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BAFICI, or Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente, has announced international competition lineup for the 23rd edition of the festival, which takes place from April 19-May 1 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, or BAFICI, is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the month of April, in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
BAFICI, Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente, was founded in 1999 and is considered as the most important independent film festival in Latin America.
Every year BAFICI, or Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente, brings together the most outstanding films by innovative national and international filmmakers and is consolidated as one of the great cultural proposals of each year in Buenos Aires.
The 23rd edition of the BAFICI invites the audience to reconnect with Buenos Aires’ legendary downtown and all the magic of its nights unfolded in movie theaters, bookstores, pizzerias, and also in its streets.
For 13 days, the cultural heart of the city will beat again in more than 15 venues distributed in different neighborhoods, with almost 500 screenings inviting the attendees to enjoy the magic of independent cinema.
The 23rd edition of the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema offers more than 200 virtual screenings that open its doors to the whole country, so that from Jujuy to Tierra del Fuego, millions of Argentines can enjoy the most important independent film festival in Latin America.
BAFICI 2022 / International Competition lineup
A lineup of 31 movies have been selected to go on screen in the International Competition section of the 23rd BAFICI, or 2022 Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente.
“L’État et moi”
Directed by Max Linz, “L’État et moi” is an anarchic comedy about the origin of German criminal law.
“Le Prince” (“Prince”)
In “Le Prince (Prince)”, directed by Lisa Bierwirth, when curator Monika gets mixed up in a raid in a Frankfurt’s seedy district, she meets the businessman Joseph. This chance encounter turns into an intense love affair whose consequences end up spiraling out of control.
“Carrero”
Directed by Fiona Lena Brown & Germán Basso, “Carrero” tells the story of the 17-year-old Ale, who decides to help a cart driver from the neighborhood by teaming up with him in picking up the city’s trash. The new bonds distance Ale from his home, and he decides to move to a squatted plot.
“Clementina”
In “Clementina”, directed by Constanza Feldman & Agustín Mendilaharzu, the entire world is locked down, but Clementina and the man she’s quarantined with never stop working. We know very little about him, and even less about her—we barely see, time and time again, her mysterious face, which seems to defy everything .
“El sistema K.E.OP/S” (“The K.E.OP/S System”)
In “El sistema K.E.OP/S” (“The K.E.OP/S System”), directed by Nicolás Goldbart, a strange organization named K.E.OP/S spies on Fernando Blansky. He suspects it’s a prank, but things take a dark turn when he discovers he is being followed, someone enters his home and the emails become threatening and violent.
“Fanny camina” (“Walking Fanny”)
Directed by Alfredo Arias & Ignacio Masllorens, “Fanny camina (Walking Fanny)” tells the story of Fanny Navarro, an Argentinian actress from the 1950s, a devotee of the Peronist cause and Eva Perón’s confidant, walks the streets of today’s Buenos Aires and runs into characters from her past life. Her tragic history emerges gradually as a strange labyrinth.
“Ida” (“One Way”)
Directed by Ignacio Ragone, “Ida (One Way)” tells the story of a sick man, who embarks on a trip of no return. A filmmaker proposes to shoot that trip. This is the result of the experience.
“La visita” (“The Prospect”)
Directed by Carmela Sandberg, “La visita (The Prospect)” tells the story of Danila, a real estate agent, who receives the visit of Luis, the possible buyer of an old apartment downtown. The solid walls, the labyrinthine spaces, the silence and Luis awaken in her a state of alert, and turn her job into a possible trap.
“Macadam”
In “Macadam”, directed by Ignacio Sarchi, after love comes family—thus, the first-time mother decides to get rid of every link that no longer has a place in her life, even that of her partner and the ghost of the father figure, which always comes back, reincarnated in an old car.
“Soñé que carneaban a Tom” (“I Dreamed That Tom Was Butchered”)
In “Soñé que carneaban a Tom (I Dreamed That Tom Was Butchered)”, directed by Martín Slipak, Martín goes jogging, but an unknown woman trips him up. The unknown woman’s husband doesn’t understand his wife’s behavior. Marín has a date with a Japanese girl, but is hurt. The woman who tripped him up has a dream in which her poodle is butchered. No one understands what goes on in the mind of the other.
“El gran movimiento” (“The Great Movement”)
In “El gran movimiento (The Great Movement)”, directed by Kiro Russo, after walking for a week, Elder and his miner mates arrive in La Paz to demand the restitution of their jobs, but Elder gets sick and his health starts to deteriorate. Mama Pancha and Max, a reclusive, clown-like witch doctor, do everything within their reach in order for the young man to recover.
“El pa(de)ciente” (“(Im)Patient”)
Directed by Constanza Fernández, “El pa(de)ciente ((Im)Patient)” tells the story of Sergio Graf , who is a doctor and an ethics expert. Sergio must fight the Chilean health system as a patient when they discover he suffers from Guillain-Barré syndrome. A path towards physical decay and the return to that which, up to now, he had taken for granted—his family.
“Proyecto fantasma” (“Phantom Project”)
Directed by Rroberto Doveris, “Proyecto fantasma (Phantom Project)” tells the story of Pablo, who is a young actor working as a pretend patient in strange alternative therapies for a living. His trouble starts when his roommate disappears, leaving him with debt, a dog and a vest possessed by a ghost.
