2013

In the city of Santiago, the socially reserved 30-year-old Jerónimo rents rooms to foreigners and lives vicariously through them. When 23-year-old Sanna, a stunningly beautiful woman from Norway, arrives one day, she brings a new purpose to his life. Jerónimo tries to woo her, but just as he believes he may be successful, his suspicions get the best of him; he finds out that she is hiding something at the house, awakening his worst fears.

In 1988, due to international pressure, Chilean military dictator General Augusto Pinochet is forced to call a plebiscite on his presidency. The country will vote YES or NO to Pinochet extending his rule for another eight years. Opposition leaders for the NO side persuade a brash young advertising executive, René Saavedra, to spearhead their campaign. Against all odds, with scant resources and under scrutiny by the dictatorship's powerful network of informants, Saavedra and his team devise an audacious plan to win the election and set Chile free.

The search for identity. Cultures crossing continents. In Nikkei, director Kaori Flores Yonekura tells the story of her grandparents’ intrepid journey from Japan to Peru to Venezuela. Along the way, their personal search for a new home is set against the larger backdrop of the history of Japanese immigration to Latin America: from servitude in Peru, to the anti-Japanese media campaigns in World War II, to propaganda and promises of a better life in Venezuela.

Abandoned and alone, a young girl wanders through the misty highlands of the Andes. War memories invade her mind like threatening thunder. Uprooted by the armed conflict, she seeks refuge with her only remaining family member, a gruff and unwelcoming uncle. He runs La Sirga, a dilapidated guesthouse on the shores of the immense La Cocha lake, a place of mystery and legend, sacred to the ancient indigenous Quillacinga. There, on a swampy and murky beach, Alicia will try to find shelter from the menace of her fears.

Conscience, collaboration and respect. These are the three words meant to define life in the Building Royale, but it has certainly seen better days. Its proprietor, Zoila, a kind of tropical Miss Havisham and ex-Queen of the Barranquilla Carnival, attends to the lives of her tenants based on the advice of her Tarot cards, while the cockroaches run under the rug. The tenants themselves go about their daily lives convinced that they live in a most respectable building.

It's Friday night in the capital city of Asunción and the temperature is 40ºC. Víctor, a 17-year-old delivery boy in the bustling Mercado 4, dreams of becoming famous. He's offered a chance to transport seven boxes with unknown contents on his wheelbarrow in exchange for a quick US$100. But what sounds like an easy job soon gets complicated. Something in the boxes is highly coveted and Víctor and his pursuers quickly find themselves caught up in a crime they know nothing about.

It's Friday night in the capital city of Asunción and the temperature is 40ºC. Víctor, a 17-year-old delivery boy in the bustling Mercado 4, dreams of becoming famous. He's offered a chance to transport seven boxes with unknown contents on his wheelbarrow in exchange for a quick US$100. But what sounds like an easy job soon gets complicated. Something in the boxes is highly coveted and Víctor and his pursuers quickly find themselves caught up in a crime they know nothing about.

With the enchantment and intensity of an edgy urban fairy tale, La Playa D.C. follows three brothers - Tomás, Jairo, and Chaco - as they face growing up in Bogotá, with its eight million inhabitants and endless asphalt, far from their home in the lush coastal town of Buenaventura. When Jairo disappears, Tomás takes to the streets in a bold attempt to rescue him. But first, he must find a way to rescue himself. The intricately designed close shaves that are popular in the local barber shop spark an idea, but like everything in La Playa, nothing comes easily.

VLAFF 2013 Opening Night Party - SOLD OUT!!!

($15 Film Only tickets still available.)

Friday, August 30 • 9:30pm - late
Following the screening of La Playa D.C.

Featuring live music by Brisas del Palmar, direct from Santiago de Cuba. www.elgrupocubano.com

Film and Party: $25 (includes one free drink).
Limited number of tickets available.

The ANZA Club
3 West 8th Avenue (corner of Ontario Street, two blocks west of Main)