With the establishment of queer film festivals throughout the 1990s, (including Mix Mexico in Mexico City and Mix Brasil in São Paulo),and with a flurry of queer feature-length films produced during the same period, queer Latin American film and video has emerged as a remarkable presence on the global queer film and video stage.
From De eso no se habla (I Don’t Want to Talk About It) by Marîa Luisa Bemberg-considered the founding mother of queer and feminist film in Latin America to La Virgin de los Sicarios (Our Lady of Assassins) by Barbet Schroeder and Plata quemada (Burnt Money) by Marcelo Piñeyro, queer Latin American cinema both challenges gender conformity and sexual transgression in countries where an atmosphere of prescribed and often oppressive social norms dominate.
In the countries that comprise Latin Americaforty in all masculinity and femininity and the roles they assign are not only delimited but culturally enforced. Add the effect of Catholicism and pronounced homophobic attitudes and we can appreciate the endeavors of film and video makers as remarkable and necessary. It is not surprising, then, that only four countries are represented in our focus. Two of these countries, Mexico and Brazil, contain two of the world’s most populous cities, Mexico City and São Paulo, which are also centres of legendary cultural activity. Consequently, the most significant queer filmmaking in Latin America is set in large urban centres where gender and queer movements are inextricably linked to issues of urban life.
Feature films in our Focus include: Adam and Eve by Ivan Avila Duena (Mexico); Broken Sky by Julián Hernández (Mexico); Night Watch by Edgardo Cozarinsky (Argentina); A Year Without Love by Anahí Berneri (Argentina); and El Favor by Pablo Sofovich (Argentina).
Documentaries include: Hotel Gondolin (Argentina); The Two Cubas (Canada); Butterflies (Brazil); and Tropic of Capricorn (Brazil).
And don’t miss our curated shorts programs: Roam Around MIX Brasil curated by Suzy Capo (Programmer at MIX Brasil), and The Mexican Artfag LAB curated and coordinated by Luis Orozco and Eugenio Salas.
Latin Trash: Video Screening and Party
Saturday May 20 9:00pm
$3 - $5 suggested cover at the door
Rancho Relaxo, 722 College StreetJoin Inside Out for a trashy evening of performance, video and music as we celebrate the Festival’s International Focus on Latin America.
Latin Trash is not only light-hearted and festive but also innovative. The evening will include a special screening of videos curated by Eugenio Salas. This program features underground work that is trashy, sexy and fun and includes a diverse range of do-it-yourself performance videos dealing with issues from pop culture and kitsch to cultural appropriation and body representation.
The program highlights the impact of video in allowing queers to have a voice in alternative ways such as through the use of cyberspace. This is the premiere screening of this work in North America.
MeAnda - Don
Julius Hernandez and Karloz Hernandez
Mexico 2006 video 4 min
Boys singing dirty...oh yeah! Spanish boy band music meets the queer scene in Alvarado, a town in Mexico’s Gulf where talking dirty is part of their culture.
Spanish with English subtitles
Super Amigos
Arturo Perez Torres
Canada/Mexico 2006 video 5 min
Luchador and social activist Super Héroe wrestles for your rights in the streets of Mexico City.
Spanish with English subtitles
Fancy in Mexico
Michael Thibidieu
Canada 2002 video 5 min
An adventurous Canadian drag queen in Mexico does Mexican gay icon Lupita D’Alessio and lives to tell about it.
La Putiza
Gerardo Delgado
Mexico 2004 video 6 min
Hot, award-winning Mexican porn complete with mariachis and wrestlers. Not to be missed!
Spanish with English subtitles
Taims Gous By Con Loli
Paco Tomás and La Terremoto de Alcorcón
Spain 2005 video 4 min
La Terremoto de Alcorcón re-enacts Madonna’s Hung Up video to get her hilarious and subversive message to the masses. Time to get rid of macrobiotic diets and painful exercise routines, queers!
Spanish with English subtitles
