Maravilla, the New York-based organization dedicated to raising awareness of Latin America through films and the arts, has announced the second edition of the Ecuadorian Film Festival in New York, EFFNY: One Ecuador! co-presented with Syndicated Bar Theatre Kitchen. This year’s festival will present ten feature-length and 17 short films, one of them in its world premiere, and the rest in their U.S. or New York premiere, with the presence of the filmmakers.
The competitive film festival, the first of its kind in the world dedicated to showcasing and celebrating the burgeoning cinema of Ecuador, will take place June 2-5 at the Village East Cinema, Syndicated Bar Theatre Kitchen and Queens Museum. The festival will open with the feature film UIO: Take Me for a Ride by Micaela Rueda, which had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, and recently played at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (BAFICI).
As a way to honor the victims of the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Ecuador on April 16th, and as a way to help in the ongoing recovery efforts, EFFNY will donate half of the money raised through ticket sales to the Ecuadorian Shelter Initiative in their shelter and housing reconstruction programs assisting victims of the recent natural disaster.
“On Saturday, April 16th, hundreds of Ecuadorians lost their lives and thousands lost their homes. But Ecuador did not lose hope, and today an entire country is working tirelessly to overcome adversity. I look forward to a festival full of great films and a warm, positive, and enthusiastic crowd,” says Christian Ponce, director of the film festival.
Other highlights of the festival’s second edition include the world premiere of the documentary film Dreamtown by New York-based director Betty Bastidas on the inspiring story of three young Afro-Ecuadorian soccer players chasing after success in the face of extraordinary challenges; as well as the documentary features Moments of Campaign by Tomás Astudillo, which closely follows Rafael Correa on his presidential campaign for his third term, and Bernhard Hetzenauer’s And There Was Fire in the Center of the Earth, a fascinating piece on memory and self-discovery telling the compelling story of a Jewish woman who fled Europe during war and settled in Ecuador.
EFFNY will present two awards. A jury composed of renowned film professionals composed by Variety’s Anna Marie de la Fuente, film producer Isabel Dávalos and filmmaker Ashish Avikunthak, will present the award for Best Film, and the public attending the screenings will vote for the Audience Award.
Expected to attend this year’s edition are directors Micaela Rueda (UIO: Take me for a Ride), Tomás Astudillo. (Moments of Campaign), Javier Izquierdo (A Secret in the Box), Betty Bastidas (Dreamtown), Fernado Mieles (Persistence), Joe Houlberg (Thirst), Gabriel Paez and Isabel Rodas (I’ll Come Back), Bernhard Hetzenauer (And There Was Fire in the Center of the Earth), and Sebastián Benalcázar (Underwater); actresses Angela Peñaherrera (The Decorruption), and Ana Cristina Barragán (Thirst); co-producer Anahí Hoeneisen (María and the Spider); and soccer players Agustín “El Tin” Delgado and Ulises de la Cruz, subjects of the documentary film Dreamtown.
The Ecuadorian Film Festival in New York is co-presented by Syndicated Bar Theater Kitchen, and is sponsored by CNCINE, Telemundo, Jetblue, Queens Museum, Pro-Ecuador, Consulate General of Ecuador in New York City, Cinema Tropical, Café Velez, Hoja Verde, Revista Ñan, Alterego, Oyeve, Sabor Latino, Jack Daniels, ACFNY, and Think Graphic Media. The short films are co-presented by the Katra Film Series.
Official Website: http://www.ecuadorianfilmfest.com
About Maravilla: Maravilla (http://www.maravilla.nyc/is a New York-based, independent organization dedicated to raising awareness of Latin America and its peoples through film and the arts, with various initiatives, like the Venezuelan Film Festival in New York and the Ecuadorian Film Festival in New York.
For more information, film screeners, hi-res images, or to coordinate interviews with the guest filmmakers, please contact Laura Schwab at press@cinematropical.com or (212) 254-5474.
Schedule
UIO: Take Me For A Ride / UIO: Sácame a pasear
(Micaela Rueda, 2016, Ecuador, 70 min.)
