Co-presented by the Consulate General and Promotion Center of the Argentine Republic in Los Angeles. Sponsored by Wines of Argentina.
The 12th annual Argentina New Cinema series returns with another impressive lineup, including Argentina’s official entry for the 2014 Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar, THE GERMAN DOCTOR, Lucía Puenzo’s tense historical drama about a Patagonian family who unwittingly entrust their daughter’s medical care to Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele. A contemporary thriller, THESIS ON A HOMICIDE, stars Ricardo Darin as a university law professor who, while investigating a campus murder, comes to suspect one of his own students. Heist films have universal appeal, and their mix of excitement, comedy and romance are shown to fine effect in two films. The stylish HOLD UP! is based on a real-life robbery that took place in the mid-1950s when Perón loyalists attempted to lay hands on jewelry that once belonged to Evita Perón. A priceless bottle of wine is the prize at stake in TO FOOL A THIEF, in which stars Daniel Hendler and Valeria Bertuccelli spar with each other when they’re not trying to break a Mendoza bank vault.
All films make their Los Angeles premieres here! All films are in Spanish with English subtitles unless otherwise noted.
Series compiled by Belén García Alcat, Pablo Maseda and Gwen Deglise. Program notes by John Hagelston. Films in this Series at the Egyptian
Egyptian Theatre • Fri, Nov 22, 2013 – Sun, Nov 24, 2013
Opening Night Reception! Los Angeles Premiere!
Program begins with guest introductions; feature starts at 7:30 PM.
Opening-night reception for all ticket holders following the film.
TO FOOL A THIEF (VINO PARA ROBAR)
2013, 105 min, Argentina, Dir: Ariel Winograd
Sebastian (Daniel Hendler) meets Natalia (Valeria Bertuccelli) while he’s trying to steal an important piece of art from a museum – but she beats him to it. Though rivals, they must work together to pilfer a unique and very expensive bottle of Malbec de Bourdeos from the mid-19th century that’s now locked away in a heavily guarded bank vault in Mendoza, Argentina. In this glamorous place, among mountains and vineyards, the thieves pull out all the stops, only to discover that nothing is what it appears to be in this crowd-pleasing heist comedy. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Sat, Nov 23, 2013 – 7:30pm Egyptian Theatre
THE GERMAN DOCTOR / HOLD UP!
Double Feature! Los Angeles Premieres!
Argentina’s Official Oscar Submission!
THE GERMAN DOCTOR (WAKOLDA)
2013, Samuel Goldwyn Films, 93 min, Argentina, Dir: Lucía Puenzo
As WWII ground to a close, many Nazis fled Germany for South America; the notorious Josef Mengele hid with a family in Bariloche, Argentina, in writer-director Lucía Puenzo’s fictionalized thriller. Àlex Brendemühl is chilling as the German doctor, who offers to treat underdeveloped Lilith (Florencia Bado) before the trusting girl’s parents realize who he is. This impressively crafted and subtle film was an Un Certain Regard nominee at the Cannes Film Festival. In Spanish, German, and Hebrew with English subtitles.
HOLD UP! (¡ATRACO!)
2012, 112 min, Argentina, Dir: Eduard Cortés
This entertaining heist picture is based on a real-life robbery that took place in Spain in the mid-1950s. When the wife of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco sets her eye on jewels that once belonged to the late Eva Perón (of Evita fame), two Argentine loyalists (Guillermo Francella and Nicolás Cabré) decide to steal them first. Director Cortés (THE PELAVOS) deftly polishes the comic, romantic and serious facets of this crowd-pleasing gem. “Smartly written, energetically executed and notably well cast down to the smallest of roles.” – Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter In Spanish with English subtitles.
Egyptian Theatre • Sun, Nov 24, 2013 • 7:30pm
Los Angeles Premiere!
THESIS ON A HOMICIDE (TESIS SOBRE UN HOMICIDIO)
2013, Latido Films, 106 min, Argentina, Dir: Hernán Goldfrid
Ricardo Darin (THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES) stars as Roberto Bermudez, a brilliant former lawyer who now teaches at a university. After a woman is murdered near the school, one of Bermudez’s students (Alberto Ammann) takes an unusual interest in the case. Could this mysterious young man be the killer – and is he now toying with the law professor? In Spanish with English subtitles.