The 12th annual edition of the Chicago Latino Film Festival, produced by Chicago Latino Cinema and Columbia College, runs from Friday, April 12, through Monday, April 22. Film and video screenings will be at the Village, 1548 N. Clark; at Facets Multimedia Center, 1517 W. Fullerton; at Northeastern Illinois Univ. Heritage Room, 55OO N. Saint Louis; at Columbia College Residence Hall, 731 S. Plymouth; at Spanish Coalition for Jobs, 2011 W. Pershing at Casa de Arte y Cultura, 1900 S. Carpenter; at Univ. of Illinois Latino Cultural Center, 75O S. Halsted; and at Rosary College Fine Arts Building, 7900 W. Division, River Forest. Tickets are $6, $5 for students, senior citizens, disabled persons, and Chicago Latino Cinema members. A few special events cost more, and some screenings are free. Festival passes, good for all screenings except closing night, are $60, $5O for students, senior citizens, disabled persons, and Chicago Latino Cinema members. For more information call 431-1330.
FRIDAY, APRIL 12
Flamenco
An enjoyable and well-crafted dance film (1995) from Spain by Carlos Saura that left me feeling unsatisfied, perhaps because the decision to film the dancers, singers, and musicians (gathered from all over the world) in an abstract space cuts this material off from its social and historical roots. In this respect, Saura’s movie follows an aesthetic that’s precisely the reverse of that found in the Gypsy musical Latcho Drom, a cult masterpiece returning briefly to the Music Box next month). However, if you care about flamenco, you probably shouldn’t miss this. The great Vittorio Storaro contributed the lush cinematography. This is the opening night attraction, so expect to pay at least $15 if seats are still available. (Rubloff Auditorium, Art Institute, Columbus Drive at Monroe, 8:00)
Videos 8
Documentaries from the U.S. and Argentina. (Facets Multimedia Center, 6:30)
Videos 2
Videos from the U.S., Brazil, and Chile. (Facets Multimedia Center, 8:30)
SATURDAY, APRIL 13
Short Films 3
A program of Brazilian shorts. (Facets Multimedia, 4:00)
Self-Esteem
A Spanish melodrama by Mario Camus about a bank manager who steals from his employers and plans to flee with his young lover. (Village, 5:30)
Rag Ball
An Argentinean sports film from 1948 that follows the life of a famous soccer player; Leopoldo Torres Rios directed. (Village, 5:30)
Videos 1
Videos from Argentina, Chile, and the U.S. (Facets Multimedia Center, 5:30)
The Silent Movies Lover
Pablo Torre, the youngest son of the great Argentinean filmmaker Leopoldo Torre-Nilsson, adapts his own novel about a Phantom of the Opera-type figure who used to be a silent film star and now works as a mortician (1993). (Village, 7:00)
Madagascar and Love Me and You Will See
Two hour-long films from Cuba, both made in 1994. Madagascar, about a mother and daughter, was directed by Fernando Perez; Low Me and You Will See, about a man’s quest to find a woman who foiled an attempted bank robbery he was involved in at the time of the Cuban revolution, was directed by Daniel Diaz Torres. (Facets Multimedia Center, 7:00)
Videos 5
Two Puerto Rican videos. (Facets Multimedia Center 7:30)
Carlota Joaquina, Princess of Brazil
Based on what I’ve sampled, this is a visually impressive first feature (1994) by stage and film film actress Carla Carmurati, set during the late 18th and early 19th century, about a Spahish princess who winds up first in Portugal, then in Brazil, and becomes a kind of Catherine the Great in terms of sexual appetite. (Village, 7:45)
A Question of Faith
A 1995 Bolivian feature by Marcos Loayza about two villagers and a mobster with a Madonna statue who travel to a lost jungle village. (Village, 7:45)
Fallen From Heaven
An ambitious Peruvian feature (1990) spanning three generations and three social classes by the respected Lombardi. (Facets Multimedia, Center, 9:00)
The Worst Yews of Our Lives
Martinez-Lazaro’s 1994 Spanish the feature about two brothers who fall for the same woman. (Village, 9:30)
