‘Tejano.’
Perhaps more so than any time since its inception, the Seattle Latino Film Festival is serving up the best of both worlds with its 2018 iteration.
Tonight the SLFF’s tenth annual edition opens, and the festival’s delivering an impeccably-curated selection that strikes a sharp balance between socio-political conscience and top-flight entertainment (often in the same movie). Several Ibero and Latin-American countries are represented, with a slew of different local venues hosting screenings. The festival’s placing special emphasis on the cinema of Spain is this year.
This evening’s Opening Night Gala has handily sold out, but full festival passes are still available here, and they’re a solid investment given the SLFF’s strong 2018 lineup (tickets for individual screenings can be acquired elsewhere on the Seattle Latino Film Festival website).
Enclosed please find a rundown of the fest’s strongest, most must-see entries.
Sergio and Sergey (Saturday October 6, Varsity Theater, 5:30 PM), Veneno (Saturday October 6, Varsity Theater, 7:30 PM): These two SLFF selections were unavailable for screenings as of this posting, but they look immensely promising.
The former’s a fact-based comedy about ham radio operators communicating with a lost Russian cosmonaut. It netted director/co-writer Ernesto Daranas and co-writer Marta Daranas the screenplay prize at New York’s Havana Film Festival. And if Veneno’s trailer is any indication, the origin story of Dominican wrestler Jack Venino should be a dazzling, action-packed ride.
Magallanes (Sunday October 7, Seattle Art Museum, 5:00 PM): Peruvian director Salvador Del Solar’s first-rate morality play in thriller’s clothing stars Damian Alcazar as a scruffy cab driver and former military aide attempting to right the wrongs he enabled during Peru’s 1980s crackdown on Shining Path insurgents. Alcazar, one of Mexico’s most respected character actors and a star of Netflix’s Narcos series, will be in attendance.
Arte Flamenco on Fire (Monday, October 8, Varsity Theater, 7:00 PM): There’s a wealth of great documentary filmmaking on display during SLFF 2018. This Spanish doc covering the history of flamenco showcases some of the art form’s finest musicians and dancers, and it’s shot with ravishing kinetic beauty.
ARTE FLAMENCO, on Fire (Teaser) from Arquetipo Comunicación on Vimeo.
Hailing Cesar (Tuesday October 9, Lakeside School, 6:00 PM): Director Eduardo Sanchez was only a toddler when his hero of a grandfather, civil rights activist/leader Cesar Chavez, passed away. What makes this doc special is the younger Chavez’s attempts to learn what made his grandpa tick: Hailing Cesar’s as much about the resonance of self-discovery as it is about a crucial figure in civil rights history.
Tejano (Thursday October 11, Varsity Theater, 7:00 PM): Desperate to scrape up money for his ailing grandpa’s medical bills, a South Texas farmhand (Patrick Mackie) submits to having his arm broken by criminals who cover it with a cocaine-filled cast—a smuggling tactic that’s not as foolproof as everyone thinks.
It’s not perfect, sporting a jarring tonal shift in the final reel and a hero whose savvy and incompetence frequently contradict one another. But Tejano’s also SLFF 2018’s most exhilarating, knuckle-whitening movie, thanks to director David Blue Garcia’s relentless pacing and a neo-noir sensibility that lands somewhere between Anthony Mann and Quentin Tarantino.
Agadah (Friday October 12, Varsity Theater, 9:00 PM): A Waloon soldier (Nahuel Perez Biscayart) wanders into a series of increasingly surreal adventures in his attempt to reach his regiment in Alberto Rondalli’s adaptation of The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. Sumptuous despite its low budget, trippy in places, and very well-acted, the story’s melange of fantasy, horror, gritty realism, costume drama, and randiness won’t be for everyone, nor will its nesting-doll structure of stories within stories and occasionally languid pacing. But if you’re adventurous and gravitate towards the unconventional, it’s genuinely captivating.
