Latin American Fever: From Argentine Tango to Buñuel’s Surrealism
In this year’s program at Timeless Film Festival Warsaw, Latin America emerges as one of the strongest points on our cinematic map. Bound together by two shared languages – Spanish and Portuguese – the region has forged a unique civilisation, one that for more than a century has drawn on the richness of local literature, music and ancient traditions.
Today, we spotlight two sections that invite audiences to immerse themselves in this extraordinary world of contrasts.
Buñuel in Mexico: Part 1
Although Luis Buñuel is most often associated with the European avant-garde, it was in Mexico that he spent 36 years of his life and made the greater part of his filmography – 20 of his 32 films. His arrival there in 1946 followed professional disappointment in the United States. Hollywood producers, wary of the “radical surrealist”, reduced him to dubbing work. It was only the Mexican film industry – strict and commercial though it was – that gave him a genuine chance to return to directing.
Buñuel’s Mexican period is a fascinating study in creative negotiation. He had to navigate between the demands of producers, censorship and his own uncompromising artistic instincts. The result was a body of work that, beneath the surface of popular genres such as melodrama and comedy, smuggled in some of the master’s most perverse and surreal visions.
The first part of our retrospective includes:
Los olvidados (dir. Luis Buñuel, Mexico, 1950) – a shocking neorealist portrait of life on the margins of Mexico City, which restored Buñuel to international acclaim.
Él (dir. Luis Buñuel, Mexico, 1953) – a study of pathological jealousy and surrender to one’s own fears; one of the director’s personal favourites.
The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (Ensayo de un crimen, dir. Luis Buñuel, Mexico, 1955) – the high point of Buñuel’s engagement with genre cinema: an absurdly playful yet deeply perverse tale of fantasy and crime.
Classic Latin American Cinema
After last year’s focus on Brazil and Mexico, this year we are broadening the festival’s horizons. A third giant now joins the picture – Argentina – alongside outstanding productions from countries such as Bolivia, Cuba and Colombia. This is a cinema equally capable of drama and merciless comedy, capturing the unresolved tensions that define the region.
Due to circumstances beyond the organisers’ control, The House of the Angel has been removed from the programme.
The section includes:
Tango Bar (dir. John Reinhardt, USA, Argentina, 1935) – an absolute legend. The final film of tango king Carlos Gardel, who died tragically before its premiere. A stylish farewell to both an era and a great artist.
Rio, 40 Degrees (Rio, 40 Graus, dir. Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Brazil, 1955) – a landmark of Cinema Novo. A portrait of one sweltering day in Rio de Janeiro, from the favelas to the city’s luxury beaches.
Blood of the Condor (Yawar Mallku, dir. Jorge Sanjinés, Bolivia, 1969) – one of the most important political films in the history of the continent. A stark black-and-white story of Indigenous people fighting for survival and dignity.
The Hand in the Trap (La mano en la trampa, dir. Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, Argentina, Spain, 1961) – a suffocating Gothic drama about family secrets hidden behind the façade of bourgeois respectability. Awarded at Cannes.
Macunaíma (dir. Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Brazil, 1969) – a legendary film that both closes the Cinema Novo movement and surpasses it in formal audacity and ambition, in its attempt to capture the character of a vast country-continent shaped by many races and cultures.
The Castle of Purity (El castillo de la pureza, dir. Arturo Ripstein, Mexico, 1973) – a disturbing study of isolation. The story of a father who imprisons his family at home for 18 years in order to protect them from the “corruption” of the outside world.
Like Water for Chocolate (Como agua para chocolate, dir. Alfonso Arau, Mexico, 1992) – a sensual feast for lovers of magical realism. A film in which the heroine’s emotions seep into the dishes she prepares, transforming the lives of everyone who tastes them.
The Strategy of the Snail (La estrategia del caracol, dir. Sergio Cabrera, Colombia, Italy, France, 1993) – a brilliant, bittersweet comedy about the residents of a tenement house who, faced with eviction, decide on the most absurd and heroic act imaginable.
The Waiting List (Lista de espera, dir. Juan Carlos Tabío, Spain, Cuba, France, Mexico, Germany, 2000) – a warm, absurd comedy straight out of Havana. What happens when a group of people get stranded at a bus station? They begin to build their own ideal reality.
The Custodian (El custodio, dir. Rodrigo Moreno, Argentina, France, Germany, Uruguay, 2006) – an Argentinian film that builds tension in near-total silence, leading the viewer towards a dramatic and unexpected conclusion.
The section is curated by Piotr Kobus.
The section partner is Mañana.
Festival passes and accreditations are currently on sale, and tickets for individual screenings will go on sale on 9 April.
The festival is co-financed by the City of Warsaw, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and the Polish Film Institute.
The festival’s main partners are the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute (FINA), the Gutek Film, and the New Horizons Association.
The festival is co-organized by the Documentary and Feature Film Studios (WFDiF) and the Mazovia Institute of Culture.