NEXT MARCH 7TH THE FIFTH EDITION OF “PANTALLA PINAMAR” WILL OPEN UP

“Pantalla Pinamar 2009” – The Fifth Argentine-European Film Encounter will open up next Saturday, March 7th. The event is organized by the Argentine National Institute of Film and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA) and by the Municipal Government of Pinamar, and it is sponsored by the Cultural Institute of the Province of Buenos Aires, and has been declared “Of National Interest” by the Honorable House of Representatives of the Nation.

Throughout eight days, 54 feature films and three short film programs will be screened. The screenings, as usual, will take place at Bahía and Pinamar cinemas, located on Avenida Bunge. On Sunday 15th, there will be a post-festival day when several titles will be repeated. General tickets will cost four Argentine pesos and there will be ten ticket blocks for twenty pesos. All tickets sold during the show will participate in INCAA’s regular draws and also in the prize draw for two invitations to go to the 2010 edition of the Malaga Spanish Film Festival.

The Argentine production will be present in two main sections.  The first one, “And The Winner is…”, offers a competition among all feature films, already released or about to be released in 35 mm, which during the previous year competed in the official section or that received an award in any international film festival graded a “Class A.” The audience and the critics present at their screenings will emit their vote electronically and the three works getting the higher averages will receive the Balance de Oro, Balance de Plata and Balance de Bronce Awards. The second section —shared with the European cinema— is “Today is Tomorrow.” In it long awaited titles to be commercialized during this season will be screened as pre-premières. Jointly, we will view “The Window,” new “opus” by Carlos Sorín, chosen as the opening film.

There will also be documentary and short national films in the program. And three anthological titles will be remembered on their anniversaries: “Camila,” by María Luisa Bemberg; “Breve Cielo,” by David José Kohon, and “Don Segundo Sombra,” by Manuel Antín. Moreover, “Work in Progress” presentations will be made of works under shooting or in post-production stage, and also press conferences on all films in the program which have not yet been released.

Regarding the European cinema, its offer will basically split into “avant-premières” in “Today is Tomorrow” and the exhibitions in “One Day, A Film,” dedicated to works of valuable content, not yet commercially distributed in our market. The section “The Event” will be for Italy and the so much talked about “Gomorra," by Matteo Garrone. The highest qualified Spanish products will still appear in “The Best of the Malaga Spanish Film Festival.” A special section has been programmed on “Latest Czech Films.”  Other European film products will be viewed in the spaces dedicated to documentaries, short films and children’s films. “The Surprise Film” also comes from the Old World film industry this year.

After having included, in its two previous editions, examples of Lebanese and Egyptian screens, “Pantalla Pinamar” will have as its special guest the Moroccan film production. There will also be the traditional “American Night.”
Important Argentine and European delegations will accompany the days of this encounter, unique in the overwhelmed agenda of film events, as it is essentially dedicated to promoting the film industry of these two origins.