Isabella

Matías Piñeiro : 2020

Mariel wants to play the role of Isabella in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure". She has already prepared for an audition, but she is distracted by money problems. In the hope of receiving financial support from her brother, with whom she has had no contact for a long time, Mariel turns to his lover, Luciana, who is also an actress, albeit a more successful one. Luciana agrees to convince him, but only if Mariel goes ahead with the audition. However, luck is seldom on Mariel's side. Time after time, she tries to win this role that persistently eludes her. And time after time, she encounters Luciana, a sort of more successful doppelganger, who leads Mariel to doubt her own ambitions: to act or not to act. Mariel's dilemma intertwines her idea of success with her experience of friendship, motherhood and pursuing a career. Matías Piñeiro's feature premiered in the Encounters section at Berlin International Film Festival 2020.

Las Mil y Una

Clarisa Navas : 2020
One in a Thousand

Clad in sportswear, 17-year-old Iris dribbles her basketball through the wide courtyards of her social housing estate somewhere in Argentina. She has been expelled from school and spends the warm days and nights with her two best friends – her cousins – in cramped rooms, fiddling with her mobile phone, or on the empty streets of the town. While playing hide-and-seek, the boys disappear with other boys, they strip off in front of the webcam and write passionate texts in which they rail against a heteronormative society. There is a deceptive lightness in the air and the promise that, when it comes to love and sex, anything is possible. When cool and self-confident Renata enters the scene, Iris is fascinated, and it is not long before they begin flirting. But on the estate, the rumours about Renata's past are getting louder and louder. Caught between coming out and cyberbullying, community life and poverty, love and violence, the film captures the transition between the tenderness of childhood and the bitter reality of the adult world. Clarisa Navas's feature debut premiered in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2020.

Emilia

César Sodero : 2020

Following a bust-up with her girlfriend, Emilia returns from the city to her mother's village, somewhere in Patagonia. Her mother isn't overjoyed about Emilia's return, as this disrupts her peaceful existence. Emilia tries to decide how she wants to carry on with her life, but is confronted with people and feelings from her past. Bored and frustrated, or just looking for intimacy, she seduces a number of men, including her childhood sweetheart, but also falls in love with a girl at the school where she teaches gym – an obsession that distracts her from her broken heart and musings about the future. César Sodero's feature debut premiered in the Voices section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020.

Si yo fuera el invierno mismo

Jazmín López : 2020
If I Were the Winter Itself

Four friends meet on a remote estate to create a cinematic re-enactment of three iconic works that embodied the social and artistic revolution of 50 years ago: La Chinoise (1967) by Jean-Luc Godard, Inextinguishable Fire (1969) by Harun Farocki and the performance Untitled (Facial Hair Transplants) (1972) by Ana Mendieta. The estate is a living backdrop for dreams and phantoms. In all its faded glory, it symbolises the privilege of these young artists who gather there to discuss the meaning of their activist examples. Carmen, the project's initiator, is overwhelmed by feelings and thoughts about her ex-lover, Valentin, whom she can't get off her mind. In long takes, the mobile camera explores the rooms of the estate, where the boundary between acting and being seems to dissolve. The spatial dimensions of the location are used to condense time and link Carmen's subjective and objective realities. During the artistic process the friends undergo and between the lines of their cerebral conversations, this gives rise to a mysterious, deep exploration of the complex mourning of lost love. Jazmín López's second feature premiered in competition in the Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020.

Elisa y Marcela

Isabel Coixet : 2019
Elisa & Marcela

When Marcela and Elisa meet on their first day in high school, it is love at first sight. A deep friendship begins which soon turns into a romantic relationship. Nothing can prevent the two girls' feelings for each other, not even Marcela's suspicious parents, who eventually send their daughter to boarding school. Years later, the two women meet again and decide to live together. Both are respected teachers, but their partnership has to be kept secret from the critical Catholic population. For this reason, Elisa decides to pose as a man and marry Marcela. Their wedding photo depicts two young women, one in a black dress with her hair up, the other with a short haircut and wearing a suit; both are looking hopefully into the future. But their love remains exposed to great dangers. Based on true events, a deeply empathetic rendition of the story of Elisa Sánchez Loriga and Marcela Gracia Ibeas, who were married in the church of San Jorge in A Coruña in northwest Spain in 1901. A paean to passion, dignity and resistance. Isabel Coixet's feature premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2019.

