Showing posts with label AFI FEST. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AFI FEST. Show all posts

Friday, November 21, 2025

A Poet: A Lost Soul in Medellin

 By José Alberto Hermosillo


AFI FEST MOVIE REVIEW: “A Poet” is a captivating Colombian drama with conscience. Its comedic elements soften its darker, yet universal, themes.


The story focuses on Oscar, played by newcomer Ubeimar Rios, who powerfully depicts a middle-aged, frustrated, and depressed alcoholic. Years earlier, he published a book of poems in Medellín. His past achievements, honors, and recognition hold him back from pursuing a career as a poet due to ongoing writer’s block. His life changes when his family urges him to accept a high school teaching position, where he begins to see a glimmer of hope in a talented yet underprivileged student.

Director Simón Mesa Soto, a well-educated high school philosophy teacher in Medellín who speaks fluent English, prefers working with non-professional actors. Soto skillfully condensed and transformed his well-structured and solid second project into an award-winning international success, taking it from Colombia to Cannes, where it won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize, and then to Los Angeles, where it served as the official Colombian Oscar entry in the Best International Feature Film category.

Years ago, when he was about to give up filmmaking, he considered becoming the worst version of himself rather than abandoning his passion. While writing the screenplay “A Poet,” he aimed to create an authentic, true-to-himself character. His creative process reflects his genuine beliefs about life. The story begins by highlighting the poet’s struggles, including financial hardship, depression, and alcoholism. The director also mentioned that working as a teacher in Colombia can be tough for making ends meet.

After screening at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles, the confident director said that while he was searching for the right performer, a friend recommended a high school teacher he knew. After seeing him, Simón hired Ubeimar to join the supporting cast to play one of the other poets. He wasn’t initially convinced that Mr. Ríos was the right person to portray the complex role of the true poet he envisioned.

Taking a risk, Simón chose Mr. Ríos to play Oscar, a decision that changed the public’s view of the character. Ríos trained for two months to perfect his acting technique, and he naturally called it a lucky coincidence. In Oscar’s case, his lack of empathy draws others to him, making him the perfect underdog who connects with viewers.

“A Poet” employs a more abstract, atmospheric storytelling style, which Simón described as a return to a rawer approach designed to reconnect with his Colombian audience. He structured the film around a dilemma to reflect the uncertainty in his own life.

On a technical level, shooting on 16mm film gives the project the raw texture the director wanted, resulting in a unique look with vivid colors and sharp resolution.

Oscar is a character lost in the past. Despite facing societal prejudices—along with misunderstandings of minor abuses, battling alcohol and drugs, poverty, and marginalization—he continues on a complex, contradictory path like jazz partiture.

Director Simón Mesa, “APoet.” Photo by José Alberto Hermosillo, wwwFestivalinLA.com

Simón Mesa Soto explained that his motivation for making the film stemmed from his frustration at not being able to work in cinema as often as he wanted. He surprisingly finished “A Poet” in six months, leading up to its Cannes premiere in May 2025. He mentioned a few times how difficult it is to make a film in Colombia. He is the lucky one, compared to others who spend decades in Los Angeles trying to break into Hollywood without any success.

In one of the earliest and most intense scenes in the film about euthanasia, the audience might want to look for the nearest exit. It’s when the poet talks with his elderly and sick mother about helping her die and contemplating suicide— a conflicting and personal choice for viewers like me who value life deeply. I’m glad I stayed until the end to enjoy this magnificent film full of light and meaning.

There’s a noticeable influence of Soto’s work on that of his fellow countryman, Gabriel García Márquez, which is essential to recognize, although Soto disagrees. “A Poet” hints at Latin American magical realism, similar to the works of the Nobel laureate, who also wrote notable screenplays in Mexico and Cuba, including Alberto Isaac’s “En este pueblo no hay ladrones/There are No Thieves in this Village” (1965). Arturo Ripstein’s debut “Time to Die” (1966), Ruy Guerra’s “Erendida” (1983), and Fernando Birri’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” (1988).


“A Poet” continues the tradition of films about suicidal alcoholics; a similar case is presented in Wilder’s “The Lost Weekend,” which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1945 and portrays intense depression and unrelenting drinking. In Mike Figgis’s 1995 film “Leaving Las Vegas,” Oscar-winning Best Actor Nicolas Cage also plays an alcoholic on a suicidal mission.

Despite the tragic and disheartening circumstances, “A Poet” explores themes of innocence, honesty, family values, and awakening—elements that engage the audience and foster appreciation for a genuinely moving work of art.


