Latin American and Spanish Film Festival
15 November - 24 November 2024
The Latin America & Spain Film Festival (LASFF) is a cultural event dedicated to contemporary cinematographic productions from Latin America and Spain. This is the festival´s 22nd edition.
Moreover, it is a non-profit event that aims to bring together Latin American, Spanish, and other New Zealand communities through the big screen.
This year’s Festival has 7 participating nations: Spain, Peru, Cuba, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.
Films:
Agua
Drama | Director: Veronica Chen | PG | 89 Mins | Spanish | Country: Argentina
This movie is brought to you by the Embassy of Argetina to New Zealand.
Thirty four year old Goyo, a former open water swimming champion, has been hiding out in the desert. Wrongly accused of doping in the Santa Fe-Coronda Marathon, a 57 kilometer river swim, he has abandoned his career and his dreams. Eight years later, Goyo returns to Santa Fe where the marathon will be held again to try to re-gain his title and clear his name. However, long buried emotions come back to haunt him. He meets Chino, a stubborn and disciplined pool swimmer, who tries hard to be selected for the national team, but fails. Identifying with Chino, Goyo asks him to be his guide on the boat that follows him during the marathon.
Goyo (Rafael Ferro), antiguo campeón de natación en aguas abiertas, abandona su carrera y sus sueños para refugiarse en el desierto tras una injusta acusación de doping en el maratón de Santa Fe-Coronda, que consiste en cruzar a nado 57 kilómetros del río Paraná. Ocho años más tarde, Goyo regresa a la ciudad de Santa Fe. La maratón vuelve a realizarse y busca recuperar su título y limpiar su nombre. Goyo se cruza con Chino (Nicolás Mateo), un disciplinado y terco nadador de piscina, que intenta tenazmente clasificarse para la selección nacional, pero falla. Goyo se siente identificado con Chino e intenta ayudarlo.
The Load | La Carga
Drama | Director: Alan Jonsson | PG | 94 Mins | Spanish | Country: Mexico
This movie is brought to you by the Embassy of Mexico, Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Load is a story of action and romance that takes place in New Spain at the end of the 16th century. It tells of the intense and dynamic journey of a Tameme indigenous man and a young Spanish noblewoman through the vast landscapes of the New World in search of justice.
La carga es una historia de acción y romance que se desarrolla en la Nueva España a finales del Siglo XVI. Cuenta la intensa y dinámica travesía de un indígena tameme y una joven española de la nobleza a través de la vasta geografía del Nuevo Mundo en busca de justicia.
Lullaby | Cinco Lobitos
Drama | Director: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa | M | 104 Mins | Spanish | Country: Spain
This movie is brought to you by the Embassy of Spain to New Zealand.
Amaia has just become a mother and realizes that she doesn’t really know how to be one. When her partner goes away for several weeks because of his job, she decides to go to her parents’ house, in a lovely coastal village in the Basque Country, and so share the responsibility of looking after her baby. What Amaia doesn’t know is that, even though she is a mother now, she is still a daughter.
Amaya se ha convertido en madre y se da cuenta de que no sabe cómo serlo. Cuando su pareja tiene que viajar durante varias semanas por trabajo ella decide volver a casa de sus padres en un bonito pueblo de la costa vasca y compartir la crianza de la pequeña. Lo que Amaya no sabe es que, aunque ahora ya sea madre, sigue siendo hija.
Stories of Samba | Saudosa Maloca
Biographical | Director: Pedro Soffer Serrano | M | 88 Mins | Portuguese | Country: Brazil
This movie is brought to you by the Embassy of Brazil to New Zealand.
Adoniran Barbosa, an old samba legend, tells a young waiter stories from his past in a São Paulo city that no longer exists. He recalls an old house where he used to live with his dearest friends Joca and Mato Grosso, their quest for the love of Iracema and other stories and characters that were eternalized in his songs, chronicles of a metropolis where real estate speculation rules.
Numa mesa de bar, o velho Adoniran Barbosa conta a um jovem garçom histórias de uma São Paulo que já não existe. Lembra com carinho da maloca onde viveu com Joca e Mato Grosso, da paixão deles por Iracema e de outros personagens eternizados em seus sambas, crônicas de uma metrópole engolida pelo apetite voraz do “pogréssio”.
The Mole Agent | El Agente Topo
Documentary | Director: Maite Alberdi | 82 Mins | Spanish | Country: Chile
This movie is brought to you by the Embassy of Chile to New Zealand.
When a family becomes concerned about their mother’s well-being in a retirement home, private investigator Romulo hires Sergio, an 83 year-old man who becomes a new resident–and a mole inside the home, who struggles to balance his assignment with becoming increasingly involved in the lives of several residents.
Rómulo es un detective que tiene una empresa de investigaciones privadas. Allí una clienta le encarga investigar la casa de reposo donde vive su madre. Rómulo decide entrenar a Sergio (83), que jamás ha trabajado como detective, para vivir una temporada como agente encubierto en el hogar. Ya infiltrado, le cuesta asumir su rol de topo y se transforma en un anciano más al interior de la casa de reposo.
Strawberry & Chocolate | Fresa y Chocolate
Romantic Comedy | Directors: Juan Carlos Tabío, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
108 Mins | Spanish | Country: Cuba
This movie is brought to you by the Embassy of Cuba to New Zealand.
In 1979 Cuba, flamboyant gay artist Diego (Jorge Perugorría) attempts to seduce the straight and strait-laced David (Vladimir Cruz), an idealistic young communist, and fails dismally. But David conspires to be “friends” with Diego so he can monitor the artist’s subversive life for the state. As Diego and David discuss politics, individuality and personal expression in Castro’s Cuba, a genuine friendship develops between the two. Can it last in such an oppressive environment?
David es un comunista cubano simpatizante de Castro que estudia sociología en La Habana. Un día conoce a Diego, un artista homosexual acosado por la homofobia del régimen. A pesar de las grandes diferencias que los separan, entre los dos surge una profunda amistad.
Margarita
Comedy | Directors: Frank Pérez-Garland | 90 Mins | Spanish | Country: Peru
This movie is brought to you by the Embassy of Peru to New Zealand.
Rafo is a divorced father in his forties who lives like a single in his twenties until his cute and determined 11-year-old daughter, Margarita, knocks on his door and moves into his home without previous notice. The life of Rafo will give a dramatic, chaotic and funny shake-up through which he will discover himself and other people like Claudia, his pretty neighbor. Margarita will change the life of Rafo and everybody around her, forever.
Rafo es un padre divorciado en sus cuarentas que vive la vida como un soltero en sus veintes hasta que su adorable, determinada y pre adolescente hija de 11 años, Margarita, toca a su puerta para instalarse en su casa sin previo aviso. La vida de Rafo dará un vertiginoso, caótico y divertido giro a través del cual se descubrirá a si mismo. Margarita cambiará la vida de Rafo y de todos los que la rodean, para siempre.