The Venezuelan Film Festival in New York returns for its second year, with a focus on sex and gender in Venezuela.
Papita Maní Tostón, FRI 19 6:15PM | SAT 20 4:30PM
Andrés is a fan of Los Leones del Caracas, one of the two biggest baseball teams in Venezuela. One day he meets Julissa and her dad, a fan of Los Navegantes del Magallanes, its historic rival team, and one of the team's managers.
La distancia más larga (The Longest Distance) FRI 19 6:45PM | SAT 20 6:15PM
The Longest Distance takes us from the suffocating Caracas to the plenitude found on top of one of the oldest geological formations on our planet, the Roraima, south of the Amazon.
Desde Afuera (Abroad) WED 24 6:45PM
Abroad is a collective portrait that explores distance, identity and the day to day lives of Venezuelans living abroad.
Aguas Dulces: Graffiti in the Coast of Uruguay WED 24 6:45PM
From Buenos Aires, a few graffiti artists embark on a summer trip to Aguas Dulces (Sweet Waters), a town on the coast of Uruguay, as part of an artistic residency experiment.
Azul y no tan Rosa (My Straight Son) SAT 20 8:30PM | WED 24 8:30PM
Diego is just an average guy, with an average family and average friends. But there is something that makes him somewhat unique among them. He has a heterosexual son.
La ley (The Law) SUN 21 6:15PM
In this comedy set in Spain and Venezuela, Peter is an upright man about to be appointed judge of a superior court in Spain, when he gets a call with the news that his grandmother in Venezuela is dead.
La Casa del Ritmo: A Film About Los Amigos Invisibles
SUN 21 6:45PM | WED 24 9:00PM
A compelling story about Grammy-winning Venezuelan funksters Los Amigos Invisibles, from their early days playing in Caracas, Venezuela, to being discovered by David Byrne of Talking Heads and their rise to international stardom.
Cecilia y las muchachas SUN 21 4:30PM | MON 22 6:15PM
Cecilia and the Girls is the assembly of two medium-length documentaries: "Cecilia Bergman Chaves: A good life", by renowned director Alfredo Anzola, which chronicles the life of charismatic pioneer in the Venezuelan media, Cecilia Martinez; and "The Girls", by young director Gabriela Fuentes, which depicts the fight of the Venezuelan Women's Union against the heinous dictatorship of Pérez Jiménez.
La casa del fin de los tempos (The House at the End of Time)
SUN 21 8:30PM | WED 24 6:15PM
Dulce is a family woman that has encounters with apparitions at her old house where a terrible prophecy unfolds. Thirty years later, Dulce, turned into an old woman, returns to the house to decipher the mystery and the tragedy that has tormented her for so long.
El silencio de las moscas (The Silence of the Flies). MON 22 8:30PM
Marcelina (48) and Mercedes (56) live around farming communities in the Venezuelan Andes. Both share the same tragic story: their daughters committed suicide, as have many others in this part of part of the country in the previous year.
Yo, indocumentada (I, Undocumented) SAT 20 6:45PM | MON 22 9:00
Tamara, Desirée and Victoria would be three Venezuelan women with little in common: Tamara is a lawyer, Desirée's a hairdresser and Victoria -the youngest- is an Arts student. Except that they all share the same challenge: They must all carry ID's with men's names on them. They are transgender women, who long ago assumed their gender and now struggle in a still homo-transphobic society.
Azú, alma de princes (Azú, Princess’ Soul). TUE 23 6:45PM
The movie follows a group of slaves fleeing a sugarcane plantation looking to find a “cumbe”, while being chased down by Don Manuel Aguirre, an obsessed farmer who has set his sights on Azú, a beautiful slave with an ancestral destiny. Action, mysticism and the struggle for identity come together in this feminine story covered in magic and jungle.
Como Dios nos trajo al mundo (As God Made Us ) TUE 23 9:00PM
From an early age, Maury was captivated by eroticism. While studying film, she sought out a mentor who would teach her the art of strip-tease and would also allow her to make a movie about it. She found that person in Inés -a single mother working two jobs to support her son- who agreed to guide Maury through her world.
Conquistando el fuerte (Conquering the Fort) MON 22 6:15PM
Premiering at VEFFNY, Conquering the Fort portrays the lives of Moisés (13), Mariano (11), Michele (12) and Anthony (12), who've been friends ever since they can remember, and who from early childhood have been telling the story of their hometown Juan Griego to the dozens of people who visit the Galera Fort on Margarita Island, Venezuela.
New York: Sept. 19 - 25. Full details here.