Latino and Iberian Film Festival at Yale
Margherita Tortora was not planning on hosting a film festival this year. A Spanish instructor at Yale who has been the director of the New England Festival of Ibero American Cinema (NEFIAC) for the past five years, Tortora wanted a break from the time, effort, and bureaucratic headaches that come with organizing an annual not-for-profit film festival. The only problem: She kept getting movies in the mail.
“All these filmmakers didn’t realize I wasn’t doing [NEFIAC] this year,” Tortora said, “so they just kept sending me their films.” With movies in hand and just enough funding from Yale’s Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies, she decided to put on a festival celebrating Spanish and Portuguese-language films after all — her sixth in as many years.
The Latino and Iberian Film Festival at Yale, which runs this Wednesday through Sunday, brings nearly 50 short and feature-length films to New Haven this week. All of the movies in the festival are free and open to the public, and some will be followed by Q&A sessions with actors and directors from the films themselves.
Guest speakers will include Luis Argueta, a Guatemalan filmmaker who is the director of the festival’s opening night film, The U-Turn; Paola Baldión, the Colombian actress who stars in the Nicaraguan entry, La pantalla desnuda; and Fernando Villarán, the Peruvian filmmaker behind the festival’s closing night film, Viejos amigos.
Photography by Thomas Breen
Margherita Tortora
For Tortora, this festival represents a rare opportunity for the New Haven public to engage with people, stories, and cultures that are often relegated, by U.S. media and politicians alike, to the periphery of a debate over illegal immigration. “I always think it’s very important to learn from films,” said Tortora, who has long taught a Spanish-language class that focuses on Latin American cinema. “By watching the films, you can learn so much about different cultures, different historical happenings that were very important to the people [of that country].”
A few films in this year’s festival explore historical events and political movements that demand more than cursory attention from Latino and American audiences alike. Resistencia (2014), a feature-length documentary by Jesse Freeston that plays on Sunday at 1 p.m., maps the causes and consequences of the 2009 military coup d’état in Honduras, including the United States’ ultimate support of the army-appointed replacement president.
Similarly, Aqui no pasa nada (2014), a short fiction film by Mexican filmmaker Rafa Lara that plays on Thursday at 4:30 p.m., identifies the source of so much harried northern migration as it documents the painful incursions of drug cartels and organized crime into the Mexican countryside.
But the Latino and Iberian Film Festival at Yale is interested in more than just relaying information about regional turmoil and civil unrest. It is first and foremost a collection of stories, told artfully and passionately and with an inimitable cultural authenticity.
“I think that most films that are made in Latin America and in Europe are made with passion and with wanting audience involvement,” Tortora said. “They’re not passive films. When a film is not passive and is not made just to make money, there’s a depth to it that behooves studying. You can learn so much through film, just by observing how people talk with one another, what kind of jokes are used, how people live their day-to-day lives.”
Viejos amigos the closing night film, offers a prime example of this type of slice-of-life cinema. This feature-length comedy from Peru follows a trio of octogenarians as they seek to celebrate the life of a deceased friend by bringing his ashes to a soccer stadium for their favorite team’s final match of the season. “Anybody who likes comedy will enjoy [Villarán’s film],” said Tortora. “But you’ll also learn about how old people live, act, and interact in Lima, Peru. You’ll see the way people have a good time, what’s important to them, the songs they sing.”
Similarly, Carolina Moraes Liu’s two documentaries about Brazil, Festive Land (2013) and Ebony Goddess (2010), both playing at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, immerse the audience in that culture’s specific but wholly relatable means of celebrating life and natural beauty.
“We want to bring films from all of Latin America and Spain and Portugal and also Latino films from the United States to our whole community, not just Yale,” Tortora said, emphasizing that admission to each movie is free, and that each movie will have English-language subtitles. “This festival offers a chance for New Haven to be exposed to films and to people, like the directors and actors, who they would probably not have the opportunity to see otherwise.”
The Latino and Iberian Film Festival at Yale runs from Wednesday, Nov. 11 through Sunday, Nov, 14. All film screenings are free and open to the public. For a complete schedule, including screening times and locations, go to https://www.facebook.com/liffyyale/.