Cast: Samanta Caicedo, María Juliana Rángel, Diego Naranjo, Paty Loor, Monserrat Astudillo, Miranda Zepeda, Anne Dominique Correa, Domenica Blanco, Ana Belén Bermeo
Sara is in her last year of high school, doesn’t have many friends and is trapped between a dominating mother and an inattentive father. But everything changes when she meets Andrea, her new schoolmate, with whom she will start an intimate relationship in secret.
Thursday, June 2, 8pm — Village East Cinema
Dreamtown / Ciudad de los sueños
(Betty Bastidas, Ecuador, 2016, 75 min.)
Co-presented with the Kicking and Screening Film Festival
DreamTown is the inspiring story of three young soccer players who chase success in the face of extraordinary challenges. Entwined with their athletic dreams are the hopes of all Afro-Ecuadorians for whom soccer is more than a sport–it’s a means to attain recognition and respect.
Preceded by Short Play (Sebastián Cordero, 2014).
Friday, June 3, 7:30pm — Village East Cinema
I’ll Come Back / Vengo volviendo
(Isabel Rodas & Gabriel Páez, Ecuador, 2015, 103 min.)
Cast: Juan Zumba, Carolina Lozada, Rosario Macas, Alex Cisneros, Doris Naula
Ismael, raised by his grandmother, lives an internal struggle marked by migration and only thinks about traveling to the United States. Having agreed the date and the expenses of travel, life will be responsible to put in front what he fears most: his fate.
Preceded by Vicenta (Carla Valencia 2014, 5 min.)
Friday, June 3, 9:30pm — Village East Cinema
Dreamtown / Ciudad de los sueños
(Betty Bastidas, Ecuador, 2016, 75 min.)
DreamTown is the inspiring story of three young soccer players who chase success in the face of extraordinary challenges. Entwined with their athletic dreams are the hopes of all Afro-Ecuadorians for whom soccer is more than a sport–it’s a means to attain recognition and respect.
Preceded by Trans Ecuador (Carlos Zabala, 2015, 10 min.)
Saturday, June 4, 1:30pm — Syndicated Bar Theater Kitchen
Persistence / Persistencia
(Fernando Mieles Peña, Ecuador, 2015, 46 min.)
In Antarctica, an artist prepares his installation simultaneously with a group of scientists conducting research. Without any narration, interviews, or explanation, apparently meaningless actions are woven through time. An study of the persistence of the creative act. About feelings and ideas. About being and doing. A sensory experience. An audiovisual poem made of ice, snow, and wind.
Preceded by Halfway (Medio camino, Adrián Balseca and Tomás Astudillo, 2014, 16 min. Courtesy of Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros)
Saturday, June 4, 5pm — Syndicated Bar Theater Kitchen
Thirst / Sed
(Joe Houlberg, Ecuador, 2016, 75 min.)
Cast: Ana Cristina Barragán, Iván Alzate, Fernanda Barragán, Enzo Macchiavello
Traveling as a foursome with her cousin and their respective boyfriends for a weekend away in her family old Colonial country home, makes life feel almost normal for blind 23 years old Sara. Once there all is not as it seems, and the eerie abandonment of the house, set in Ecuadorian tropical splendor, becomes the backdrop of the unraveling past and family secrets, inciting a perverse, controlling, and sexually liberating dynamics amongst the travelers.
Preceded by Underwater (Bajo el agua, Sebastián Benalcázar, 2015, 10 min.)
Saturday, June 4, 8pm — Syndicated Bar Theater Kitchen
Family Short Films Program:
Chimborazo’s Flight (José Cobo, 14 min.)
Mr. Blue Footed Booby (Gino Imagino, 3 min.)
Verito’s Dream (Mayfe Ortega, 5 min.)
Cincopata (Daniel Jácome Muñoz, 5 min.)
Aya (Edison Fuentes, 5 min.)
Po Poc (Daniel Jácome Muñoz, 4 min.)
Clic. Quiri. Clicks (Sergio Venturini, 10 min.)
