01/10/2020 - Hubert Sauper, Sergei Loznitsa, Abel Ferrara and Tsai Ming-Liang are set to take part in an online edition of the Peruvian film festival dedicated to Central and Eastern European cinema

Back for another year, the Al Este Festival, based in Lima, Peru, is all ready to introduce Latin American audiences to the most exciting developments in film (and the film industry) to come out of Central and Eastern Europe. Under the unprecedented conditions forced on all of us in 2020, this 11th edition has opted to showcase its online platform. Over the festival’s run from 1 to 11 October, selected content will be available to viewers not only in Peru, but across the world.

As part of this initiative, film fans across the region will be able to enjoy this 11th edition’s flagship programme. Organised by Soda Films, this year’s programme includes a selection of masterclasses with internationally renowned directors (some European and some with strong ties to the continent), with a Spanish translation. Austrian documentary filmmaker Hubert Sauper — best known for Darwin’s Nightmare, We Come as Friends [+see also:
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film profile] and the recent Epicentro [+see also:
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film profile] (which can be enjoyed online as part of the festival) — who scooped the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance earlier this year, will open the series on 2 October. On 3 October, it’s Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa’s turn. Loznitsa, one of the world’s most highly regarded documentarians, will be discussing his work in the archive documentary genre (including recent titles The Trial [+see also:
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film profile], also included in the festival). Veteran North American director and long-standing Italian-by-choice Abel Ferrara (seen on the festival circuit this year with Siberia [+see also:
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film profile], also in this year’s line-up, and Sportin’ Life [+see also:
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As always, the festival’s organisers have curated a select line-up of the most exceptional films produced in Central and Eastern Europe in the last year, which will be available online only in Peru. The main programme, Competencia Al Este, includes fiction films Cook F**k Kill [+see also:
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interview: Mira Fornay
film profile] (Czech Republic/Slovakia), by Mira Fornay, The Trouble with Being Born [+see also:
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interview: Sandra Wollner
film profile] (Austria/Germany), by Sandra Wollner, I Was at Home, But… [+see also:
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interview: Angela Schanelec
film profile] (Germany/Serbia), by Angela Schanelec, Stories from the Chestnut Woods [+see also:
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film profile] (Slovenia/Italy), by Gregor Božič, Lillian [+see also:
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interview: Andreas Horvath
film profile] (Austria), by Andreas Horvath, Mare [+see also:
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interview: Andrea Staka
film profile] (Switzerland/Croatia), by Andrea Staka and Those Who Remained [+see also:
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film profile] (Hungary), by Barnabás Tóth; documentaries Wake Up on Mars [+see also:
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interview: Dea Gjinovci
film profile] (Switzerland/France), by Dea Gjinovci, Caught in the Net [+see also:
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film profile] (Czech Republic/Slovakia), by Vít Klusák and Barbora Chalupová and The Earth Is Blue as an Orange [+see also:
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interview: Iryna Tsilyk
film profile] (Ukraine/Lithuania), by Iryna Tsilyk; and animated film Kill It and Leave This Town [+see also:
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interview: Mariusz Wilczyński
film profile] (Poland), by Mariusz Wilczynski.

Among the festival’s other sections, there’s a special place for emerging Peruvian cinema and for two retrospectives, one of the work of Czech filmmaker Milos Forman and the other of philosopher Guy Debord’s cinematic canon (presented by Olivier Assayas).

Rounding out the event is a new edition of EsteLab, the film production laboratory that links up national and international projects with professional advice and support from the European film industry. This year’s chosen projects include a Spanish film (El año de la memoria sucia, by Matías Boero Lutz) as well as projects from Peru (Vanda, by Dana Bonilla, La vieja salida, by Alejandro Cook Ciccia, Cristina Gálvez, by Jimena Mora), Colombia (Feral, by Karla Corrales), Chile (Marcia Marcela, by Constanza Majluf) and Argentina (Aquellos perros trajeron estos muertos, by Francisco Pavanetto).

(Translated from Spanish)