19th Chicago Latino Film Festival, (312) 344-8252, www.latinoculturalcenter.org:
Produced by the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago, in cooperation with Columbia College Chicago, the Chicago Latino Film Festival is one of the most eagerly anticipated film festivals in the city. The extensive selection of films promises to 'stimulate, intimidate, rejuvenate and entertain.' Each year, the Latino Film Festival includes a few titles of interest to the LGBTQ community.
If Pedro Almodovar and Woody Allen teamed up to co-direct a Chekhov play set in Brazil, it might turn out something like A Partilha (The Inheritance). Four sisters—Selma (Glória Pires), Regina (Andréa Beltrão), Lucia (Lília Cabral) and Laura (Paloma Duarte)—come together following the death of their mother, to decide the future of her apartment and her belongings. Selma is in a loveless marriage to a former military man and has a daughter who has joined a cult. Lucia returns from Paris to find the son she abandoned has no interest in reconciliation. Regina has avoided marriage, but is beginning to find the single life is a dead end. The baby of the family, Laura, is a baby dyke, dealing with the break up of her relationship with Celia (Guta Stresser). Conflicts abound as the sisters confront each other on old issues; they fight and eventually come to terms with each other. (A-)
When Nacho (Miguel Insua), the ex-male-lover of acclaimed writer and groom to be Rosendo (Monti Castineiras) shows up at Rosendo's wedding, you know that there are going to be some fireworks in the movie Dias de boda (Wedding Days). But Nacho's presence is nothing compared to the revelation that prior to proposing to the sheltered Sonia (Comba Campoy), Rosendo was romantically involved with her coke-snorting father. The arrival of Rosendo's grandparents, whom he abandoned in a nursing home, only adds fuel to the raging fire. Writer and director Juan Pinzas handles the subject matter with humor and humanity. (B+)
The schedule for the first week of the film festival (which runs from April 4-16):
@ 3 Penny Cinema - 2424 N Lincoln:
Enamorada - Apr. 4, 6
El Bruto / The Brute and El último tren / The Last Train - Apr. 5
Choropampa, El precio del oro / Choropampa, The Price of Gold and El juego de la silla / Musical Chairs - Apr. 6
El último tren / The Last Train and Aro Tolbukhin, en la mente del asesino / Aro Tolbukhin, In the Mind of the Killer - Apr. 7
Urbania and Password: Una mirada en la oscuridad / Password - Apr. 8
Choropampa, El precio del oro / Choropampa, The Price of Gold and Vladimir en Buenos Aires / Vladimir in Buenos Aires - Apr. 9
@ Biograph Theater - 2433 N Lincoln:
Bolivar soy yo / I am Bolivar, Rosa la China, El juego de la silla / Musical Chairs - Apr. 4
Ogu y Mampato en Rapanuí, Apasionados / Passionate People, Días de bodas (Dogma#30) / Wedding Days, El fotógrafo / The Photographer, Como el gato y el ratón / A Game of Cat and Mouse, Un día de suerte / A Lucky Day, Doña Barbara, Rosa la China, Cama de gato / Cat's Cradle, Aro Tolbukhin, en la mente del asesino / In the Mind of the Killer - Apr. 5
No Turning Back, La pluma del arcángel / The Arcangel's Feather, Cuentos de hadas para dormir con cocodrilos / Fairy Tales To Put Crocodiles To Sleep, Días de bodas (Dogma#30) / Wedding Days, Paraiso B., Urbania - Apr. 6
El fotógrafo /The Photographer, La balsa de piedra / The Stone Raft, Un día de suerte / A Lucky Day, Apasionados / Passionate People, Como el gato y el ratón / A Game of Cat and Mouse, Nada mas - Apr. 7
Cama de gato / Cat's Cradle, Paraiso B., Nada más / Nothing More, No Turning Back, La pluma del arcángel / The Arcangel's Feather, Cuentos de hadas para dormir con cocodrilos / Fairy Tales To Put Crocodiles To Sleep - Apr. 8
A partilha / The Inheritance , Estrella del Sur / Southern Star , No sabe / No contesta , La balsa de piedra / The Stone Raft , Acosada en lunes de carnaval , Aro Tolbukhin, en la mente del asesino / Aro Tolbukhin, In the Mind of the Killer - Apr. 9
@ Facets Multimedia - 1517 W Fullerton:
Problemas personales / Private Matters, Las pasiones de Sor Juana / Sor Juana's Obsessions - Apr. 4
La isla de los niños perdidos / The Island of Lost Children, Hunting of Man and Las pasiones de Sor Juana / Sor Juana's Obsessions - Apr. 5
Problemas personales / Private Matters, Estadio Nacional and Hidden in Plain Sight - Apr. 6
Hunting of Man, La isla de los niños perdidos / The Island of Lost Children - Apr. 7
Bala Perdida / Stray Bullet and Estadio Nacional - Apr. 8
Hidden in Plain Sight and Mirada de Condor - Apr. 9
@ Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, 312/846-2600:
From the Margin to the Center - 'Portraits of pioneer spirits on the road less traveled' including: Doug Ing's The Crane Among The Chickens, Peter Babosa and Garrett Lenoir's
I Exist: Voices Of The Lesbian And Gay Middle Eastern Community In The United States and Dancers Pick Up Your Bamboos by Romeo Candido - Apr. 8
Bonhoeffer - Martin Doblmeier's documentary about German theologian and resistance fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-45), who was both a pertinent and prominent 20th century religious leader. An outspoken opponent of anti-Semitism and the Nazis, Bonhoeffer questioned his church's lack of social and political engagement during Hitler's reign, and even. took part in the ill-fated bomb plot against Hitler. 'Rare archival footage and photographs accompany Bonhoeffer's words (voiced by Klaus Maria Brandauer), together with interviews with his family, students, resistance comrades, and current admirers (including Archbishop Desmond Tutu). ' - Apr. 1 - 3
Etoiles: Dancers Of The Paris Opera Ballet (Tout Pres Deseetoiles) - Nils Tavernier's 'real-life backstage drama' is 'laced with aching ambition, jealousy, and hope.' An exclusive view of the 'insular world of performing artists who have trained from earliest childhood toward one goal: to win a place in the most elite ballet company in the world.' - Apr. 18 - 24
@ Olson Auditorium / Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, 836 W Wellington, TTY 773-296-3737 or Voice 773-296-3220: Deaf Chicagoland AIDS Network presents Ignore AIDS? CAN'T! (Film in ASL with English Captions) - Apr. 12
On TV: Cinemax -
Kissing Jessica Stein Apr. 7, 11, 15, 20, 26, 30