Vicenta (Carla Valencia, 5 min.)
Sunday, June 5, 12:30pm — Queens Museum
And There Was Fire in the Center of the Earth / Y en el centro de la Tierra había fuego
(Bernhard Hetzenauer, Ecuador, 2013, 78 min.)
Co-presented by the Austrian Cultural Forum New York
Born in 1912 in Prague, the Jewish, German-speaking Vera Kohn fled to South America in 1939, where she built up a new existence in Ecuador. After an acting career in Quito, she returned to Europe on account of a mental illness and was admitted to Karlfried Dürckheim‘s therapy centre in Germany. This is her story, in which the filmmaker places her biography and career in the context of his own personal questions of collective guilt and individual responsibility, his Austrian grandfather having been a member of the SS.
Preceded by The Mural (Daniela Merino)
Sunday, June 5, 1:30pm — Syndicated Bar Theater Kitchen
I’ll Come Back / Vengo volviendo
(Isabel Rodas & Gabriel Páez, Ecuador, 2015, 103 min.)
Cast: Juan Zumba, Carolina Lozada, Rosario Macas, Alex Cisneros, Doris Naula
Ismael, raised by his grandmother, lives an internal struggle marked by migration and only thinks about traveling to the United States. Having agreed the date and the expenses of travel, life will be responsible to put in front what he fears most: his fate.
Preceded by Guayaquil Heat so Warm You Can’t Stand it (Julio Ibarra)
Sunday, June 5, 2:30pm — Queens Museum
Moments of Campaign / Instantes de campaña
(Tomás Astudillo, Ecuador, 2015, 52 min.)
On February 17, 2013, Rafael Correa wins the elections and becomes President of Ecuador for the third time. Forty-two days earlier he embarked on a frenzied campaign to the rhythm of speeches and songs. Rally after rally and interview after interview, Rafael Correa and his team tour the entire country. His busy schedule barely allows him time to shoot campaign ads and analyze opinion polls.
Preceded by The Glove (El guante, Alex Cisneros, 9 min.)
Sunday, June 5, 4:30pm — Queens Museum
The Decorruption / La decorrupción
(María Emilia García, Ecuador, 2014, 76 min.)
Cast: Ángela Peñaherrera, Alfonsina Solines, Danilo Esteves, Virgilio Valero
In a dystopian reality plagued by corruption, a rebellious government employee finds an alternative way to change the system: kill the corrupt.
Preceded by Salutem (Emilia Patiño Carreño, 2014, 14 min.)
Sunday, June 5, 5pm — Syndicated Bar Theater Kitchen
A Secret In The Box / Un secreto en la caja
(Javier Izquierdo, Ecuador, 2016, 71 min.)
A Secret in the Box is a documentary that invents the life and work of Marcelo Chiriboga (1933-1990), an Ecuadorian writer internationally known as member of the Latin American “boom” generation (the generation of Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Fuentes and Julio Cortázar), but who remains unknown in his country to this day.
Preceded by Speed Paradise (Paraíso de la velocidad, José María Avilés, 2015, 8 min.)
Sunday, June 5, 7pm — Syndicated Bar Theater Kitchen
Maria and the Spider / María y el araña
(María Victoria Menis, Argentina/Ecuador, 2013, 89 min.)
Cast: Florencia Salas, Diego Vegezzi, Mirella Pascual, Luciano Suardi
This is the story of María, a thirteen year old girl who lives in a Buenos Aires shantytown with her grandmother and her obscure partner. Slated to win a scholarship to continue her education, María is finishing primary school while working in the subway. There she meets a 17-year-old-boy who earns a living juggling in a Spiderman costume. As their love grows, we discover in María’s home the web of a sinister bond that keeps María in a submissive state.
Sunday, June 5, 9:30pm — Syndicated Bar Theater Kitchen
*Short films co-presented by Katra Film Series
Tickets for opening night at Village East Cinema are $20; film screenings at Syndicated Bar Theater Kitchen are $10; free admission for film screenings at Queens Museum.