September and October were some of the busiest months yet for the Noche Americana catalogue. The films we work with are screening at festivals in eleven countries, from Chile to Indonesia and from Guatemala to Italy, and have won awards in Argentina, Chile and the United States. At the same time, we’ve welcomed new titles from Argentina, Mexico and Peru. Features and shorts, fiction and documentary, animation, horror, queer and experimental cinema: a snapshot of the diversity of filmmaking in Latin America today.

Awards and recognition

HandyGirl, by Inés Urdinez, had its world premiere at the 33rd Valdivia International Film Festival in Chile, where it received the Special Jury Prize in the Youth Feature category. Writer, by Paula de Luque, took home four awards at Tandil Cine: Best Director, Best Woman Director (DAC Award), the Audience Award and Best Cinematography for Hugo Colace. Colace also received the ADF Award at the Luz del Desierto International Film Festival. The Girl at the Frontier, by Francisco Novick and Natalio Pagés, earned a Special Mention for Fiction Short at the 13th Leonardo Favio National Film Festival in Bolívar. After the Sea, by Camila Adaro Liloff, won Best Documentary at Corto Rodado. Alone on the Beach, by Pablo Gómez Samela, received an award at the Virginia Queer Film Festival in the United States. And at the Festival de Cine Inusual, A Girl in the Gas Station, by Cristian Bidone, won Best Actor for Claudio Santorelli and Best Actress for Lucía Juana Castro.

Across Latin America

In Mexico, Carry On!, Karla Velázquez’s animated short, was part of the Official Selection of the Morelia International Film Festival and of Pixelatl in Guadalajara. Espanto Film Fest programmed A Girl in the Gas Station, Memoirs of a Vampire by Federico Tavera, and A Room of Flowers by Sofía Guerrini. Memoirs of a Vampire also traveled to Guatemala for Xibalbá, the Latin American Horror Film Festival.

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Una publicación compartida de Carry On! 🧳 – Shortfilm (@carryon.shortfilm)

In Colombia, the Marinilla Film Festival (FILCMAR) selected The Flight of the Bumblebee, by Emanuel Di Cunto, Pablo Bochard and Rodrigo Medrano, and After the Sea for its first Latin American Film Competition. The Bogotá Horror Film Festival screened Sigil, by Gabriela Vidal. In Uruguay, Far Far Away from LA, by Rita Hostt and Maruja Bustamante, screened at Llamale H.

From North America to Asia

In the United States, Writer was selected for the San Francisco Latino Film Festival and A Year Without Light, by Lautaro Arias Camacho, for the Dallas Latino Film Festival. The Kansas City Underground Film Festival brought together four titles from the catalogue: Far Far Away from LA, The Fifth Wall by Bastián Huerta, After the Sea and I Would Do It Again by Ernesto Fontán. La última cena, by Damián Guillermo Real, screened at the Atlanta Horror Film Festival. The Skin Under My Girdle, by Dani Novak, and After the Sea were part of the Hobnobben Film Festival. Far Far Away from LA also played Image Out in Rochester and the Virginia Queer Film Festival, which screened Alone on the Beach as well. In Canada, Far Far Away from LA reached the Vancouver Queer Film Festival.

In Spain, Galacticat, the Tàrrega i Ponent International Film Festival, selected A Room of Flowers and The Girl at the Frontier. Carry On! traveled to Prime the Animation in Valencia, and After the Sea to the BAAR Festival in Barcelona. Delta, by Tadeo Pestaña Caro and Eugenia Gonzalía, was selected for the Fantase section of Jakarta Film Week in Indonesia: the first time a Noche Americana title has been part of the festival.

Across Argentina

At Tandil Cine, Writer competed in the Official Feature Competition and El esquilador, by Paloma Zaremba and Martín López Abad, in the Short Film Competition. The Festival de Cine Inusual screened Proyecto FAIM by Pablo Masello, Transcontinental by Federico Palazzo, A Girl in the Gas Station, and the shorts One Night by Marco Paván and A Crater Full of Moles by Valentina Coppo. Carry On! had its first Argentine screening in the Ibero-American Short Film Competition at FIC UBA. Besides Bolívar, The Girl at the Frontier screened at Merlo Sangriento, the Chascomús Film Festival and Gritos en el Planetario. Far Far Away from LA was at Funcinema, and After the Sea screened at the Asterisco festival. Will O’ The Wisp, by David Aguilera, continues its run through Patagonia with FAN Neuquén and Cipolletti. And our monthly curated program on Flixxo goes on: in September, Gloria, by Santi Castelo, and About Love, Friendship and Work, by Anahí Molina; in October, The Avenue House and Son las 12.

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Una publicación compartida de Paula de Luque (@paula_de_luque)

Coming up

November opens with a very special selection. No One Can Call This a Farewell, by Sebastián Gordon, is part of the International Student Film Festival (CSC – ISFF), held in Rome from November 11 to 15. The festival is organized by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Italy’s National Film School and one of the most important film schools in the world, and is presided over by acclaimed filmmaker Marco Bellocchio. Sebastián’s short is the only film representing an Argentine school, the Instituto de Arte Cinematográfico de Avellaneda (IDAC).

The rest of the calendar is just as full:

  • Writer opens in theaters on Friday, November 13, at Cine Arte Cacodelphia.
  • Transcontinental screens at the Calgary Justice Film Festival in Canada, November 5–7.
  • The Girl at the Frontier and Cave In, by Iván Djeredjian, will be at Festihur, November 6–8.
  • Carry On! heads to Cartón, November 9–15.
  • Heisters, Cave In and A Room of Flowers travel to Colombia for the Villa de Leyva International Film Festival, November 13–16.
  • After the Sea competes at FICE in Ensenada on November 13, then joins the 7th Latin American Film Week in Buenos Aires, December 2–6.

New films in the catalogue

In recent months, the catalogue has grown with films from across the region.

  • From Peru:
    • Rearview, José Carlos García Angulo’s second feature, set in Lima in 2006.
    • Becoming, Ricardo Yui’s debut feature, a Peru–Netherlands co-production that premiered at the Beijing International Film Festival.
    • Widerhall (Echoes), a short by Peruvian filmmaker Hans Hoffmann.
  • From Mexico:
    • August’s Sun, Christopher Paul Valender’s debut feature.
    • II (Two), a fantastical, experimental tale about reincarnation by Eric Rivera.
    • Bad Dream, by Juan Luis Flores Pérez.
  • From Argentina:
    • Bárbara, Tomás Emanuel Brunella’s second feature.
    • The Night That Never Ends, Fran Sanaz’s debut feature.
    • Heisters, Juan Manuel Álvarez Branda’s debut film.
    • Nani, by Malena Vain.
    • In the Name of Emma, by Leandro Juan Ferrante and Lucía Santa Cruz Cuesta.
    • Chronicles of a Kid, Juli Tarrab’s debut, shot across Argentina, Istanbul and Indonesia, whose lead also exists outside the fiction.

We congratulate every team for trusting us with their films. We’re always looking for finished short and feature films from across Latin America: write to us at nocheamericanadistribucion@gmail.com.