BOMBON EL PERRO | Dir. Carlos Sorin | 2004 | 97 min | 14A

Patagonia is a rough land, and for 52-year-old Juan Villegas, it's even rougher. A mechanic who's just lost his job, Juan tries to make ends meet by selling hand-made knives. One day, after repairing a young woman's car, he is given a most unusual gift: a beautiful Dogo Argentino, a game hound of noble pedigree called 'Bombón'. After initially eyeing each other carefully, Juan welcomes Bombón into his life and with their budding friendship things start taking a remarkable turn for the better.

Between November and December Calgary Cinematheque presents a four-film series from a diverse set of Argentine directors, all released in the 21st Century as Argentina was emerging from their economic crisis. The four films, JAUJA (Lisandro Alonso), THE HEADLESS WOMAN (Lucrecia Martel), BOMBON (Carlos Sorin) and VIOLA (Matías Piñeiro), are by directors associated with different regions of Argentina because of their film settings. In addition, these directors themes and styles range from a vérité style to a cinema inspired by theatre and literature.

JAUJA | Dir. Lisandro Alonso | 2014 | 109 min | PG

An astonishingly beautiful and gripping Western starring Viggo Mortensen, JAUJA (pronounced how-ha) begins in a remote outpost in Patagonia during the late 1800s. Featuring a superb performance from Mortensen, JAUJA (the name suggests a fabled city of riches sought by European explorers) is the story of a man’s desperate search for his daughter, a solitary quest that takes him to a place beyond time, where the past vanishes and the future has no meaning. 

Between November and December Calgary Cinematheque presents a four-film series from a diverse set of Argentine directors, all released in the 21st Century as Argentina was emerging from their economic crisis. The four films, JAUJA (Lisandro Alonso), THE HEADLESS WOMAN (Lucrecia Martel), BOMBON (Carlos Sorin) and VIOLA (Matías Piñeiro), are by directors associated with different regions of Argentina because of their film settings. In addition, these directors themes and styles range from a vérité style to a cinema inspired by theatre and literature.

VIOLA | Dir. Matías Piñeiro | 2012 | 65 min | G

A dazzling and delightful mystery about love and its follies from filmmaker Matías Piñeiro, VIOLA follows a young woman who joins a small Shakespeare theatre company in Buenos Aires and becomes entangled in a seductive roundelay of romantic dalliances, intrigue and revelation.

Between November and December Calgary Cinematheque presents a four-film series from a diverse set of Argentine directors, all released in the 21st Century as Argentina was emerging from their economic crisis. The four films, JAUJA (Lisandro Alonso), THE HEADLESS WOMAN (Lucrecia Martel), BOMBON (Carlos Sorin) and VIOLA (Matías Piñeiro), are by directors associated with different regions of Argentina because of their film settings. In addition, these directors themes and styles range from a vérité style to a cinema inspired by theatre and literature.

THE HEADLESS WOMAN | Dir. Lucrecia Martel | 2008 | 87 min | PG | 35mm

A bourgeois middle-aged dentist named Veronica (MARIA ONETTO) drives alone on a dirt road, becomes distracted, and runs over something. Immediately she becomes disoriented, unmoored from her identity and reality, like a sleepwalker who’s actually awake. As the week goes on, she becomes obsessed with the possibility that she may have killed someone: a young boy whose body is found in a roadside canal. Veronica tries to piece together what happened while her husband systematically erases her tracks. A chilling parable about a woman in shock, Lucrecia Martel’s third feature explores the intricacies of class and the role of women in a male-dominated society.

Between November and December Calgary Cinematheque presents a four-film series from a diverse set of Argentine directors, all released in the 21st Century as Argentina was emerging from their economic crisis. The four films, JAUJA (Lisandro Alonso), THE HEADLESS WOMAN (Lucrecia Martel), BOMBON (Carlos Sorin) and VIOLA (Matías Piñeiro), are by directors associated with different regions of Argentina because of their film settings. In addition, these directors themes and styles range from a vérité style to a cinema inspired by theatre and literature.