Facing the Wind

Meritxell Colell Aparicio : 2018
Con el viento

Mónica, 47, has been living in Buenos Aires for 20 years working as a dancer when the news reaches her that her father is on his deathbed back in Spain. By the time she arrives, he's already passed away. Resisting the impulse to return as quickly as possible to her faraway life, she stays to help her mother sell the family home. When it becomes clear that she's not merely bidding farewell to the place of her childhood, the past pushes its way into Mónica's existence with unexpected force; old conflicts and regret about missed chances bubble up, and she realises she has limited time left with her mother. Winter comes. The perpetual silence, the extreme cold and the difficulty of living with her mother are proving tough for Mónica. As still no one ever says much in this family, Mónica works through her inner turmoil primarily via her body, finding an outlet in dance. The film tells the story of a family unable to communicate and is a thoughtful and loving portrait of a traditional rural lifestyle which is beginning to disappear. It's a story about distances. But most of all, it is an inner journey to learn again how to live and love better. Meritxell Colell Aparicio's feature debut premiered in the Forum section at Berlin International Film Festival 2018, and was winner of the Silver Biznaga for Best Spanish Film at Festival de Málaga de Cine Español 2018.

The Idea of a Lake

Milagros Mumenthaler : 2016
La idea de un lago

Inés's father mysteriously disappeared in 1977. Decades later the 35-year old photographer is busy compiling a monograph on her oeuvre, a project that inexplicably leads her back to her youth during Argentinian dictator Jorge Videla's regime. The film opens with her contacting the national forensic lab: can they perhaps help her discover her father's fate? The last photo of him, taken at the lake near La Angostura, comes to her mind. After that she spent her summers without him in this mountainous region at her family's vacation home, far from Buenos Aires' oppressive heat. Cherished memories, such as playing hide and seek, lead to abstract interplays of light in Inés's imagination. Other flashbacks shed new light on her difficult relationship with her mother. Milagros Mumenthaler's second feature premiered in competition at Locarno Film Festival 2016.

La patota

Santiago Mitre : 2015
Paulina

At 28, Paulina gives up a brilliant career as a lawyer in order to dedicate herself to teaching in a depressed region in Argentina. In a rough environment, she sticks to her teaching mission and to her political engagement, accepting the sacrifice of her boyfriend and the trust of her father, a powerful local judge. Upon her arrival, she is violently attacked by a gang of young people, some of whom are her own students. Despite the trauma and the inability to understand the aggression, Paulina will strive to stand by her convictions. Santiago Mitre's second feature was winner of the Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize when it premiered in competition at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2015.

Red Knot

Scott Cohen : 2014

Peter and Chloe, a young married couple, jump at the chance to satisfy their wanderlust by taking a belated honeymoon aboard a research vessel bound for Antarctica. Once on board, Peter, a writer, occupies his time documenting the work of whale biologist Roger Payne, leaving little time for Chloe. Feeling increasingly neglected by her husband, Chloe begins to drift closer to the enigmatic Captain Emerson. As Peter dives deeper into his work and Chloe's sense of abandonment increases, an act of betrayal ultimately divides the young lovers, driving Chloe to separate herself from Peter, both physically and emotionally. Isolated on the ship and separated from humanity by the vast, rugged expanse of Antarctica, Peter and Chloe must plumb the depths of their love to discover what each so desperately needs to move forward. A fascinating examination of proximity, seclusion, and the ambivalence of love, the film explores the dual themes of isolation and intimacy via the fragile relationship of a pair of newlyweds. Scott Cohen's directorial debut was winner of the Grand Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Award when it premiered at Seattle International Film Festival 2014. His film had its European premiere at Titanic International Film Festival Budapest 2015.

Mar

Dominga Sotomayor : 2014

January 2014 on the Argentine coast. Martín and his girlfriend Eli are on holiday in Villa Gesell, a beach resort south of Buenos Aires. The sun is scorching. They read horoscopes, slurp maté, play guitar, and cool off in the ocean and the resort pool. The conversations on the beach and at dinner revolve around life and how it progresses. Nights are punctuated by dogs barking on the street and the piercing sirens of automobile alarms. This 30-something urban couple's relationship seems troubled and on the verge of falling apart. The sudden appearance of Martín's mother does not ease the tension, but just intensifies the distance between the two of them. Based on the intimate portrait of a relationship and family configuration, the film creates a subtle picture of a society in the elusive grip of unconsciousness. Dominga Sotomayor's second feature premiered at Valdivia International Film Festival 2014, and had its international premiere in the Forum section at Berlin International Film Festival 2015.