“Tundra”
Directed by José Luis Aparicio, “Tundra” tells the story of Walfrido Larduet, a lonely electric inspector, who dreams of the Red Woman, whose image persists and becomes an obsession. Something tells him she’s close. Over the course of a day, Walfrido follows her trail as he goes through the suburbs of an infested city.
“Fe” (“Faith”)
Directed by Maider Fernández Iriarte, “Fe (Faith)” tells the story of Sofía, who saw the Virgin Mary. Then she traveled to Lourdes and recovered from something incurable. In another time and place, a group of doctors get together in order to analyze her case. What happens when science and religion meet?
“Sis dies corrents” (“The Odd-Job Men”)
In “Sis dies corrents (The Odd-Job Men)”, directed by Neus Ballús, in order to fulfill his temporary contract in a new job, a young Moroccan plumber must deal with his equally eccentric colleagues and clients.
“Happer’s Comet” (“El cometa de Happer”)
Directed by Tyler Taormina, “Happer’s Comet (El cometa de Happer)” is a midnight mosaic that reveals a suburban city immersed in alienation. In a series of vignettes that unfold like a collective dream, Happer’s Comet reveals Taormina’s gift for transforming everyday banality into enigmatic cinema.
“Leonor Will Never Die”
Directed by Martika Ramirez Escobar, “Leonor Will Never Die” tells the story of Leonor Reyes, who was once an important figure in the Filipino film industry, but now her family struggles to pay the bills. After an accident leaves her in a coma and transports her inside an incomplete film, Leonor will be able to discover the perfect ending to her new story
“Subserotic Bulge”
In “Subserotic Bulge”, directed by Flis Holland, from the fall of an iron meteorite filed to dust, stirred into cream and fed to 36 people to trans experiences with the medical system, this short film plays with the borders between reality and fiction. Which is which doesn’t always remain clear.
“Descente” (“4 AM”)
“Descente (4 AM)”, directed by Mehdi Fikri, after the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, the state of emergency is proclaimed in order to facilitate the work of police forces. At 4AM that night, a policewoman helps colleagues to conduct a search, but soon finds out that things aren’t going the way they’re supposed to.
“À vendredi, Robinson” (“See You Friday, Robinson”)
Directed by Mitra Farahani, “À vendredi, Robinson (See You Friday, Robinson)” is an insight into the role of the artist in the 20th and 21st centuries, with anything less than razor-sharp insight and humor.
“Un pequeño gran plan” (“The Crusade”)
Directed by Louis Garrel, “Un pequeño gran plan (The Crusade)” tells the story of Abel and Marianne, who discover that their 13-year-old son Joseph has secretly sold their most precious possessions. They soon find out that Joseph is not the only one—all over the world, hundreds of children have joined forces to finance a mysterious project. Their mission is to save the planet.
“Shelter” (“Refugio”)
Directed by Erica Kwok, “Shelter (Refugio)” tells the story of a nighttime delivery man, who meets a woman working at a publishing house. He helps her to deliver boxes of books to a warehouse during rainy days, and each encounter weaves an endearing bond between the two.
“Bagatelle”
“Bagatelle”, directed by László Csáki, is an adaptation of George Petri’s poem “Bagatelle”. This semi-animated experimental short piece, compiled as a found footage film, reflects on the ups and downs of nose-blowing and probably life itself.
“The Cry of Granuaile” (“El grito de Granuaile”)
Directed by Dónal Foreman, “The Cry of Granuaile (El grito de Granuaile)” tells the story of a grieving American filmmaker and her Irish assistant, who tour the west of Ireland to research a film about a legendary pirate queen from the 16th century.
“Tomeina watashi” (“Transparent, I Am”)
In “Tomeina watashi (Transparent, I Am)”, directed by Yuri Muraoka, when the world is forced to change drastically due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the director wonders what changes she sees in it, as the white mask over her face becomes the screen that projects his past.
“Techno, Mama”
Directed by Saulius Baradinskas, “Techno, Mama” tells the story of Nikita, who loves listening to techno music and dreams of traveling to Berlin to visit the famous Berghain club. His mother, Irena, has no idea of her son’s projects, and their expectations begin to clash.
“Malintzin 17”
In “Malintzin 17”, directed by Eugenio & Mara Polgovsky, the director and his 5-year-old daughter film a turtledove nesting from their window, which awakens the child’s curiosity and gives way to conversations about the fractured relationship we have with nature and the very purpose of making films.
“Our Ark”
Directed by Deniz Tortum & Kathryn Hamilton, “Our Ark” is a film-essay about the technologists’ attempts to make a “backup” of the planet through 3D models of animals and objects, as if ecological collapse could be avoided through a digital Noah’s Ark.
“After a Room” (“Después de una habitación”)
“After a Room (Después de una habitación)”, directed by Naomi Pacifique, Nights are long inside Naomi and Ram’s room. Exploring intimacy as personal playground and skin as intimate map, Naomi’s docile body is coming loose amidst the tension.
“Sotavento”
In “Sotavento”, directed by Marco Salaverría Hernández, two children anxiously await a call from their grandfather, who tells them the fabulous feats of fisherman Sotavento. Late one night, and taking advantage of their parents’ deep sleep, they decide to embark on their most yearned-for adventure—the journey by sea that will lead them back home.