MoMA presents “Iberoamérica: Our Way(s)”, an exhibition of eight new Spanish- and Portuguese-language films representing collaborations among filmmakers from 10 different countries. The exhibition celebrates the quality and originality of these films, which have all received support from the intergovernmental organization Ibermedia, now in its twelfth year. “Iberoamérica: Our Way(s)” is presented from November 5 through 13, 2009, in The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, and includes films that were made between 2007—the year of MoMA’s first Ibermedia series—and 2009. Ibermedia supports film production between two or more Spanish- and/or Portuguese-speaking countries, whether by established, internationally recognized directors such as Lisandro Alonso (Liverpool, 2008), or by new and emerging filmmakers like Aarón Fernández (Partes usadas [Used Parts], 2007). The exhibition is organized by Jytte Jensen, Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art.
From ‘Qué culpa tiene el tomate?’ (From the Land to Your Table), 2008. Directed by Alejo Hoijman (Argentina), Marcos Loayza (Bolivia), Josué Méndez (Peru), Carolina Navas Gutiérrez (Columbia), Paola Vieira (Brazil), Alejandra Szeplaki (Venezuela), Jorge Coira (Spain)
Opening the exhibition on November 5 is the world premiere of ‘Qué culpa tiene el tomate?’ (From the Land to Your Table) (2008), a collaboration among seven directors from seven countries: Alejo Hoijman (Argentina); Marcos Loayza (Bolivia); Josué Méndez (Peru), who will introduce the film at MoMA; Carolina Navas Gutiérrez (Columbia); Paola Vieira (Brazil); Alejandra Szeplaki (Venezuela); and Jorge Coira (Spain). The film examines, with particularly stunning cinematography, the conditions and cultural diversity of the growing of produce, and its road to markets throughout Iberoamérica. There are seven segments in the film, each of which retains a unique style and tone, while leading the viewer through diverse economic systems and life stories.
‘A festa da menina morta’ (The Dead Girl’s Feast) (2008) is the directorial debut of Brazilian soap opera star Matheus Nachtergaele, who will introduce the film in its New York premiere at MoMA on November 6. It tells a deeply disturbing fictional tale of the deprivation and manipulation simmering beneath extreme religious ritual and superstition in a remote Amazonian village. In a similar vein, the documentary ‘La vida loca’ (2008), directed by Christian Poveda, passionately denounces the terror and violence perpetrated by El Salvador’s brutal street gangs. The filmmaker was assassinated on September 2, 2009, while shooting a sequel to ‘La vida loca’ in La Campanera, a gang-ridden slum close to San Salvador. A war movie of a different sort, ‘Postales de Leningrado’ (Postcards from Leningrad) (2007), directed by Mariana Rondón—who will introduce the film at MoMA on November 7, with producer Marité Ugas—is told from the point of view of a child with absent parents and a vivid imagination growing up during Venezuela’s armed revolutionary struggle of the 1960s.
Comic relief comes in the form of two very different films. ‘La cáscara’ (The Rind) (2007), from Uruguayan director Carlos Ameglio, is a quirky black comedy about a lazy, delusional office worker who, after his partner’s sudden death, takes over his brilliant ideas and personal life. ‘La caja’ (The Wooden Box) (2007) is an outré melodrama from Spain directed by Juan Carlos Falcón and based on a novel by Víctor Ramírez. The film, which evokes the work of Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, is set under the bright sun of the Canary Islands in the 1960s, as a group of local women respond to the death of one local man.
A road movie at the genre’s most austere and refined edge, ‘Liverpool’ (2008), directed by Lisandro Alonso, who will introduce the film at MoMA on November 9, investigates solitude and landscape as it follows a sailor through the frigid landscape of ‘Tierra del Fuego’ to find his estranged family in the lonely place where he grew up, but left long ago. Another tale of difficult journeys is told in ‘Partes usadas’ (Used Parts) (2007), a New York premiere and the directorial debut of Aarón Fernández, who will introduce the film at MoMA on November 5. The film offers a gritty, realistic depiction of a Mexican boy’s attempts to earn enough money to realize his dream of escaping to the U.S. While betrayal, danger, and struggle fill his daily life, his world is brightened by a strong friendship with another teenage boy. The two roles are played beautifully by a duo of young amateur actors.
Over the past 12 years, Ibermedia has supported over 500 films, encompassing a broad variety of filmmaking genres and approaches, and has provided training for film professionals. In addition to facilitating and helping to finance co-productions of documentaries and fiction films, the organization grants money for international distribution and promotion once the films are finished. This intergovernmental body began with seven member countries; today its membership numbers 18.
Films to be supported by Ibermedia are selected through a process that begins in their home countries. Professional film organizations from the country of production propose projects for funding and distribution, which are then approved by Ibermedia. The organization’s financing comes with little or no conditions, which protects the filmmakers’ personal vision and allows the project to retain national and/or personal-historical traditions.
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