” A Poet” depicts how society views us when we lose our freedom, trapping us in small shells, isolating us, and dimming our hopes for the future. Here, the future is symbolized by the youth of Latin American countries—a vital fountain of resources. Whether they write poems or work in a nail salon, they still hold on to dreams, goals, and desires.

A Poet - Official trailer (HD)

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Tuesday, October 22, 2024

AFI FEST 2024 BRINGS THE BEST OF WORLD CINEMA TO LOS ANGELES

 By José Alberto Hermosillo


AFI FEST 2024 BRINGS THE BEST OF WORLD CINEMA TO LOS ANGELES

Once again, the AFI FEST brings the best of world cinema to Los Angeles in anticipation of the award season.

 

Check out the posters of the most-anticipated films to hit the theaters to qualify for the awards, mainly foreign films that are harder to find in theaters or on streaming platforms.


In the Best International Film Oscar category, AFI FEST features over a dozen movies from countries like the U.S., Germany, Portugal, and more.


You can find the festival’s schedule and the best times to see these fantastic films.


Enjoy!









Link to download the AFI FEST app: https://fest.afi.com/download-app

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IF YOU ARE READING FROM A MOBILE DEVICE, CLICK: view web version FOR OTHER COOL FEATURES SUCH AS TRANSLATE POWERED BY GOOGLE, AN INTERACTIVE FILM FESTIVAL CALENDAR, AND MORE AWESOME ARTICLES.
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Monday, February 12, 2024

Shayda; “A Separation” in Australia

By José Alberto Hermosillo

AFI FEST FILM REVIEW: “Shayda” is a thoughtful and profoundly moving family drama. It chronicles the journey of an Iranian mother and daughter as they endure a painful separation from their abusive husband in Australia in the 1990s.

Paraphrasing the title of the Oscar-winning 2011 Iranian film “A Separation,” directed by Asghar Farhadi, another story of separation among Iranians comes to the screen -- “Shayda,” based on the personal experience of first-time Iranian Australian director Noora Niasari, delivers a vivid portrayal of an abused Iranian single mother and her daughter as they wander in a foreign land.

Director Noora Niasari, Australia. Photo by José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © Festival in LA, 2023

 
The film strongly suggests Shayda’s darkest moments, including the reference to when she was beaten, raped, and sent out onto the street with her six-year-old daughter, Mona. To overcome adversity, she seeks refuge at a women’s shelter, where she finds counseling, legal aid, and friends in similar circumstances who teach her to empower herself to confront her husband and his family.


Over the Persian New Year celebration, Shayda would like to take comfort in the Nowruz rituals that symbolize a new beginning. But real life takes work. Escaping domestic violence and her country’s totalitarian ideology, Shayda needs to recapture her cultural identity by staying connected to her Iranian food, poetry, music, dances, traditions, and, above all, the Iranian people in Australia.


In this stressful cat-and-mouse drama, Shayda must be as far as possible from her abusive husband, Hossain (Osamah Sami), but the law does not grant her wishes. The patriarchal Australian system, unaware that the father wants to take his woman and daughter back to Iran to preserve his misogynist dominance, rules in favor of the father’s visitations.


The collaborative effort took six years to come to fruition. Noora’s mother was not only her inspiration but also stood by her side during production. Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett, who served as an executive producer, was an essential part of the project, Niasari said at a Q&A after the screening of her film during the AFI Fest in Los Angeles in 2023.


The Persian-born director Noora Niasari, who grew up in Australia, returned to Iran at 19 to learn more about her roots, cultural identity, and other elements that would enrich the film. The symbolism of Shayda’s clothes, shapes, and colors represents the emotional journey and transformation, visually turning Shayda’s silhouette into a butterfly. 


In terms of place and time, the film powerfully analyzes how immigrants lived in Australia during the 1990s.


Actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Photo by José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © Festival in LA, 2023

Starring Tehran-born actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider” & “Tatami”) is as remarkable as Shayda. She displays a wide range of emotions, portraying a mother who is aware of her daughter’s well-being yet also needs empathy for herself.

 

Actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi & Selina Zahednia, Photo courtesy of Sony Classics, 2023

Mona, the little girl, is confident and expressive; young actress Selina Zahednia plays her. She understood acting from the beginning. The mother-daughter relationship looked natural on camera thanks to Selina and Zar Amir’s chemistry. They bonded by practicing their scenes in a child-friendly environment for two months.

“Shayda” is a woman-driven story that depicts the repercussions of the Australian immigration system and resonates with a new image of the Great Southern Land we have not seen before.