Mariposa

Marco Berger : 2015
Butterfly

A butterfly, a creature symbolising rebirth and a new beginning, epitomises Romina's and Germán's world, a world that consists of two parallel realities. In one of them they grow up as siblings who desire each other and try to give shape to their love without sexual fulfilment; in the other they are a young man and woman who form an awkward friendship instead of succumbing to their feelings for each other. Germán finds himself in a discordant relationship with Mariela. Mariela's brother is interested in Bruno. Bruno is with Romina, but wants to be with Germán. Playfully alternating between these two realities, the lovers find themselves drawn into ever new couplings in order to explore their intuitive feelings – cautiously, but at the same time prepared to lose everything. Marco Berger's feature premiered in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2015.

Juana a los 12

Martín Shanly : 2014
About Twelve

Twelve-year-old Juana goes to a British school in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, where she fails both socially and academically. A week away from the exams that will determine her future in the institution, she is surrounded by the same routine, going to class and trying to pull her social life back together. She is unreachable for the teachers, disconcerting to her mother, indifferent to her schoolmates, and a steady patient of psychologists and other health specialists. Juana is a mystery for those around her. Her almost permanent disconnection from the world is not due to a psychological problem but a conscious choice. The film draws certain parallels with the historical figure of Juana I de Castilla, who in 1500 was falsely diagnosed as insane. Unable to disobey the orders of the dictatorial regime of her father and brother, the young heiress lost the best years of her life imprisoned in loneliness, heartbreak and tremendous injustice. Now, embodied as a pre-teenage victim of an oppressive educational system, Juana is a girl about to start the arduous road to adulthood, facing a hostile world with censorship at every moment. Martín Shanly's feature debut premiered in competition at Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema 2014, and was winner of the Argentine Feature Competition at Festival de Cine Latinoamericano de La Plata 2014.

Atlántida

Inés María Barrionuevo : 2014
Atlantis

A sweltering summer's day in January 1987 and an expected storm is slowly approaching. In the small rural town of Córdoba, everyone is longing for rain. Two sisters, Lucía, 15, and Elena, 17, have been left alone. Lucía swims laps at the pool early in the morning. Later on she sweats over her books at the kitchen table. She is studying hard because she's determined to go to university in Buenos Aires. Meanwhile, her sister Elena lies in bed with her leg in plaster, bored to death. The other teenagers sit out the heat at the pool, messing around. Girls chat about the boys, and vice versa. Who kissed who yesterday? But there are some who aren't interested in any of that, like Andrés, a passionate beekeeper, or Ana, who likes reading books. At one point, Lucía has had enough of her annoying sister and goes out into the countryside with Ana. Here the two girls are left to their own devices. The young people drift along, propelled by their own desires, but they don't really know how to handle them. Some of them just want to get away. And with the night comes the rain they've all been waiting for. Inés María Barrionuevo's feature debut premiered at Berlin International Film Festival 2014, and screened at Gijón International Film Festival 2014.

La huella en la niebla

Emiliano Grieco : 2014
Footprint in the mist

Under the mist covering the río Paraná, Elías is carried away in his canoe. He has committed a murder. Wounded and lost in the fog, Elías returns to his island. The flood took everything and his home lies empty. His father gives him shelter but distrusts him. Different neighbours tell him where to find Lara and his son, who now live with another man and don't want to see him again. Elías insists on returning, yet all his efforts are in vain. He has quit drinking, fixed up the farm where they used to live together, and has found work on a boat. These changes are not enough to get Lara back, the water does not wash away his blood and death goes along with him. And as the pain slowly increases, the nature of the place seems to swallow him more and more. The cursed Elías rows on a murky river, to a quiet estuary, dominated by peace, where time seems to stand still despite its constant movement. Emiliano Grieco's feature debut premiered in competition at Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata 2014.

