– Sputnik has a rich autumn program
A Lino Brocka retrospective, plus the release of “Pepe”, which won over the Berlinale this year, are notably on the program.
Published today at 6:58 p.m.
“Bayan Ko”, one of Lino Brocka’s best-known films.
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- The Lino Brocka retrospective presents films never before seen in Switzerland.
- “Pepe”, a Dominican tale, explores the absurd.
- Several recent and fantastic queer films enrich the programming.
- “Beasts of the Wild South” returns to Sputnik thanks to new programmers.
The program is extensive. And it must not have been easy to assemble. We pointed out a few days ago in a Good Deals page, the fall program at Cinema Sputnik is of rare richness. And there is still time to see most of the scheduled films. Let us note first of all, and this is perhaps the biggest part of the affair, a retrospective dedicated to Lino Brockawith, for the most part, films never shown in Geneva (or even in Switzerland). It goes hand in hand with the upcoming DVD/Blu-ray release from Carlotta of titles signed by this Filipino filmmaker who died in 1991.
About him we know both little and a lot. He made a lot of films, up to several per year, but almost none were released outside his country. It was not until the Cannes Festival selected “Insiang” in the Directors’ Fortnight (today filmmakers) in 1978. Then “Jaguar” in 1980. “Bona”, which dates from 1980, was part of the selection Cannes Classics This year. It centers on a young girl from the middle class and deals with the exploitation of women long before this theme was widely discussed.
The Sputnik program also includes “Manila” (1975), a portrait of a city reduced to poverty, “Macho Dancer”, an immersion in the world of male striptease, “Bayan Ko”, a working-class drama, “Cain and Abel”, portrait of two brothers at war, plus the aforementioned “Insiang”. All in all, this should give a fairly good idea of the disparate work of a filmmaker who is rarely cited due to lack of access to his films.
And here is Pepe.
DR
But at Sputnik, there are also firsts. This is the case this month with “Pepe”, by Nelson Carlo from Los Santos Arias. This Dominican film presents itself as a protean tale filtered through the eyes of a hippopotamus named Pepe, the last one to be killed in the Americas. From the absurd emerge truths and a completely unique cinematic proposition. It’s sometimes a bit posey, but the whole thing manages to strike the retinas with a certain aplomb. The film was one of the sensations of the last Berlinale in February. It also explores the border between fiction and documentary.
Lesbian legacies
It remains to discover several titles about which we know absolutely nothing. Such as “Devil Queen” by Antonio Carlos da Fontoura, a Brazilian film dating from 1974, a story of the substitution of one man for another for love. Or two recent queer films, “If I’m Here, It’s by Mystery” by Clari Ribeiro and “Mamántula” by Ion de Sosa. Their particularity? They are also fantastic films. “JJ” by Pauline L. Boulba and Aminata Labor is part of an “extended cinema” session around Jill Johnston, and in partnership with the La Dispersion bookstore. This includes questioning access to lesbian heritage. Finally, and we will not be able to cite everything, the work of the three new programmers of Sputnik being justly to be saluted, we will also have the opportunity to rewatch “The Beasts of the Wild South” by Benh Zeitlin, which received the Caméra d in 2012. ‘gold at Cannes, and which is relatively little shown.
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