura Casabé, Argentina, México, Spain)
Best Feature Film
“All the Strength,” (Luciana Piantanida, Argentina, Peru)
Best Short Film
“The Banner,” (Tomás Terzano, Argentina, Spain)
Best Director
Tomás Terzano (“The Banner, ”Argentina, Spain)
Special Jury Prize
“The Bewilderment of Chile,” (Lucía Seles, Argentina**)
Best Performance
Andrea Carballo, César Troncoso (“The Woman of the River,” Néstor Mazzini, Argentina, Uruguay)
Special Mentions
“Thesis on a Domestication,” (Javier Van de Couter, Argentina, México)
“LS83,” (Herman Szwarcbart, Argentina, Germany)
“The Continuous Present,” (Ulises Rosell, Argentina)
AVANT-GARDE AND GENRE COMPETITION
Grand Prize
“BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions,” (Khalil Joseph, U.S., Ghana)
Best Feature Film
“Bomba Bernal,” (Khavn, Philippines)
Best Short Film
“Crash-Huang xi hu xi,” (Dale Zhou & Hongxiang Zhou, U.S.)
Best Director
Marie Losier (“Barking in the Dark,” France)
Special Jury Prize
“Chronicles of the Absurd,” (Miguel Coyula, Cuba)
Best Performance
Verónica Intile (“I Laugh, Therefore I Am,” Tetsuo Lumiere, Argentina)
Special Mention
“Turtle Chasing Turtle,” (Víctor González, Argentina)
ACROSS COMPETITIONS
Audience Award for Best Argentinian Feature Film
“The Continuous Present,” (Ulises Rosell, Argentina)
Buenos Aires City Grand Prize
“LS83,” (Herman Szwarcbart, Argentina, Germany)