On the Air
A radio broadcaster turns 40 and remembers his past in a 1994 Mexican feature by Juan Carlos de Llaca. (Village, 10:00)
The Devil’s Plates
A 1993 Venezuelan feature by Thaelman Urgelles about a blocked writer. (Village, 10:00)
SUNDAY APRIL 14
I, the Worst of All
The fifth feature (1990) of Argentinean director Maria Luisa Bemberg (Camila, I Don’t Want to Talk About It), based on a book by Octavio Paz about Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, a 17th-century nun, poet, and feminist who managed to be outspoken during the Inquisition. Assumpta Serna (Matador) stars as Sor uana, and Dominique Sanda plays one of her friends. (Village, 4:00)
Roman Love Me and You Will See
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Village, 4:00)
Short Films 6
Shorts from the U.S., Peru, and Colombia. (Facets Multimedia Center, 4:00)
Videos 5
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Facets Multimedia Center, 5:30)
Pictures of the Soul
A young husband tells his wife that he’s HIV-positive in a magical-realist Argentinean feature (1995) by Diego Musiak. (Village, 6:30)
The Devil’s Plates
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Village, 6:00)
The Girl in the Watermelon
Searching for her real father, a 17-year-old looks up a trumpeter in Spanish Harlem and a gay art dealer in Sergio M. Castilla’s 1994 feature from the U.S. (Village, 6:30)
Rag Ball
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Facets Multimedia Center, 6:30)
On the Air
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Village, 7:00)
Of Love and Shadow
Betty Kaplan’s 1994 U.S. feature, adapting Isabel Allende’s novel of the same title, with Jennifer Connelly and Antonio Banderas. (Village, 8:30)
A Question of Faith
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Village, 8:30)
Running Out of Time
A love story set in the underworld of Madrid, directed by Imanol Uribe (1994). (Facets Multimedia Center, 8:30)
Fallen From Heaven
See listing under Saturday, April 13 (Village, 9:00)
Videos 7
Videos from Mexico and the U.S. (Facets Multimedia Center, 7:30)
MONDAY, APRIL 15
Videos 5
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Univ. of Illinois, 4:00)
Self-Esteem
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Village, 6:15)
The Angel’s House
See Critic’s Choice. (Village, 6:15)
Haircut
An 18-year-old preparing to get married has her hair cut in a 1995 Portuguese feature by Joaquim Sapinho. (Village, 6:30)
Short Films 1
Two hour-long films from Puerto Rico and Cuba. (Facets Multimedia Center, 7:00)
Argentinean Short Films
Eight prizewinners from a short film contest. (Village, 7:00)
Short Films 6
See listing under Sunday, April 14. (Northeastern Illinois Univ., 7:00)
Videos 1
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Columbia College, 7:00)
On the Air
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Village, 8:30)
Madagascar and Love Me and You Will See
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Village, 8:30)
The Worst Years of Our Lives
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Village, 9:00)
Short Films 3
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Facets Multimedia Center, 9:00)
TUESDAY, APRIL 16
Short Films 1
See listing under Monday, April 15. (University of Illinois, 4:00)
Carlota Joaquina, Princess of Brazil
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Village, 6:15)
Of Love and Shadow
See listing under Sunday, April 14. (Village, 6:15)
The Silent Movies Lover,
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Village, 6:30)
Short Films 4
Shorts from the U.S. and Mexico. (Facets Multimedia Center, 7:00)
Videos 2
See listing under Friday, April 12. (Columbia College, 7:00)
Short Films 5
Shorts from Chile and Nicaragua. (Northeastern Illinois Univ., 7:00)
Pictures of the Soul
See listing under Sunday, April 14. (Village, 8:30)
The Girl in the Watermelon
See listing under Sunday, April 14. (Village, 8:30)
Make
