For its 2016 edition, the Costa Rica International Film Festival has selected American filmmaker Kelly Reichardt for a retrospective, which will include a screening of her latest celebrated title, Certain Women (which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last January). The film won the best film award at the London Film Festival in October, and Reichardt was notably nominated for best director at the Independent Spirit Awards. The fest will show River of Grass (1994), Old Joy (2006), Wendy and Lucy (2008), Meek’s Cutoff (2010), and Night Moves (2013).
Compared to last year, the program has increased its slate (from 64 titles in 2015 to 72), while the CRFIF continues to showcase regional cinema by unveiling two distinctive line-ups, a Central American Competition and an International Competition. In the international realm, several notable entries have premiered at previous festivals (Mohamed Diab’s Clash premiered at 2016’s Un Certain Regard line-up in Cannes, for instance). Last year’s top prize in this section went to Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent, while Best Central American film was a tie awarded to Ana V. Boroquez and Lucia Carreras for The Greatest House in the World and Esteban Ramirez for Imprisoned.
The festival takes place in city of San Jose from Dec. 8th-17th. Here is the line-up:
Central American Competition
Abrazame como antes – Jurgen Urena – Costa Rica
El sonido de las cosas – Ariel Escalante – Costa Rica
Los ofendidos – Marcela Zamora – El Salvador – Mexico
La felicidad del sonido – Ana Endara – Panama
Es hora de enamorarse – Guido Bilbao – Panama
La sombra del naranjo – Patricia Velasquez and Oscar Herrera – Costa Rica
International Competition
Alba – Ana Cristina Barragan – Ecuador
The Blind Christ – Christopher Murray – Chile
The Future Perfect – Nele Wohlatz – Argentina
Tarde para la ira – Raul Arevalo – Spain
The Girl Without Hands – Sebastian Laudenbach – France
Clash – Mohamed Diab – Egypt/France
Radio Dreams – Babak Jalali – Iran/USA
My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea – Dash Shaw – USA
La tempestad – Tatiana Huezo – Mexico
The Land of the Enlightened – Pieter-Jan De Pue – Belgium/Netherlands/Ireland
Memories of a Penitent Heart – Cecilia Aldarondo – Puerto Rico/USA
All These Sleepless Nights – Michal Marczak – Poland
