2014 Venezuelan Film Festival

By Stephanie Hernandez

The second annual Venezuelan Film Festival kicked off on September 19th at the Tribeca Cinemas in Manhattan. The festival ran through the 25th and featured award-winning films and events.

On opening night, a Venezuelan band greeted the audience and the cinema on Varick Street was filled with vivid bright strobe lights and banners. Director Irene Yibrin founded the Venezuelan Film Festival in 2013. “I’m thrilled that we are able to bridge the gap between real life issues that affect people deeply in Venezuela with those same issues that affect people here in the United States and around the world,” said Yibrin.

Attendance in this year’s film festival opening doubled from the previous year, with over 1,200 in the audience. The festival line-up included 14 full-length films on themes such as gender, identity and sex. A few filmmakers chose topics and genres that are fairly controversial in Venezuela.

Films included: Papita Maní Tostón, The Longest Distance, I, Undocumented, My Straight Son, Cecilia and the Girls, The Law, La Casa del Ritmo: A Film About Los Amigos Invisibles, The House at the End of Time, and The Silence of the Flies.

Many in the audience opening night said their favorite film was “I, Undocumented” by Andrea Baranenko. “Esta pelicula me dejo pensando que la vida es frágil y única y hay que vivirla!! (This film made me think that life is fragile and rare and you have to live it!)”

Audience member Maritsa Bejaran from the Bronx said the film won the hearts of the audience with its depiction of the life of a young transgender Venezuelan’s daily struggles living in a homophobic society.

In addition to the films, there were panels on crowdfunding Indie filmmakers and on sex and gender in today’s Venezuela. Following the panels, there was a very entertaining film award ceremony. The opening performance began very quietly in a large dark room. Within seconds, the room lit up and music vibrated off the corners of the room. Dancers wearing colorful dresses performed and sang. “It was amazing, I’ve never seen something like that before,” said audience member Christian Mateo from Queens. A handful of Venezuelan filmmakers were honored and Alejandro Hidgalo took the prize for “Peoples Choice.”