The Minister of Culture, Tristán Bauer; the president of the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (Incaa), Luis Puenzo; the president of the Festival, Fernando Juan Lima; the mayor of General Pueyrredón, Guillermo Montenegro; the artistic director of the show, Cecilia Barrionuevo; the Argentine director residing in France Gaspar Noé and the Argentine-German director Jeanine MeerapfelIn addition to artists and personalities from the world of local cinema, they will take part in the opening ceremony, scheduled for 6.30 pm at the Auditorium theater on the Rambla Mar del Plata.
In this 2021, the contest retakes the presence after an absolutely virtual 2020, a consequence of the pandemic and the isolation and social distance measures to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Mar del Plata will keep its four core competitions this year: the International, with 12 films from different geographical extractions that compete for the Astor Piazzolla awards, the main ones awarded by the contest; the Latin American, with films from Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Chile and Venezuela; Argentina and Altered States, destined to alternative and break-up cinema.
And it will also bring to the public the possibility of accessing premieres of great contemporary film authors who have not yet passed (or will not come to pass) through commercial theaters, such as the Italian winner of the Oscar Paolo Sorrentino, what he brings “It was the hand of God”, an armed film about the inspiring presence of Diego Armando Maradona,
You will also be able to see the latest films by Denis Côté, who extreme his talent for absurd humor in the unusual “Hygiène sociale”; by South Korean teacher Hong Sang-soo, who revisits his popular topic of loving and affective relationships in “In Front of Your Face”; and by the Thai artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul, an unavoidable reference in current “auteur” cinema, which in addition to presenting “Memoria” in the country -a story full of enigmas and mysteries with Tilda Swinton as the protagonist- will animate one of the Talks with Teachers, which in virtual and live format proposes this year the exhibition.
There will also be a retrospective on the Japanese actress Machiko Kyó and another dedicated to the American actor and director Clint Eastwood, together with the premiere in the country of “Venicefrenia”, the latest opus by the unpredictable and brilliant Alex de la Iglesia.
The two main guests of the Festival, Gaspar Noé and Jeanine Meerapfel, arrive with their latest films: “Vortex”, in the case of the Argentine who has lived and worked in France since he was a child, and who has the leading role of the iconic Italian director Dario Argento, with world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
While Meerapfel, author of “La amigo” (with Liv Ullmann, Cipe Lincovsky and Federico Luppi) brings the documentary “Una mujer”, her return to the cinema after 9 years away from the realization, which is screened in Mar del Plata in character world premiere.
One of the festival events will be the installation “The Book of Images”, mounted on the latest film by the master of the nouvelle vague and an unavoidable reference to the seventh art Jean Luc Godard, whose film will also be screened and the book will be presented. that make up the integrality of the project.
It will be 11 days, until next Sunday 28, when under the gentle influence of the maritime glow, part of the best cinema that is being made in the world today will be able to be visited live or in digital form.
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