In association with Cinema Tropical, David Bowie Presents 10 Latin American & Spanish Films from the Last 100 Years

Friday, May 11, 2007
? Opening night: 7:30pm El Automovil Gris* (Dir. Enrique Rosas Priego, Mexico, 1919), a special performance by Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes.


? 10:00pm Aventurera* (Dir. Alberto Gout, Mexico, 1949; In Spanish w/English subtitles)


Saturday, May 12
? 3:00pm Dos Monjes (Dir. Juan Bustillo Oro, Mexico, 1934; In Spanish w/no subtitles) Screening introduced by Carlos A. Gutierrez, co-director, Cinema Tropical


? 5:00pm Robinson Crusoe* (Dir. Luis Bunuel, Mexico, 1954; In English)


? 7:00pm Memorias del Subdesarrollo (Dir. Tomas Gutierrez Alea, Cuba, 1968; In Spanish w/English subtitles)


? 9:15pm Los Amantes del Ciculo Polar (Dir. Julio Medem, Spain, 1998; In Spanish w/English Subtitles)


Sunday, May 13
? 3:00pm Machuca (Chile/Spain, 2004; In Spanish w/English subtitles)


? 5:15pm El Espiitu de la Colmena (Spain, 1973; In Spanish w/English subtitles)


? 7:30pm El Prisionero 13 (Dir. Fernando de Fuentes, Mexico, 1933; In Spanish w/English subtitles)


? 9:15pm Limite (Dir. Mario Peixoto, Brazil, 1931; Silent)


Monday, May 14
? 7:00pm Robinson Crusoe* (Mexico, 1954; In English)


? 9:00pm Oriana* (Venezuela/Francia, 1985; In Spanish w/English subtitles)


Tuesday, May 15
? 7:00pm El Espiritu de la Colmena (Dir. Victor Erice, Spain, 1973; In Spanish w/ English subtitles)


? 9:00pm Los Amantes del Circulo Polar (Dir. SJulio Medem, pain, 1998; In Spanish w/English Subtitles)


Wednesday, May 16
? 7:00pm Oriana* (Venezuela/Francia, 1985; In Spanish w/ English subtitles)


? 9:00pm Aventurera* (Mexico, 1949; In Spanish w/ English subtitles)


Thursday, May 17
? 7:00pm Memorias del Subdesarrollo (Cuba, 1968; In Spanish w/ English subtitles)


? 9:15pm Machuca (Dir. Andres Wood, Chile/Spain, 2004; In Spanish w/ English subtitles)


All films screened with English subtitles, except as noted, and screened on 35mm, except as indicated with an (*).

MAY 11 - 17, 2007

QUAD CINEMA
34 West 13th Street
(between Fifth and Sixth Aves.)

To buy tickets in advance:
WWW.HIGHLINEFESTIVAL.COM

All films screened with English subtitles, except as noted, and screened on 35mm, except as indicated with an (*).
All tickets $12, except Opening night film + performance.

OPENING NIGHT FILM & PERFORMANCE:
El Automóvil Gris (The Grey Automobile, Enrique Rosas Priego, Mexico, 1919. Show running time: 120 min. approx.)*
Mexican director Claudio Valdés Kuri takes a silent film classic - one filled with gangsters, police chases and sumptuous costumes - and gives it a thoroughly modern soundtrack through the talents of his actors and pianist. Following the Japanese benshi tradition of silent film narration, the actors artfully render the voices and emotions of each of the film's characters, offer witty repartee and, at times, sing and dance on stage, as well. A two-hour theatrical production that blurs the boundaries of what is Mexican or Japanese, what is film versus theater, and what it means to understand language and the filtering effects of time.
Fri May 11, 7:30pm; Tickets to opening night performance: $35.

Aventurera (Alberto Gout, Mexico, 1949, b&w, 111 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)*
Cast: Ninón Sevilla, Tito Junco, Andrea Palma, Rubén Rojo, Miguel Inclán.
One of the most popular Mexican films ever made and a cult sensation during its recent U.S. theatrical revival, Aventurera is the most famous example of the curious hybrid of film noir and musical films known as cabareteras that were wildly popular in Mexico in the 40's and 50's. Starring the immortal Ninón Sevilla, who Variety called "a cross between Rita Hayworth and Carmen Miranda," it follows the melodramatic rise and fall of a popular nightclub star with a dark past.
Fri May 11, 10pm; Wed May 16, 9pm

Dos Monjes (Juan Bustillo Oro, Mexico, 1934, b&w, 85 min. In Spanish with NO subtitles)
Cast: Magda Haller, Víctor Urruchua, Carlos Villatoto, Emma Roldán, Manuel Noriega.
?Narrating a love triangle involving two monks, Fray Servando and Fray Javier, the film weaves together a story from the conflicting points of views of the two rivals. As Fray Javier gradually goes mad, those parts of the film told from his perspective take on the trappings of German Expressionism, including exaggerated make-up, skewed angles, deep shadows and a crooked, distorted sense of space. Masterfully photographed by Agustín Jiménez, the film was a belated effort to incorporate the styles of a European vanguard into Mexican commercial film.? ? Jesse Lerner, Mexperimental Cinema.
Screening introduced by Carlos A. Gutiérrez, co-director, Cinema Tropical.
Sat May 12, 3pm

