Brilliant Films and Unforgettable Stories: A Deep Dive into the Upcoming Film Series
Well, well, well! Grab your popcorn and put on your best “serious film critic” face because we’ve got a cinematic feast coming your way! From profound themes of identity to interstellar adventures and heartfelt stories, this Film Series on Sexual Diversity promises not only to entertain but to provoke thought—though, let’s be honest, most of us just want to see something that’s not a reality show for a change!
First Stop: Brief History of the Green Planet
Kicking off on October 29, we have Santiago Loza serving us a dish of dystopia and nostalgia with his local film, Brief History of the Green Planet. Imagine a world where a trans girl named Tania teams up with her friends to return an alien to its home planet. It’s a bit like Stranger Things—popcorn in one hand, deep existential crisis in the other. This film managed to snag the title of “Best LGBTIQ-themed fiction film” at the 2019 Berlin Teddy Awards. An outing that not only flirts with sci-fi but does so while tackling political themes—because who doesn’t love a side of subtext with their cinematic experience?
Next Up: A Classic Returns—Philadelphia
Fast forward to November 5, and we’re treated to the legendary Philadelphia, directed by Jonathan Demme. It’s an absolute blockbuster that shines a light on HIV-AIDS during its darkest days. With stars like Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, and Antonio Banderas mugging for the camera and delivering performances that could make even a statue sob, this film tackles the indifference and injustices surrounding the HIV epidemic like a boxing match—but with more tears and fewer bloody noses! It’s important, it’s poignant, and frankly, if you’re not a blubbering mess by the end of it, are you even watching properly?
Finale: My Chest is Full of Sparks
And as if that wasn’t enough emotion to fill your heart (and possibly break it in the process), we wrap things up on November 12 with the Latin American premiere of My Chest is Full of Sparks by Gal Castellano. Brace yourself for a fusion of personal storytelling and visual art, where Gal’s mother takes an unexpected trip to Türkiye following a family crisis—because nothing says “let’s face our issues” quite like fleeing the country with a secret lover you met over Facebook chats! The film is a deep dive into the complexities of identity and transition that will leave you feeling all the feels. Identity? Check. Parental complexities? Check. A heap of questions about relationships? Oh, we’ve got plenty.
A Series with Purpose
This entire film series isn’t just about showing what’s hip and happening in cinema; it’s about paving the way for discussions on health, rights, and existence within our increasingly complex world. With films that span times and cultures, it’s like a worldwide tour of perspectives—without the jet lag. Bravo to SOY and Cacodelphia for putting together this buffet of cinema that actively engages the audience in dialogues that matter. And who knows, you might just leave with a newfound appreciation for the richness of diversity or maybe even a suitable social media post.
So, mark your calendars, ready your critiques, and prepare for an entertaining yet thought-provoking journey through the lens of sexual diversity and human experiences. Now, don’t forget to leave some space for dessert—because after all, popcorn is just a warm-up!
After the screening of Portrait of a Woman on Fire, the Film Series and Sexual Diversity continues on Tuesday, October 29 with a local film: Brief history of the green planetof the Argentine director, writer and playwright Santiago Loza. There, between nods to the cinema of the ’80s and in complicity with contemporary and nostalgic series such as Stranger Things, Romina Escobar, Paula Grinszpan and Luis Soda They face the story that stars Tania, a trans girl who must return an alien who lived with her grandmother to its original planet. Winner as “Best LGBTIQ-themed fiction film” at the 2019 Berlin Teddy Awards, The work, which travels from comedy to adventure cinema and flirts with low-fi science fiction, is constructed as an interstellar odyssey where tenderness becomes a political act against the oppression that the queer identities of its characters experience socially.
November lands with a classic: on Tuesday the 5th it will be screened Philadelphiamade in 1993 by the American Jonathan Demme, which tells the story that he made visible to a global audience the indifference, injustices and horror that the HIV-AIDS pandemic meant in its first and hardest years, following the experiences of successful and pampered lawyer Andrew Beckett, who decides to take his former boss to court for firing him from his job when he discovered that he was homosexual and carrying the virus. A roster of Hollywood mega stars like Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington y Antonio Banderas They are dedicated to leading a problem that was silenced in those years to all the rooms in the world, including the red carpet of the Oscars.
The cycle organized by SOY and Cacodelphia says goodbye on Tuesday, November 12 with a Latin American premiere: My chest is full of sparkscarried out by Gal Castellano between photographic archives, personal stories, drawings, paintings, letters and video calls. After his father dies, his mother flees without warning to Türkiye to meet with a lover who hid in the chats of their social networks. When these two circumstances happened that transformed Gal’s daily life from one moment to the next, an exchange of letters began with her mother that led to confessions about the little freedom she experienced in Mexico under the wing of family and motherhood, while Gal exposes images, experiences and reflections on camera that reveal the subjectivity of a trans person, the processes involved in the transition, the changes in identity and also its permanence, the bodily modifications and the moments lived in complicity with an audience that attends a meticulous record of one and many lives, reflected in their personal history.
The series is conceived from films about sexual and gender diversity that also cover diversities of times and geographies, seeking to maintain the permanent debate on health problems that are still current and promoting reflection on acquired rights and ways of existing in the world through local and international experiences, stories and utopias.
