Cortocircuito Latin Short Film Festival of New York || October 29th

English | Español

THE SIXTH ANNUAL CORTOCIRCUITO SHOWCASES AWARD WINNERS AND
PROVOCATIVE LATIN AMERICAN, SPANISH AND LATINO-U.S. SHORT FILMS

FROM OCTOBER 29 TO 31, 2009
AT NYU'S THE KING JUAN CARLOS I OF SPAIN CENTER

Free and Open to the Public
All Selections are English Subtitled

New York, October 10, 2009-. CortoCircuito, the Latino Short Film festival of New York, organized by Programmer Diana Vargas and The King Juan Carlos I Center of New York University, seeks to entertain, educate and reveal new talents to its audience and honor those who have mastered the craft with some of the most acclaimed and provocative Latin American, Spanish and Latino-U.S shorts produced in the last decade. The festival will screen at NYU’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center auditorium between October 29 and 31, 2009. All selections are English subtitled.

The festival opens Thursday October 29th with the selection Top Shelf Shorts: Festival Circuit Award Winners that includes short films that have won at important festivals. The movies come from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Perú, Mexico and, Spain and include award-winning works such as: Land and Bread (Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival)by Carlos Armella; Not Available today (First Coral at the Havana Film Festival)by Gustavo Taretto; Café Paraiso (Best Mexican Short at Guadalajara Film Festival) by Alonso Ruiz Palacios; Who’s the Executioner? (Best Experimental Short at Tregor Film Festival) by Brian Jacobs; Ode to La Piña (Best Student Short at Shanghai Film Festival) by Laimir Faro Villaescusa; Because there are things you never forget (winner on more than hundred awards around the world) by Lucas Figueroa; Pucha Vida (Best Short Documentary at Icaro Film Festival, Guatemala and Habana Film Festival, Cuba) by Nazly Lopez and, Atlántico (Best Short at Toulouse Film Festival) by Fabio Meira.

For the second half, as a new offering this year, Pragda (www.pragda.com) present Teaserland.com: an entertaining initiative featuring fake movie trailers by well-known directors such as Isabel Coixet (Elegy, The Secret Life of Words), Jaume Balaguero (Rec), and J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage), alongside up-and-coming filmmakers. Pragda is a film initiative created and founded by film curator Marta Sanchez.

On Friday October 30th, at 7 pm, the program begins with Trips to Wonderland: Experimental and Animated, a showcase of shorts in which the abstract, artistic, metaphorical, and atypical are central to telling a story. Shorts include: Marea by Pablo Delfini (Argentina), El Pianógrafo byEduardo Brenes(Costa Rica), Berbaoc by Vuk Jevremasc and Xavier Erkiza, Carros Rojos by Marco Luque (Panama), Agua by Fabian Saria (Argentina), One by One by Lazaro Hernandez (Salvador) and continues with Stories From the Streetwise, an disconcerting but funny collection of shorts: Carretera Norte (Ruben Rojo, Mexico), Sueños de América (Danny Cespedes, Peru), Todas! (Jose Martret, Spain), Olimpiadas (Magali Bayon, Argentina).

On Saturday October 31st, the day starts at 3 pm with The Documentary, A Truth Revised. Four documentaries that take on powerful social and personal issues to create a dialogue: Ernestos (Mauricio Duran, Cuba-Bolivia), Lo último que se pierde (Irwin Checa, Panama), Resilient (Gerhan Garcia, Argentina) and Sembrador Urbano (Cardes Amancio, Brazil). The program will continue with From Universidad del Cine: Class Notes Revised. A retrospective of ambitious student shorts from Universidad del Cine of Buenos Aires by those that would go on to join the ranks of Latin America's most respected filmmakers. Pablo Trapero (El Bonarense, Mundo Grua, Leonera) got his start with Negocios, a short that would later act as a point of departure for Familia Rodante. Rodrigo Moreno (Mala Epoca, El Custodio) was awarded Best Short at the Bilbao festival for Nostoros. Juan Manuel Villegas (Sabado, Los Suicidas) launched his career with Rutas y Veredas. Juan Taratuto (No sos vos soy yo, Un Novio Para mi Mujer) came onto the scene with his senior thesis, Macedonia. Paz Encina planted the roots for her feature Hamaca Paraguaya with a student short by the same name. Ana Katz (Una Novia Errante) wrote and directed Ojala corra el viento. Ariel Winograd (Cara de queso) introduced with 100% Lana.

At 5 pm, Women on Bold is a collection of short films in which women play a crucial role in encouraging independent storytelling as character and/or directors. El hilo de oro (Diego Sanchidrian, Spain), Jacinta (Karla Castañeda, Mexico), Blanca (Alejandro Crisostomo, Guatemala), Interior bajo izquierda (Diego & Daniel Vega, Peru), Dolores (Tatiana Villacob, Colombia), Gauzes in the uterus (Elsye Suquilandia, Ecuador), El deseo (Marie Benito, Mexico), Dilemas de un abandono (Cecilia del Valle, Argentina).

CortoCircuito will have a two-part close. Local Color, Directors in New York opens at 7:00 pm with special director introductions to shorts selected from an open-call with close to 200 submissions. Those selected: Lucky Day (Laura Amante), Behind the Line (Sandra Llano), The Climate in Cuba (Bette Wanderman), Good Bye (Mauricio Montes) and, Fictional Truth (Jose Velasco). The second half: Love and Lust Through a Bent Lens unveils stories of encounters, disencounters, stealthy romances, and of course, impossible loves; titles include: A Dangerous Weapon (Mariana Wenger & Paola Murias, Argentina), Through the Ear (Joaquim Haickel, Brazil), Lloronas (Lia Dansker, Argentina), Yo Solo Miro (Gorka Cornejo, Spain), The Re Bordosa Dossier (Cesar Cabral, Brazil), Faith Matters (Alvaro Garcia, Spain).

Corto Circuito was formed to showcase Spanish, Portuguese and English language short films made by filmmakers from and about Latin America, Spain and, the United States. In its 6th year, the festival is unique in its mission to promote a wider and deeper understanding of the roots, life and diverse cultures of the Spanish and Portuguese speaking communities. It will include animated and fictional short films as well as documentaries and experimental works, many of which will be U.S and N.Y premieres. The Festival will involve multiple programs, Q&A’s and fiestas to celebrate the contributions of the Latino cultures in the New York landscape.

In its 6th year, CortoCircuito wants to explore the different approaches that the filmmakers invited have to the genres and tales that obsess them. Ranging from mainstream to avant-garde cinemas, these filmmakers have produced pieces that reflect what Latin America, Spain and U.S. Latino are today. The stories and their aesthetics may have been formed either as a contrasting set of ideological models or a formal representation of reality however what is important to see is that these filmmakers want to establish with the audience a relationship of self-expression.

The festival will be screened at NYU’s King Juan Carlos I Center auditorium between October 29 to 31, 2009.

Directions

New York University’s King Juan Carlos I Center in New York City is located at 53 Washington Square South (across from Washington Square Park. Trains: A, B, C, D, E, F, Q, D to West 4 or 1,9 to Christopher Street). The program is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit www.nyu.edu/kjc/cortocircuito or www.cortocircuito.us

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