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San Sebastian Film Festival · 2009

San Sebastian Film Festival 2009

Horizontes Latinos

Thirteen films from different Latin American countries will compete for the Horizontes Award, carrying a 35,000 euro prize.

Programme

12 films · 4 reviews

Jump to a film

Daniel & Ana (Daniel And Ana, Daniel Y Ana)

Review preview for Daniel & Ana

It's hard to know who exactly will willingly sign up to watch quite so much sex couched in quite such a disturbing set up.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
Dramatisation of a true-life ordeal of a brother and sister at the hands of Mexico's underground porn trade.

(Country: Mexico, Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Michel Franco; Writer: Michel Franco; Stars: Dario Yazbek Bernal, Marimar Vega, Chema Torre)

Full review

Francia

Family tragedy.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2009; Director: Adrián Caetano; Writer: Adrián Caetano; Stars: Natalia Oreiro, Lautaro Delgado, Milagros Caetano, Mónica Ayos, Mex Urtizberea)

Gigante

Review preview for Gigante

Engagement with this film requires patience and hinges on the performance of Camandule.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A store security guard becomes obssessed with a cleaner.

(Country: Uruguay, Argentina, Germany, Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Adrián Biniez; Writer: Adrián Biniez; Stars: Horacio Camandule, Leonor Svarcas)

Full review

Huacho

Tradition comes into conflict with modernity for a family of peasants.

(Country: Chile, France; Year: 2009; Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras; Writer: Alejandro Fernández Almendras; Stars: Manuel Hernández, Cornelio Villagrán, Alejandra Yañez, Clemira Aguayo)

La Invencion De La carne

A woman who loans her body to medical students for cash embarks on an unusual relationship with one of them.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2009; Director: Santiago Loza; Writer: Santiago Loza; Stars: Diego Benedetto, Umbra Colombo)

The Last Summer of La Boyita (El último verano de la Boyita)

Coming of age film involving, apparently, a magical floating motorhome.

(Country: Argentina, Spain, France; Year: 2009; Director: Julia Solomonoff; Writer: Julia Solomonoff; Stars: Guadalupe Alonso, Gabo Correa, María Clara Merendino, Mirella Pascual, Guillermo Pfening, Silvia Tavcar, Nicolás Treise)

Marea De Arena

An obssessive photographer sees his paternity threatened by the mother of his child.

(Country: Mexico, Argentina; Year: 2009; Director: Gustavo Montiel Pagés; Stars: Damián Alcázar, Carmen Beato, Edurne Ferrer, Daniel Kuzniecka)

Perpetuum Mobile

A youngster's relationship with his mum changes after her own mother dies and the pair decide to keep it a secret.

(Country: Canada, Mexico; Year: 2009; Director: Nicolás Pereda; Writer: Nicolás Pereda; Stars: Gabino Rodríguez, Teresa Sanchez, Francisco Barreiro)

Sin Nombre

Review preview for Sin Nombre

This is a vivid portrait of the landscape of the Americas, picking apart every step of the migrant’s journey.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The paths of a Honduran migrant and a gangland youth trying to escape his past cross on the top of a train.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Cary Fukunaga; Writer: Cary Fukunaga; Stars: Edgar Flores, Paulina Gaitan, Kristyan Ferrer, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Luis Fernando Peña, Diana García)

Full review See: Sundance Diary: Day Five

The Tree (El Árbol)

Returning to his childhood home, filmmaker Gustavo Fontán documents his parents' deliberations over a tree planted the day he was born. Simple questions that pass between them - Is the tree dead? Should we cut it down? - become meditations on history, memory, knowledge and the sensory symphony of daily life.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2006; Director: Gustavo Fontán; Writer: Gustavo Fontán; Stars: Federico Fontán, Gustavo Fontán, Julio Fontán, María Merlino)

Undertow (Contracorriente)

Review preview for Undertow

This is a delicate examination of attitudes and social mores, touching on issues of self-hate and betrayal.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A closeted gay fisherman finds himself trapped in an unusual love triangle.

(Country: Colombia; Year: 2009; Director: Javier Fuentes-León; Writer: Javier Fuentes-León; Stars: Manolo Cardona, Tatiana Astengo, Cristian Mercado)

Full review See: Sundance Film Festival 2010: Day Six - Buried, Winter's Bone, Bran Nue Day and Contracorriente

The Wind Journeys (Los viajes del viento)

The adventures of a wandering minstrel who is travelling Colombia to return his instrument to the man who taught him.

(Country: Colombia, Netherlands, Argentina, Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Ciro Guerra; Writer: Ciro Guerra; Stars: Marciano Martínez, Yull Núñez)