Berlin Film Festival 2016: A Look at the Latino Films to Watch at Berlinale
The Berlin Film Festival is upon us and will be underway on Feb. 11.
The major event is expected to feature a plethora of feature films, including many movies by Latino directors or actors. Here is a look at the Latino films to look out for at Berlin's big event.
World Competition Slate
The only Latino film in the competition slate is "Soy Nero," which is directed by Iranian filmmaker Rafi Pitts. The film is actually mostly in Spanish and is a co-production between Mexico, Germany and France. Johnny Ortiz is the main character of the film, which features a rather international cast.
Panorama Slate
The Panorama section features a lot more world cinema than the competition slate. From Argentina comes "The Tenth Man" -- originally titled "El Rey del Once" -- from director Daniel Burman. He has previously directed "Mystery of Happiness," "Dos Hermanos" and "La suerte en tus manos," among others.
Another Argentine film featured in the Panorama section is "The Black Forest," which is directed by Maximiliano Schonfeld.
Brazil has a few selections including "Time Was Endless" and "Don't Call Me Son." The former was directed by Sergio Andrade and Fabio Baldo, while the latter was helmed by Anna Muylaert. Muylaert directed "Durval Discos" in 2002, as well as "The Second Mother," which was a big success out of Sundance and Berlin last year.
Chile also has two major entries. "Much Ado About Nothing" was directed by Alejandro Fernandez Almendras, and stars Paulina Garcia and Agustin Silva. The other Chilean entry in the slate is "You'll Never Be Alone," which was directed by Alex Anwandter.
Panorama Dokumente
There is only one documentary from a Latin American country in this section: Brazil's "Curcumim," directed by Marcos Prado. The film relates the story of a Brazilian who was on death row in Indonesia for 10 years for drug trafficking. The prisoner, known as Curumim, actually hid a camera in his cell in the maximum-security prison, filming hours of footage of his daily life there.
Others
Up-and-coming filmmaker Adrian Saba's "The Dreamer" is also slated to appear in the festival. The director's previous effort, "The Cleaner," was Peru's selection for the Academy Awards a few years ago.