The American Film Institute Silver Theatre and Cultural Center announced the full lineup of films at the AFI Latin American Film Festival on Tuesday. This slate includes “The Secret Agent,” which will open the 36th year of the festival.
Also at the festival will be “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” Bill Condon’s film that switches between a harsh political reality and a Technicolor-inspired fantasy musical. Jennifer Lopez stars in the film alongside Diego Luna and Tonatiuh. “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January, will be a Centerpiece Selection at the festival.
Joining “Kiss of the Spider Woman” as a Centerpiece film is “A Loose End,” the new movie by Daniel Hendler. This will be the U.S. premiere of “A Loose End,” a film about an Argentinian policeman seeking safe harbor from his former compatriots in Uruguay. “A Loose End” will screen at Venice International Film Festival in September before coming to AFI LAFF.
In total, 42 films from 20 countries were announced as part of the lineup. 11 of these films will have their U.S. and North American premieres at the festival.
AFI LAFF will screen “The Secret Agent” to open the festival. Following its Cannes premiere, the film (written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho) has already received broad acclaim, with star Wagner Moura winning the festival’s Best Actor award. At Cannes, “The Secret Agent” also picked up Best Director, the AFCAE Art House Cinema Award and the FIPRESCI (or International Federation of Film Critics) Prize. “Belén,” directed by and starring Dolores Fonzi, will be the closing selection.
The 36th edition of AFI LAFF will run from Sept. 18 to Oct. 9 at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD. A full list of selections for the Latin American Film Festival can be seen below.
Argentina
“Belén,” Dolores Fonzi (Closing Selection)
“Elder Son,” Cecilia Kang (Special Presentation, North American Premiere)
“The Message,” Iván Fund (Special Presentation, North American Premiere)
“The Virgin of the Quarry Lake,” Laura Casabé
Bolivia
“Cielo,” Alberto Sciamma (U.S. Premiere)
Brazil
“The Blue Trail,” Gabriel Mascaro (Special Presentation, U.S. Premiere)
“Carnival Is Over,” Fernando Coimbra
“Manas,” Marianna Brennand
“The Secret Agent,” Kleber Mendonça Filho (Opening Selection)
Chile
“Cuerpo Celeste,” Nayra Ilic
“The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” Diego Céspedes (Special Presentation)
“The Wave,” Sebastián Lelio (Special Presentation)
Colombia
“A Poet,” Simón Mesa Soto (Special Presentation)
“La Salsa Vive,” Juan Carvajal
Costa Rica
“She Stops and Looks,” Álvaro Torres Crespo (Q&A with filmmaker, North American Premiere)
Cuba
“To the West in Zapata,” David Bim (North American Premiere)
Dominican Republic
“Olivia & the Clouds,” Tomás Pichardo Espaillat
Ecuador
“Huaquero,” Juan Carlos Donoso Gómez (U.S. Premiere)
El Salvador
“The Most Beautiful Deaths in the World,” Quique Aviles, Ellie Walton (Q&A with co-directors, producer/composer Hugo Najera, producer/lead archivist Delia Beristain Noriega, producers Miguel Castro Luna and Carolina Fuentes and film editor Magee McIlvaine)
Guatemala
“Comparsa,” Vickie Curtis, Doug Anderson (Q&A with Anderson)
Mexico
“Corina,” Urzula Barba Hopfner (Special Presentation, Q&A with Hopfner)
“Dreams,” Michel Franco (Special Presentation)
“Flamingos: Life After the Meteorite,” Lorenzo Hagerman (Co-presented by the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital)
“Twelve Moons,” Victoria Franco
Panama
“Beloved Tropic,” Ana Endara
Paraguay
“Under the Flags, the Sun,” Juanjo Pereira
Peru
“Runa Simi,” August Zegarra
Portugal
“I Only Rest in the Storm,” Pedro Pinho
Puerto Rico
“This Island,” Lorraine Jones Molina, Cristian Carretero
Spain
“The Flamenco Guitar of Yerai Cortés,” Antón Álvarez (East Coast Premiere)
“Sirât,” Oliver Laxe (Special Presentation)
“Wolf Beach,” Javier Veiga (International Premiere)
Uruguay
“A Bright Future,” Lucía Garibaldi
“A Loose End,” Daniel Hendler (Centerpiece Screening, U.S. Premiere)
Venezuela
“It Would be Night in Caracas,” Marité Ugás, Mariana Rondón (Special Presentation, U.S. Premiere)
“Lost Chapters,” Lorena Alvarado
U.S. and the World
“The Blood of a Poet,” Jean Cocteau (Silent Movie Day Presentation)
“Hola Frida,” Karine Vézina, André Kadi
“Kiss of the Spider Woman,” Bill Condon (Centerpiece Selection)
“Leonora in the Morning Light,” Thor Klein, Lena Vurma (Q&A with filmmakers on Oct. 4)
“Mad Bills to Pay,” Joel Alfonso Vargas (Q&A with filmmaker, actors Juan Collado and Destiny Checo on Sept. 20)
“Yanuni,” Richard Ladkani (Co-presented by the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital)
