Festival Preview: 6th BOGOTA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL *VIRAL EDITION*
Written by: FFT Webmaster | October 5th, 2020
The 6th Bogota International Film Festival returns October 8th to 14th, 2020 online with a *VIRAL EDITION* due to the challenges and uncertainty of the times.
Streaming on the Festival Scope digital platform (Available only in Colombia), the 6th BIFF features works doing the rounds at premier international festivals including selections presented at The International Film Festival Rotterdam, European Media Art Festival, Festival International De Cinema Marseille, Busan International Film Festival, and the Berlinale among others. The festival will showcase twenty-three films: nineteen feature films and, for the first time, four short films.
The festival also continues its work of training young talents through the BIFF BANG! initiative which offers workshops in different fields of the audiovisual work. With the INDUSTRY FORUM event, developed jointly with the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Culture and the Bogotá Film Commission, the festival hopes to work as a point of meeting between the local industry and some of the most prominent agents on the international circuit. Through talks, panels and debates, this space aims to promote conversations around the current situation of the cinematographic and audiovisual medium, for the generation of employment, specialized tourism and the positioning of the city as a location for international filming.
Noteworthy are the latest installments by renowned directors such as Abel FERRARA, Jia ZHANGKE, Irene GUTIÉRREZ, Luis LÓPEZ CARRASCO and Gustavo VINAGRE.
Some of the films being streamed include:
SIBERIA
DIRECTOR: Abel FERRARA
Italia | Alemania | México | 2019
92 min. | Drama
English
Clint is a damaged man who has retreated to a wintry remote mountain cabin where he hopes to find serenity. He runs a modest cafe where the rare traveler or native of the region visits. But even in his relative isolation he cannot find peace nor escape. On a fateful evening, to confront himself, he begins a journey by dogsled to the world he once knew.
SWIMMING OUT TILL THE SEA TURNS BLUE
DIRECTOR: Jia ZHANGKE
China | 2020
111 min. | Documentary
Mandarin
In May 2019, a large number of prominent Chinese writers and scholars gathered in a village in China’s Shanxi Province – which happens to be Jia Zhang-ke’s native province. Images from this literary event open an 18-chapter ‘symphony’ which spans the history of Chinese society since 1949. The story is told through memories of the late writer-activist Ma Feng.
VIL, MÁ
DIRECTOR: Gustavo VINAGRE
Brasil | 2020
86 min. | Documentary
Portuguese
A drawing room with salmon-coloured walls, tapestries, busts, a dressmaker‘s dummy. In a velvet armchair sits Wilma Azevedo, 74, Brazil‘s ”queen of sadomasochistic literature”. She is asked by the director to tell the story of her life, which quickly branches out into a series of detailed erotic anecdotes involving green bananas, dildos made of sandpaper and over-stimulated nerves.
THE YEAR OF THE DISCOVERY
DIRECTOR: Luis LÓPEZ CARRASCO
España | Suiza | 2020
200 min. | Documentary
Spanish
Neighbors, youngsters and unemployed workers chat inside a bar between cigarettes, breakfasts and snacks. They remember unusual dreams, share job stories and plan future projects. The bar is located in the city of Cartagena, in the southeast of Spain. As the day goes on, the riots from the industrial crisis of 1992 are heard more and more closely.
BETWEEN DOG AND WOLF
DIRECTOR: Irene GUTIÉRREZ
España | Cuba | Colombia | 2020
75 min. | Drama
Spanish
Immersed in the jungle of Sierra Maestra, three veterans of the Angolan War are reluctant to abandon the revolutionary spirit which brought them together as comrades over thirty years ago. Always on guard, they continue to train dressed in their old uniforms for and endless mission: a war game in where they still can feel respected, strong and, above all, spiritually young.
To learn more, go to: https://biff.co/index.php
6th Bogota International Film Festival *Viral Edition*
October 8th to 14th, 2020
If you live in Colombia stream the festival at home through FESTIVAL SCOPE
https://www.festivalscope.com/page/bogota-international-film-festival/
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