22nd Vancouver Latin American Film Festival, Sept 5-15, 2024

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
August 26, 2024
August 27, 2024
August 28, 2024
August 29, 2024
August 30, 2024
August 31, 2024
September 1, 2024
September 2, 2024
September 3, 2024
September 4, 2024
September 5, 2024
September 6, 2024
September 7, 2024
September 8, 2024
September 9, 2024(1 event)

5:15 pm: The Soldier's Lagoon


September 9, 2024

Directed by Pablo Alvarez-Mesa, this riveting experimental work delves deep into the misty Páramo region, into an ecosystem rich in water, but also saturated with oral narratives that populate the territory like foggy patches. Reflecting on the construction of oral history and its relation to the land, the film traverses a living and elusive archive, suspended between Simon Bolivar’s past and Colombia’s present.

The Cinematheque
1131 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2L7
September 10, 2024(1 event)

8:15 pm: Cassandro


September 10, 2024

Gael García Bernal stars as Saúl “Cassandro” Armendáriz, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso, Texas, who rose to international stardom when he created the character Cassandro, the "Liberace of Lucha Libre." In doing so he not only upended the macho wrestling world, but also his own life.

Also stars Bad Bunny!

The Cinematheque
1131 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2L7
September 11, 2024(2 events)

4:00 pm: In memoriam: Narcisa Hirsch


September 11, 2024

skin

Born in Germany yet Argentine by choice, Narcisa Hirsch was the pioneer of Argentine experimental cinema. This selection of six short films approaches Narcisa’s work from its beginnings in the late 1960s up to her last film Materia Oscura (2023).

Narcisa’s gaze is expansive, it cuts across forms and the reflections it creates leave us in a narcotic state in which time and space slowly transform. She described this process as follows: “Cinema is what flows and leaves, that which doesn’t stay, an image every twenty-fourth of a second; cinema is being a dark room with others sharing a ritual. Yet, above all, it is the luminosity of the images, images that in being projected make visible other images, the internal, the ones that are kept, the dark and forgotten ones, in that beam of light that travels through the terrain to uproot us from where we are sitting and leave us melting with this light in a quasi passionate encounter.”

Cineworks
1131 Howe Street (entrance in back lane)
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2L7

8:15 pm: Fields of Presence


September 11, 2024

Still from Fields of Presence

Director Jorge Lozano in attendance.

"This poetic experimental documentary is a tribute to my daughter, Briana Sarita, and her multifaceted life, a collaborative reflection intertwining fiction film archives, acting, and photographs to evoke memories and breathe life into moments and events. Her singing serves as a connecting thread, offering parallel interpretations. The film explores events since 1978, employing a non-chronological and non-linear approach, providing a unique artistic perspective. Shot in Colombia, Spain, and Costa Rica, it culminates in Victoria, BC, where she was tragically murdered in March 2021. However, the film focuses on celebrating her life and her essence employing diverse formats, including super 8mm, VHS, Super VHS, 3/4″, 4K HD, Drone 5K video, GoPro, and Instant 360."

The Cinematheque
1131 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2L7
September 12, 2024(1 event)

2:00 pm: Open Sky (with The Vampires of Poverty)


September 12, 2024

A Peruvian father labours patiently, chipping at the white volcanic stone that forms an extraordinary landscape. His son is part of the modern world: he uses cameras and drones in order to create the digital model of a church on a computer. Separated by the mysterious death of the wife/mother figure in the family, these men do not connect, and yet their paths cross in a ghostly manner.

Preceded by THE VAMPIRES OF POVERTY (1977, 28 min)
A classic film of Colombian cinema by directors Carlos Mayolo & Luis Opsina that simulates being a documentary about filmmakers who exploit misery with mercantilist purposes. It is a scathing criticism of “porno-misery” and the opportunism of the dishonest documentary making “socio-political documentaries” in the third world to sell them in Europe and win prizes.

Cineworks
1131 Howe Street (entrance in back lane)
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2L7
September 13, 2024(1 event)

9:30 pm: When Evil Lurks


September 13, 2024

When the residents of a small rural town discover that a demon is about to be born among them, they desperately try to escape, but it may be too late.

Winner of Best Feature Film at Sitges Film Festival, 2023.
Winner of Best Feature Film at Gérardmer Film Festival, 2024.

The Cinematheque
1131 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2L7
September 14, 2024(1 event)

4:15 pm: Open Sky


September 14, 2024

Director Felipe Esparza Pérez in attendance!

A Peruvian father labours patiently, chipping at the white volcanic stone that forms an extraordinary landscape. His son is part of the modern world: he uses cameras and drones in order to create the digital model of a church on a computer. Separated by the mysterious death of the wife/mother figure in the family, these men do not connect, and yet their paths cross in a ghostly manner.

The Cinematheque
1131 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2L7
September 15, 2024
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October 1, 2024
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