Latin American cinema stepped outside traditional borders at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival, showcasing a rich array of films from the Global South that challenge historical exclusion in commercial distribution and festival programming.
What We Know About This Year’s Festival Lineup
- Thirteen Latin American features were programmed at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival, with seven playing in competition.
- Alessandra Sanguinetti’s documentary The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer received the Gold Hugo prize in the Documentary Competition.
The Quarter-Century Documentation of the Buenos Aires Countryside
One of the standout entries at the festival was Alessandra Sanguinetti’s documentary The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer. Sanguinetti, an American-born photographer raised in Argentina from age two, began documenting two young neighbors, Guillermina Aranciaga and Belinda Stutz, in 1999. The cousins were around 10 years old and resided in the Buenos Aires countryside.
Ready for the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival?Here's a first look at films in our Special Presentation & Spotlight programs: pic.twitter.com/BHJEUEe8Jz
Over a span of 25 years, the girls became Sanguinetti’s muses, serving as the subject of two published photography collections: The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of their Dreams in 2010 and The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Illusion of an Everlasting Summer in 2020. The documentary shares its name with the latter collection and compiles footage captured between photographs, tracking the cousins from girlhood through their mid-30s.
Growing Pains and Memories in Competition Entries
Colectivo Colmena member Fernanda Tovar’s debut feature Sad Girlz also focuses on girlhood, following competitive swimmers Maestra, played by Rocío Guzmán, and Paula, played by Darana Álvarez. The two actors developed their sweet and believable chemistry through improvisational character development led by Tovar. Rosa Hadit Hernández provided underwater cinematography for the film.
Another Mexican selection, Bruno Santamaría Razo’s autobiographical semidocumentary Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building, had its U.S. premiere at the festival. The film begins with an interview between Santamaría Razo and his mother before jumping back to the mid-1990s to follow Bruno, played by Jade Reyes, as his father Mundo, played by Gabino Rodríguez, receives an HIV diagnosis. Sofía Espinosa stars as his mother Diana.
Political Legacies and Colonial Aftermath
The film explores the life of late journalist, film critic, and revolutionary Michèle Firk, using her writings to trace anti-imperial movements leading up to the 1966 Tricontinental conference in Havana, Cuba.
The echoes of imperialism also surfaced in Meritxell Colell Aparicio’s Far From the Trees, the sole diaspora film in the International Competition. The film follows Adela, played by Angélica Castelló, a Mexican sound artist seeking to preserve the memory of her Catalan Republican grandparents. She travels to Peru to record endangered languages like Quechua alongside guide Lucho, played by Jose Luis López Cama, while back in Mexico, her 98-year-old grandmother Toni is cared for by Paula, played by Teresa Sánchez.
| Film Title | Director | Origin / Country | Festival Accolade |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer | Alessandra Sanguinetti | Argentina / United States | Gold Hugo (Documentary Competition) |
| Tricontinental, Letter to Open in Case of | Laura Cazador | Switzerland / Cuba | Silver Hugo (Documentary Competition) |
| Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building | Bruno Santamaría Razo | Mexico | Outlook Competition Special Mention |
| Marie Madeleine | Gessica Généus | Haiti | New Directors Gold Hugo Winner |
Dystopian Realities and Disabled Artists in Focus
The experimental project blends video diaries with interviews featuring disabled artists in Chicago, examining the realities of caretaking and the enduring works of historical artists like Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, and Henri Matisse.
