12nd Lima Latin American Film Festival

Peru, August 7 - August 15 2008


In the twelve years of its existence, the Festival of Lima has won a considerable prestige as a showcase of Latin American cinemas (“Encuentro Latinoamericano de Cine”). In its center, it focuses on competitions of new Latin American fiction films and documentaries (including two Peruvian films, Josué Mendez’ Dioses and the debut El Acuarelista by Daniel Ró). Headed by Edgar Saba and Alicia Morales, the festival found a wonderful venue in the Cultural Center of the Catholic University of Peru, equipped with two cinemas and facilities for conferences and panels; other projections take place in the city. Writer Mario Vargas Llosa headed the international jury. In a special series, the Goethe Institute of Lima presents an overview on German cinema.

This year, the festival offered six young critics (coming from Peru) to attend the screenings and events, and to participate in a daily workshop on film criticism. We publish the texts of our young colleagues in English; Spanish versions can be found at the site of the festival, and on the site of the Goethe Institute. (Klaus Eder)

Lima Latin American Film Festival: www.festivaldelima.com

The texts:

Why to Write on Cinema — The young critics present themselves.

Day 1

Enrique Valdez reviews Albertina Carri’s La rabia
Miguel Ángel Farfán interviews Pablo Trapero
Ximena Esqueche reviews Fernando Eimbcke’s Lake Tahoe
Flor Preciado: The Elite Squad (1)
Julisa Espinoza: The Elite Squad (2)

Day 2

Miguel Angel Farfán reviews the German And Along Come Tourists
Flor Preciado on Albertina Carri’s La rabia
Enrique Valdez reviews the documentary Intimidades de Shakespeare y Víctor Hugo

Day 3

Flor Preciado reviews the German Summer in Berlin (Andreas Dresen)
Ximena Esqueche reviews Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman
Enrique Valdez interviews Amat Escalante (The Bastards)
Miguel Angel Farfán on the documentary Construcción de una ciudad (Nestor Frenkel)

Day 4

Ximena Esqueche interviews German director Matthias Luthardt (Pingpong)
Julisa Espinoza reviews Fatih Akin’s In July
Miguel Angel Farfán on Eduardo Coutinho’s documentary Playing

Day 5

Julisa Espinoza reviews Pablo Trapero’s Leonera
Enrique Valdez on Fatih Akin’s In July
Ximena Esqueche reviews Matthias Luthardt’s Pingpong

Day 6

Flor Preciado interviews fest-head Edgar Saba
Julisa Espinoza on Mario Vargas Llosa and cinema

All texts have been written in Spanish. Natalia Ames translated them into English.