Two Argentine productions – Belén, directed by Dolores Fonzi, and Las corrientes, by Milagros Mumenthaler – were the stars of Tuesday’s schedule at the prestigious San Sebastián Film Festival.
The coincidence of two movies directed by female filmmakers comes at a time of unrest over the future of the national film industry in Argentina, due to fierce spending cutbacks introduced by President Javier Milei’s government.
At 47, actress and director Dolores Fonzi is a regular at the festival in Northern Spain: she was a member of the jury in 2017, three of the films she acted in have been running for the top prize, the Golden Shell, along with four others in different sections.
Belén, her second film as director, has been shortlisted for Argentina’s entry for Best International Feature at the Oscars. It is based on a true story, that of a young woman (played by Camila Plaate) from the northern province of Tucumán, who in 2014 suffered a miscarriage without even knowing she was pregnant.
The woman was arrested and remanded in custody for two years before being sentenced to eight years in jail for aggravated murder in a trial fraught with defects. Eventually, proceedings ended in a mistrial.
Lawyer Soledad Deza, played by Fonzi in the feature, took on the task of freeing Belén. It launched a national campaign which continued all the way to the eventual legalisation of abortion in 2020, portrayed at the end of the film.
The closing scenes drew applause from those who attended the movie’s premiere in San Sebastián.
“Belén” was a pseudonym chosen by the lawyer to preserve the victim’s identity, who has since left Tucumán and lives in anonymity.
In an interview this week, Fonzi revealed that Belén had seen the film “and she’s very happy.”
“At the preview in Argentina, I left the theatre and suddenly I saw her,” explained the director.
“She had seen the film” and she was “very happy, very committed and very much experiencing a kind of closure,” said Fonzi.
Las corrientes
The other Argentine movie presented on Tuesday is Las corrientes, which tells the story of a designer and stylist, played by Isabel Aimé González Sola, who blindly obeys a destructive impulse after receiving an award in Switzerland.
“I have the impression that there is a silence in the character, even when she speaks,” said González Sola. She is “a character with an airtight interior, and even though she is speaking, there is another thing happening inside.”
Las corrientes, which aired at the Toronto Film Festival in September, is Mumenthaler’s third feature film. Her first, Abrir puertas y ventanas (“Opening doors and windows”), won the Golden Leopard at the Swiss Festival in Locarno.
This is her third time in San Sebastián, but the first time one of her creations has been in the running for the Golden Shell.
In the running
There is no frontrunner in the race for the Golden Shell at the 73rd edition of the San Sebastián Film Festival. The top prize is set to be announced on Saturday.
Given the extent of their representation, a national production may be rewarded with the top prize – seven of 17 movies competing in the official section for the top award are either Spanish (four) or Argentine (three).
– TIMES/AFP
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