Pantanal

Andrew Sala : 2014

A man runs away from Buenos Aires with a bag full of money. He's going to Brazil, to Pantanal in the state of Mato Grosso. His sole purpose is to repay an outstanding debt and find the brother he lost touch with years ago. Travelling the roads and byways, he meets people who claim to have met his brother. Their testimonies are similar in form to reporter interviews, but you cannot tell which story is true and which is intended to lead him astray. The trip gets complicated. Is he being followed? A road movie blurring the line between fiction and reality. Andrew Sala's feature debut premiered at Warsaw Film Festival 2014.

Betibú

Miguel Cohan : 2014

On a day like any other day in an exclusive, gated private neighbourhood, Pedro Chazarreta is found dead. Chazarreta is not only a powerful industrialist, but was also suspected of the murder of his wife by simulating a domestic accident a few years ago. The well-known novelist Nurit Iscar, known as Betibú, is contracted to cover the story for the newspaper 'El Tribuno'. Teaming up with the paper's veteran but now demoted crime reporter and the new US and Spanish-educated section head, whose interests initially lie elsewhere, the trio soon realise that this is no random crime but rather one in a series of murders that goes to the heart of the establishment. Is Chazarreta's death related to his wife's? Are the reasons for it hidden in his past? A conspiracy thriller where office politics blend with institutional corruption. Miguel Cohan's second feature had its UK premiere at London Film Festival 2014.

Aire libre

Anahí Berneri : 2014
Open Air

The long-time marriage between a seemingly happy Buenos Aires couple begins to disintegrate just as they are on the verge of realising their dream of an idyllic life outside the city. Lucía and Manuel have been married for many years and live with their son, Santi. Dreaming of their future, they decide to sell their Buenos Aires apartment and move in with Lucía's mother while building a new house outside the city. But, in reality, the couple has issues they are not confronting, and the new project reveals the gaps in their fracturing relationship. Unfulfilled desires and straying interests plague their marriage, and Manuel begins to spend more time away from home, putting his energy into working at a new club he's invested in. As the couple drifts further apart, the unspoken rupture begins to affect the one person they both want to protect: their son. Anahí Berneri's fourth feature received its international premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2014.

Dancing with Maria

Ivan Gergolet : 2014

Maria Fux is an elderly Argentinean dancer. In her studio in the centre of Buenos Aires, she welcomes dancers from all walks of life, including women and men with physical and mental impairments, and arranges integrated dance groups. After having experimented and taught her method throughout her entire life – based on the perception of inner rhythms and the symbiosis with music – Maria Fux is now dealing with one last student, possibly the most difficult one: herself. We all have limits that we can acknowledge and finally overcome. At the age of 90, Maria fights her ultimate battle against the limits of her own body. Ivan Gergolet's first full-length documentary was winner of the "Civitas Vitae prossima" Award when it premiered in competition at Venice International Film Critics' Week 2014.

Algunas chicas

Santiago Palavecino : 2013
Some Girls

Taking a breather from the crisis of her marriage, a surgeon named Celina visits the country house of an old friend who she hasn't seen since their university days. When she gets there, she realises that something is going on with Paula, her friend's step-daughter, whose absence is palpable. Celina finds herself aggressively questioned by Paula's friends – the mystical Nene and the cynical María – who then recruit her into their dysfunctional clan. Soon she learns that Paula attempted suicide, but Celina is in no shape to help anyone, because she is fleeing a dark secret of her own and has come to the worst place of all possible places to save herself. In the limbo of this hellish little town, her ghosts are reborn, infecting everyone around her. They bring her through porous nightmares, dangerous games and an overwhelming uncertainty about the limits between dreams and waking, between life and death. In this psychological thriller, what seems like a getaway becomes a re-encounter with one's own destiny. Santiago Palavecino's third feature premiered in the Orizzonti section at La Biennale di Venezia 2013.

El ardor

Pablo Fendrik : 2014
The Ardour

Kaí is a young man of a mystical, solitary nature. One day, as he makes his way, bare-chested through the jungle, he witnesses an attack by mercenaries on a tobacco farm that they have wanted to take over for some time. As they could not get it by making threats, they kill the owner and kidnap his daughter, Vania. So Kaí embarks on a manhunt through the Argentinean rainforest, in pursuit of the mercenaries, to avenge the family. The film is set in an environment in which there are those who preserve it and those who destroy it, and we see the deforestation and the expropriation of the local populations. A suspense-filled story of vengeance, a struggle between two ways of living. Pablo Fendrik's third feature premiered in the Séances Spéciales at Festival de Cannes 2014.