The AFFBCN in Mexico
The main objective of the film program that we are bringing for the first time to some cities in Mexico is to bring Asian auteur cinema to the public, a cinema that is beginning to be present in commercial circuits, although in a very selective way. In this way, we connect the cultures of this vast continent by means of an instrument as effective as cinema.
The program consists of five films to be screened from April 4 to 25 at the Guadalupe Balderas Forum of the Centro Recreativo Xalapeño, located at Xalapeños Ilustres 31, Zona Centro, Centro, 91000 Xalapa-Enríquez.
Programme
Thursday, April 4, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Drown | Dir. Mohammad Kart | Iran | 2020 | 120′ | VOSE | Drama
After a video of her class at a women-only swimming pool is leaked, Parvaneh is brutally murdered by her husband, Hashem, who is looking for a way to redeem his reputation and dignity as the neighborhood godfather. Hashem’s brother, Hojat, embarks on a journey into the labyrinths of underground Tehran to find the man responsible for this foul play. Falsely accused of drug smuggling in the past, Hojat returns to the world of crime to track down his brother’s rivals.
Born in Shiraz in 1986, Mohammad Kart graduated in acting and holds a diploma in directing. He began his acting career in 2000 and has since won several awards. His first documentary, Bruise, received the 2013 award for Best Social Documentary at Cinema Verité, Iran’s largest international documentary festival. His second documentary, Incubus-The Small Chance won Best Director at the Fajr Film Festival. With his short film, Pedovere, he won the Grand Prix at the Oscar-qualifying Odense International Film Festival and gained international recognition. Drown is his first feature film and has already won five awards, including the Audience Award at the Fajr National Film Festival in 2020.
Thursday, April 11, 2024 – 7:00 p.m.
Happiness | Dir. Askar Uzabayev | Kazakhstan | 2022 | 131′ | VOSE | Drama
A woman of great beauty lives a contradictory existence between who she really is and the bruises, wounds and scars visible on her body. She is a successful influencer who promotes a line of products called “Happiness”. As she demonstrates in her hypnotic sales presentations, this brand is supposed to make women attractive and happy. But, in her private life, she is the victim of abuse by an alcoholic husband, as will be her daughter after she marries a man who has gotten her pregnant but does not love her. Based on true events, Happiness aims to be a denunciation of male violence and its consequences.
Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Lockdown | Dir. Joel C. Lamangan | Philippines | 2021 | 97′ | VOSE | Drama
Danny is one of thousands of Filipino migrant workers who had to return home during the COVID-19 pandemic. He escapes from the quarantine center to be reunited with his family, but upon being taken in, he realizes the appalling conditions in which they live. Danny, in order to survive during the crisis, falls into the sordid world of online sex work acting in a clandestine brothel run by a certain Rene, where he will end up working in exchange for protection, after avoiding the health authorities, who raided his house taking his family and who are still after him.
Multi-award-winning Filipino director Joel C. Lamangan studied film and theater in the Philippines and abroad. He was an actor and director for theater and television, until he started acting for film and was able to make his directorial debut in 1991 with Darna. Among his most notable films are: The Flor Contemplacion Story (1995), for which he won the Golden Pyramid Award at the Cairo Film Festival in 1995 and Nora Aunor took home the Best Actress Award; Pusong Mamon (1998), Deathrow (2000), Hubog (2001), Huling Birhen sa Lupa (2003), Blue Moon (2006) and Deadline (2011). In 2014, her feature film Hustisya won the Best Actress Award and the Netpac at the Philippine independent film festival Cinemalaya. It was also screened at the Toronto festival and competed at the Warsaw and Nantes festivals. With Bhoy Intsik (2017) he won the special jury prize at the Porto festival. Rainbow’s Sunset won nine awards at the 2018 Manila festival, in addition to the special jury prize and best actor award for Eddie Garcia and Tony Mabesa at the 2019 Houston festival.
Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Where is Pinki? | Dir. Prithvi Konanur | India | 2020 | 107′ | VOSE | Drama
Bindu and Girish are a seemingly typical middle-class working couple in an urban Indian setting with an 8-month-old baby girl, Pinki. They leave their baby with a caregiver and go to work. Sannamma mixes Pinki’s milk with alcohol and lends the baby to a friend, Anasu. Anasu takes the baby to beg on the city streets. She leaves it under an overpass for a while to get a drink of alcohol. A city sweeper, Pathu, accidentally discovers Pinki and takes her away. Bindu returns home on her way to the office in search of something she has forgotten and discovers to her horror that Pinki and Sannamma have disappeared. Thus begins a frantic journey of searching in a labyrinth where finding them seems impossible.
Prithvi Konanur, a former software engineer, made his first screenplay, in English, The Abiding, which was adapted for film by Hollywood director Rob Schmidt. After this experience, Prithvi decided to study film at the New York Film Academy. After directing several short films, he made his first feature film Alegalu (Waves) in 2012, and it was produced by the Children’s Film Society of India under the Federal Government of India. Waves premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF KIDS) and screened at numerous international festivals. His second feature, Railway Children, had its world premiere at the Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI) and received a Special Jury Mention at the Zlin IFF and other awards at multiple International Film Festivals. Prithvi’s third feature film, Pinki Elli? (Where’s Pinki?) won the Movie Buff Appreciation Award at the 2019 Film Bazaar.
Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Los mensajes ocultos de Ganga | Dir. Antonio Rodrigo | India, Spain | 2020 | 61′ | VOSE | Documentary
Beyond the environmental problems faced by the Ganges River in the social context of India, the Goddess Ganga represents the course of life in Hinduism. According to mythology, Ganga descended from heaven in order to save and purify her people by crossing what represents a social and political artery for the country. But what lies beyond the course of the river? Past, present and the struggle for survival are intertwined in this documentary that takes a cosmological look at the mysteries and controversies facing one of the oldest rivers on the planet.
Antonio Rodrigo is a documentary filmmaker and founder of Nomadocs. A traveler and explorer of stories, he defines himself as a craftsman of social cinema. His first short film El Sentir desde Afuera was internationally awarded and selected to represent Spain at the Biennial of Young Artists of the Mediterranean held in Skopje in 2008. After some TV publications and more than 12 years of experience in the social documentary sector working for IFC, World Bank, GlobalCad and other organizations, he decided to become independent and founded Nomadocs with the idea of using his work as a tool for education and social awareness.
Casa Àsia | Seu Social 