Two Basque brothers travel to Cuba in a 1994 Spanish-Cuban production by Eneko Olasagasti and Carlos Zabala. (Village, 9:00)
The Eyes of the Scissors
An Argentinean film censor falls in love with a movie extra in 1977 and secretly collects frames from films in which she appears; eight years later he tries to find her (1995). Eduardo Calcagno is the director. (Facets Multimedia Center, 9:00)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17
Argentinean Short Films
See listing under Monday, April 15. (Village, 6:00)
At Your House at 8 o’Clock
A 1995 Chilean feature about adultery directed by Christine Lucas. (Village, 6:15)
The Nutty, Nutty Boy: The Movie
A 1995 Brazilian feature by Helvecio Ratton about a middle-class boy during the 60s. (Village, 6:15)
Walk, Run, Fly
A young couple who meet by -chance are forced to go underground in a 1995 Peruvian-German production by Augusto Tamayo. (Village, 6:30)
Short Films 1
See listing under Monday, April 15. (Facets Multimedia Center, 7:00)
Videos 8
See listing under Friday, April 12. (Columbia College 7:0
Videos 4
Videos from the U.S., Spain, and Cuba. (Spanish Coalition for Jobs, 7:00)
Short Films 4
See listing under Tuesday, April 16. (Northeastern Illinois Univ., 7:00)
Short Films 5
See listing under Tuesday, April 16. (Univ. of Illinois, 7:00)
Mala sangre
The title of this feature from Uruguay (1995) by Ricardo Islas means “bad blood,” and it sounds like an offbeat thriller involving sexually transmitted disease and death. (Casa de Arte y Cultura, 7:00)
La negra ester
A video from Chile by Andres Perez Araya that adapts an autobiographical poem by Don Roberto Parra Sandoval written in 1971. (Rosary College, 7:30)
Mexican Short Films
Five recent films. (Village, 8:00)
Self-Esteem
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Village, 8:30)
The Eyes of the Scissors
See listing under Tuesday, April 16. (Village, 8:30)
The Worst Years of Our Lives
See listing under Saturday, April 13. (Village, 9:00)
Queen and King
A 70-year-old widow in Havana has to choose between her beloved dog and moving to Miami in a 1994 Cuban feature by Julio Garcia Espinosa. (Facets Multimedia Center, 9:00)
THURSDAY, APRIL 18
Haircut
See listing under Monday, April 15. (Village, 6:15)
Camila
A 1984 melodrama of doomed love in the tradition of Elvira. Madigan and Mayerling, this is set in the Buenos Aires. of the 1840s and follows a spirited upper-class girl (Susu Pecoraro) as she enters into a dangerous affair with the priest (Imanol Arias) who’s her confessor. Maria Luisa Bemberg’s film has a few wacked-out moments (Pecoraro bolting from the funeral of her beloved grandmother to visit her lover as he twists in a fever dream) that communicate a spirit of romantic transgression, but mostly it’s a very conservative, flatly shot rendition of the time-tested formula. With Hector Alterio. (DK) (Village, 6:15)
Maite
See listing under Tuesday, April 16. (Village, 6:30)
The Tombs
A 1991 Argentinean feature by Javier Torre about a 13-year-old juvenile delinquent in Buenos Aires. (Facets Multimedia Center, 7:00)
Videos 9
Videos from the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Chile. (Columbia College, 7:00)
Videos 6
Two hour-long documentaries–one from the U.S. and Colombia, the other from the U.S. and Mexico. (Spanish Coalition For Jobs, 7:00)
Short Films 4
See listing under Tuesday, April 16. (Univ. of Illinois, 7:00)
Videos 10
Six videos from Mexico. (Casa de Arte y Cultura, 7:00)
Mala sangre
See listing under Wednesday, April 17. (Rosary College, 7:30)
Running Out of Time
See listing under Sunday, April 14. (Village, 8:30)
The Eyes of the Scissors
See listing under Tuesday, April 16. (Village, 8:30)
The Queen of the Night
Judging from what I sampled, this 1994 period melodrama from Mexico, about the loves and sorrows of a “ranchero” singer before World. War 11, is well done but perhaps overextended; Arturo Ripstein directed. (Village, 9:00)
Short Films 2
Narrative shorts from the U.S., Chile, Brazil, and Spain. (Facets Multimedia Center, 9:00)