Robinson Crusoe (Luis Buñuel, Mexico, 1954, color, 90 min. In English)*
Cast: Dan O?Herlihy, Jaime Fernández, Felipe de Alba, Chel López.
One of his less frequently screened films, Buñuel?s Robinson Crusoe is a fascinating adaptation of Daniel Defoe?s classic that offers a very personal reinterpretation of the Crusoe metaphor questioning man's relationship with God and morality. Dan?Oherlihy was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor for his performance in the title role.
Sat May 12, 5pm; Mon May 14, 7pm

Memorias del Subdesarrollo (Memories of Underdevelopment, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Cuba, 1968, b&w, 110 min.)
Cast: Sergio Corrieri, Daisy Granados, Eslinda Núñez, Omar Valdés.
As the first film from post-revolutionary Cuba to be released in the U.S., this had a widespread impact unequalled in the history of Latin American cinema. Set in the early 1960s, the film centers on a Europeanized Cuban intellectual, too idealistic to leave for Miami, but too decadent to fit into the new society. A critique of revolutionary society, and a remarkable demonstration that artistic subtlety, political commitment and entertainment are not incompatible.
Sat May 12, 7pm; Thu May 17, 7pm

Los Amantes del Círculo Polar (Lovers from the Arctic Circle, Julio Medem, Spain/France, 1998, color, 152 min.)
Cast: Najwa Nimri, Fele Martínez, Nacho Novo, Maru Valvidieso, Sara Valiente.
Julio Medem, one of Spain?s most famous contemporary filmmakers (perhaps best known for his film Sex and Lucía) offers us this passionate love story told by each one of the sides. The story begins in 1980, Ana and Otto?s lives will become part of the same circle that will close 17 years later in Finland, right in the limits of the Artic Circle.
Sat May 12, 9:15pm; Tue May 15, 9pm

Machuca (Andrés Wood, Chile/Spain/UK/France, 2004, color, 115 min.)
Cast: Ariel Mateluna, Matías Quer, Manuela Martelli, Ernesto Malbran.
Set in Chile, 1973, Machuca is an astonishingly intimate and painful coming-of-age story about a pair of 12-year-old boys from opposite extremes of society who form an unlikely friendship during the last days of President Allende and General Augusto Pinochet's military coup.
Sun May 13, 3pm; Thu May 17, 9:15pm

El Espíritu de la Colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive, Víctor Erice, Spain, 1973, color, 99 min.)
Cast: Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrent, Isabel Tellera.
Víctor Erice?s spellbinding El Espíritu de la Colmena, widely regarded as the greatest Spanish film of the 1970s is set in a small Castilian village in 1940, in the wake of the country's devastating civil war. A six-year-old Ana attends a traveling movie show of Frankenstein and becomes possessed by the memory of it. Produced as Franco?s long regime was nearing its end, El Espíritu de la Colmena is a bewitching portrait of a child?s haunted inner life and one of the most visually arresting movies ever made.
Sun May 13, 5:15pm; Tue May 15, 7pm

El Prisionero 13 (Fernando de Fuentes, Mexico, 1933, b&w, 76 min.)
Cast: Alfredo del Diestro, Adela Sequeyro, Luis G. Barreiro.
The first film in Fernando de Fuentes? celebrated trilogy on the Mexican revolution (along with El Compadre Mendoza and Vámonos con Pancho Villa) is a poignant critique on corruption in which a Colonel is bribed to free young man from his execution by a firing squad. There are thirteen prisoners on death row, fate will decide the 13th prisoner.
Sun May 13, 7:30pm

Limite (Mário Peixoto, Brazil, 1931, b&w, 115 min. Silent)
Cast: Taciana Rei, Olga Breno, Raul Schnoor, Brutus Pedreira, Carmen Santos, Mário Peixoto.
Considered a legendary cult movie and voted as one of the best Brazilian films of all time, Limite is an avant-garde film that explores the visual possibilities of cinema. The film was made by Mário Peixoto when he was 21 years old and was the only film he ever directed.
Sun May 13, 9:15pm

Oriana (Fina Torres, Venezuela/France, 1985, color, 88 min.)*
Cast: Doris Wells, Daniela Silverio, Rafael Briceño, Mirtha Borges.
A taut, gothic, Latin American romance, winner of the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Marie returns to a rundown Venezuelan house in the jungle where she spent summers as a child. Her return ignites memories of a summer when her adolescent sexual curiosity led to a surprising encounter. "An exotic Jane Eyre set in a jungle-choked hacienda" (Seattle Weekly).
Mon May 14, 9pm; Wed May 16, 7pm