26th annual Bogocine film festival to hit Bogota

The Empty Nest, Inglourious Basterds, and Broken Embraces are just a few of the films to be showcased at the event, which will pay tribute to India.

The festival will be officially opened Thursday with a screening of Hindi Film Taare Zamen, by director Aamir Khan. In 2009 Bogocine’s guest of honour is the nation of India, in order to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Therefore, festival directors have chosen films that reflect the color and scent of sandalwood that almost impregnates Indian cinema, one of the oldest – and certainly one of the best developed film industries – in the world.

Newspaper El Espectador reports that Colombians will be able to experience dance, poetry, and drama from India’s main film sites: Mumbai (better known as Bollywood), Chennai, and Hyderabad, which in 2007 produced 1,132 films, a feat that owes much to India’s cultural diversity.

Until October 9, Bogocine will screen 120 films from 32 countries in 10 different categories.Colombia will be represented by the film Flashback (which is also currently participating in Bogota’s Horror Film Festival); El Man: National Superhero; Voice of the Wings; and Christmas Eve.

Cinephiles will also enjoy a sample of new Latin American films, including The Empty Nest, by Peruvian Claudia Llosa (Berlin Bear winner 2009).

Among the films to be screened but which will not be participating in any category are Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces; Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds; and Sin Nombre, produced by Mexicans Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna.

There will also be 199 Recipes for Happiness by Andrés Waissbluth (Chile/Spain); All That She Wants by Denis Côté (Canada); Paper Cemetery by Mario Hernández (Mexico); My Prison Yard by Belén Macías (Spain); The Gift by Cristián Galaz and Andrea Ugalde (Chile); Flame and Citron by Ole Christian Madsen (Denmark); Jodha Akbar by Ashutosh Gowariker (India); Tomorrow by Manuel Concha (Sweden); Paris 36 by Christophe Barratier (Germany); and Three Days by F. Javier Gutiérrez (Spain).

More details can be found on the official site.

Related posts

Colombia promotes police chief despite extreme brutality

How Colombia turned US support for protests into support for violent repression