PSIFF 2011—SPANISH CINEMA

Winging in from the Iberian Peninsula come seven Spanish films ready to roost at the 2011 Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF). I'll admire this flock in alphabetical order.Anything You Want / Todo lo que tú quieras (Achero Mañas, Spain)—Landing in PSIFF's World Cinema Now sidebar, this Spanish dramedy had its International Premiere at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, where I had the chance to watch it. In her official description for TIFF, Diana Sanchez commented: "In a world where parental responsibilities continue to follow traditional gender roles, Achero Mañas's

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PSIFF 2011—SOUTH AMERICAN CINEMA

Along with my previously-posted entries on the Argentine film Carancho (1, 2) and the Peruvian entries October and Undertow, the 2011 edition of the Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is rich with representative entries from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Venezuela, which I'll explore alphabetically by title.Hermano (Marcel Rasquin, Venezuela)—Situated in PSIFF's Awards Buzz sidebar as Venezuela's official submission to the Foreign Language category of the 2011 Academy Awards®, Hermano scored multiple honors when it premiered at the 2010 Moscow International Film Festi

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PERUVIAN CINEMA: CONTRACORRIENTE / UNDERTOW (2009): The Evening Class Interview With Javier Fuentes-León

Positioned in the Awards Buzz sidebar of the 2011 Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) as Peru's official submission to the Foreign Language category of the Academy Awards®, I thought now would be a good time to revisit my conversation with Javier Fuentes-León, conducted when Undertow screened in Frameline34's spotlight on South American queer cinema. It won that festival's Outstanding First Feature Award, having already scored the World Cinema Audience Award (Drama) at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Our conversation can be found here.

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Javier Fuentes-León, Latin American Cinema, LGBT Cinema, Peruvian Cinema, PSIFF 2011,

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PERUVIAN CINEMA: OCTUBRE / OCTOBER (2010)—The Evening Class Interview With Diego Vega

This has been a great year to engage with Peruvian cinema. Not only did I have the chance to speak with Claudia Llosa whose film La Teta Asustada (The Milk of Sorrow, 2009) was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Academy Award®, but I was able to follow-up with Dr. Kimberly Theidon, whose research informed Llosa's film. Also, I had the opportunity to speak with Javier Fuentes-León, whose Contracorriente (Undertow, 2010) has seductively haunted the hearts of festival-goers the world over and earned the honor of being Peru's official submission to the foreign language category for the 2011 Ac

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