Noora Niasari dedicated her first work to her mom and all the brave women of Iran. She will continue working on her trilogy and has just announced that her next project is an adaptation of Mahsa Rahman’s novel “Raya” in North America.

“Shayda” is an affectionate, female-driven film with a sense of belonging. This cathartic project reflects the challenges experienced by a single mom during her separation from her abusive husband, as she moves away from her totalitarian country to find shelter and personal fulfillment for her and her daughter in a new land that represents a new beginning for both women who dream of a better future. 


Director Nooria Niasari & film critic José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © Festival in LA, 2023

Actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi & film critic José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © Festival in LA, 2023

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Sunday, November 5, 2023

Anselm: The Most Transcendental Artist of Our Time in 3D

  By José Alberto Hermosillo 


“Anselm” is a luminous and poetic documentary about the monumental work of the German iconoclast Anselm Kiefer.


Directed by award-winning filmmaker Wim Wenders (“Wings of Desire,” “Faraway, So Close,” “Paris, Texas,” “Pina 3D,” “The Salt of Earth,” and most recently “Perfect Days” in Japan), the documentary, titled in German “Anselm – Das Rauschen der Zeit,” offers a deep understanding of Kiefer’s oeuvre, focusing not on his personal life but on his body of work. The documentary adds 3D and 6K resolution, lending Kiefer’s art an immersive, fascinating luster. 

 

As the story unfolds, watching him work passionately and intensely in his considerable studio in the Renaissance town of Barjac, in southern France, is a delight for all the senses.



The German artist is one of the most important exponents of Neo-expressionism. Many consider him a humanist for reflecting an essential part of the human condition in his work. The nonconventional visionary artist works with all the elements he can find in his surroundings. 


He likes to expand beyond the frame to create his vast masterpieces. The mixed media on canvas he uses is only a tiny part of his architectural interiors and immense landscapes.


For one of his series, he burns an enormous amount of dry grass on a wall. He adds paint, plaster, concrete, and molded metal – giving the canvas a unique structure, shape, color, texture, depth, and smell. 


Anselm Kiefer’s artwork transmits a sense of universality and infinite freedom to the spectator.


Anselm Kiefer was born in the Black Forest, in the southern town of Donaueschingen, Germany, in 1945, just at the end of WWII. His influences are the Norse legend, Wagnerian Opera, and Germany’s Nationalistic identity, including the Nazi shameful period he brought to the center of the conversation.
 
The extraordinary footage of the film includes still photographs from when he was thirty, making him seem different back then. Anselm Kiefer was a provocateur doing a photography series traveling around the world dressed in his father’s Wehrmacht uniform (German Armed Forces), displaying the Nazi salute during the 1968-1969 period.
 
He started as a bold artist who worked on the borderline between conventional and controversial presentations of his creations, ideologically speaking.
 
In contrast, he vividly paints the other side of history evenly by exposing the gas chambers of the concentration camps during the Holocaust. Other essential works also address the Jewish community’s exodus to Israel, as reflected in the exhibits. From one particular point of view, he cannot deny the obscure past of his heritage. Nevertheless, we can find healing and reconciliation through his magnificent art.

In some of his pieces, he compares mushrooms with cancer cells, and we can see how those fungi expand rapidly in the woods, as cancer does in the human body.


The indelible reality of Kiefer’s work comes in the series titled “Memory,” which I find reflects similar sentiments in the creation of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Still, at a large scale, where what people see is not exactly what the piece represents, it is essential to know Kiefer’s work because it is transcendent for the ages.
 
Some people accused him of being fascist, but Mr. Kiefer cannot control people’s reactions to his creations. He can not be standing in front of every piece telling viewers, “I am antifascist,” to defend himself. Nowadays, it is still not clear what he was before, but certainly, he is not a Neo-Nazi.

Anselm Kiefer has exhibited those gigantic pieces in Venice, Bilbao, Hamburg, Tel Aviv, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, to mention a few cities where his work has been acclaimed.

The nonintrusive cinematography was done by Wenders’ frequent D.P. collaborator Franz Lustig (“Aftermath,” “Perfect Days,” “Don’t Come Knocking”). 

The arresting visuals surrounding Kiefer’s work create a mystical atmosphere, prompting spectators to continue wondering about his creations and his personal life in a more intimate setting. Still, that story is yet to come, likely in a French or Hollywood biopic. For now, we must be content with this astonishing documentary.
 
The purpose of art and cinema, in particular, is to open up the discussion about the life and work of a controversial artist and to make audiences aware of the existence of such an essential and celebrated talent as Anselm Kiefer.

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