The Wexner Center for the Arts is hosting Cinema Latino this month. The annual series spotlights Latin American filmmaking by showing some of the most popular films of the year as well as some classics.
All films are shown in Spanish with English subtitles. Countries with films being presented include Mexico, Argentina and Colombia.
Chris Stults, the associate curator of film and video at the Wexner Center, said selecting the films to show can be difficult because there are so many films to choose from.
“We try hard to present a nice variety of films in terms of theme and country represented,” he said.
The Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese are both helping sponsor the event.
The acting director of the Center for Latin American Studies and an associate professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Laura Podalsky, said the center was more than happy to sponsor the event, although most of the decisions on the films to show were made by the Wexner Center.
The series kicked off Friday and Saturday with a double feature of “Carancho” and “The Aztec Mummy vs. The Human Robot.” “Carancho” was Argentina’s submission for the 2010 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. The film takes place in Buenos Aires, where an ambulance-chasing lawyer falls in love with an ER doctor.
Stults said showing some classic science-fiction films from the ‘50s and ‘60s is a new addition to the series this year. “The Aztec Mummy vs. The Human Robot,” produced in 1958, is the third film in the Mexican “Aztec Mummy” series.
“Many of these science-fiction films got a lot of attention even in the U.S., but it’s an incredible and unique opportunity that a Columbus audience gets to view these films,” Podalsky said.
The next two films in the series will be shown Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. “Leap Year,” a film tracking the daily life of a freelance journalist in Mexico City, won the Camera d’Or prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. “The Ship of Monsters” is a comedy about female aliens from Venus who hunt men.
The next double feature, “Argentina Fútbol Club” and “The Planet of the Female Invaders,” will be shown at 7 p.m. on Jan. 20. “Argentina Fútbol Club” highlights the relationship between Argentines and their favorite soccer teams. “The Planet of the Female Invaders” is about female space aliens who attempt to take over earth.
The final double feature in the series will be shown on Jan. 27. “Alamar” involves a father who only has five months to teach his 5-year-old son all of the Mayan traditions. “The Wind Journeys” follows an accordion player on his journey through Colombia.
“‘Alamar’ is probably the most critically acclaimed film in the series,” Stults said. “It’s been ranked as one of the top films of 2010.”
Stults said the series typically draws a wide range of audiences, but still consists mostly of avid film-goers.
“We do try and reach out to the Hispanic audience, but either way it’s important to spotlight filmmaking in South and Central America,” Stults said.
Podalsky is teaching two Latin American film courses this quarter and said that she has been listing all the films on the syllabus and urging students to take advantage of the opportunity.
“There is a sizeable population of Latin American residents in the area so if I had to guess, the audience will have a wide range of people,” Podalsky said.
General admission tickets are $7, while student, member and senior citizen tickets are $5.
