The Twelfth Annual Providence Latin American Film Festival

By Margaret Lewis

God takes a vacation in the tropics in the company of a small time hoodlum…a reformed counterfeiter will try anything to get back home to the Dominican Republic, even become a good father…a couple from a small town in Colombia travel to Bogota to take refuge from the army and the guerrillas…a Venezuelan drag queen gives directions to soldiers in an armored tank who are looking for the capitol so the coup can start…a poor man looking for a good job takes his family across Brazil on their bicycles …Funny, thought-provoking, surprising, and heart-pounding films are all a part of the Twelfth Annual Providence Latin American Film Festival, April 23-May 2, 2004.

The Festival will feature more than 50 films--films in competition, documentaries, shorts, animated and children's films-activities for children, a performance by Lila Downs (Mexican diva, best known in the US for the FRIDA soundtrack) at the Award Ceremony on May 1, and more. The Festival will open with a preview of VALENTIN, Alejandro Agresti's delightful film about an eccentric boy who is intent on matchmaking for his dad. The director will be present for this special night, sponsored by Miramax.

The distinguished jury for the film competition will be comprised of Manny Perez (film and television actor and Rhode Island favorite son), Mirtha Ibarra (radiant Cuban star of STRAWBERRY AND CHOCOLATE and GUANTANAMERA, Jerry Carlson (professor and film producer), Rodolfo Hermida (director of the Film School of the Argentine National Film Institute), and Victor Gaviria (Colombian film director of the 2002 Best Film, LA VENDEDORA DE ROSAS). The Festival will give the first Fernando Birri Award for Best First Work, Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, and Best Screenplay awards.

Documentaries will include a series of films on dance and music (on flamenco great Carmen Amaya, Dominican Bachata, Cuban Hip-Hop, and Argentine Chamame) that is sure to set your toes tapping. Two powerful, awarding winning views of mass emigrations over the Florida Straits from Cuba (BALSEROS, nominated for an Academy Award this year and MAS ALLA DEL MAR) and a documentary about the inventive reuse of resources in Havana (SIN EMBARGO) show multiple viewpoints of the ingenuity and heartbreak underlying recent Cuban history.

Many directors will be present during the Festival for the screenings of their films.The complete Festival schedule is available at www.latin-americanfilmfestival.org. Tickets to the Lila Downs concert and all film passes will be on sale at www.arttixri.com/ early in April.

TABLE OF CONTENTS