We want your articles and publications! We DO publish.
Do you want to
write a review? Do you want to write a commentary? You name it, we'll
publish it! Submit your articles, or ask for our writing guidelines,
publish@salsacrazy.com.
FILM FESTIVAL FOR SALSEROS
Salsa truly "no
tiene frontera" - (to quote a song from the Japanese Orquesta de la Luz)
by Maya
-- Read the Updated Review of the San
Francisco Film Festival!
The yearly SF Film Festival beginning this Thursday will feature several films
where salsa is either the main topic (see below) or is flickering in the
background even in movies that have nothing to do with music. One of the
characters in the French READ MY LIPS (
)went
to a salsa club and met a lover (what else is new?). A very serious
documentary about Israeli-Palestinian relations THE INNER TOUR (
)
is showing a club scene in Tel-Aviv with salsa music and dancers spilling on
the street. Another salsa fabulosa is accompanying an… unmentionable scene in
a delightful coming of age story from Australia LA SPAGNOLA. (
)
Why unmentionable? You've got to see for yourself, besides, this bittersweet
drama might be a worthy contender for an Oscar. (Read the upcoming festival
review)
This year several festival films might interest Latin music lovers. First of
all, there's VAN VAN, LET'S PARTY(
),
a documentary from Argentina about the most famous (or so they claim) Cuban
band Los Van Van. The entire film consists of interviews with band members,
past and present, as well as musical footage of current and past shows, some
as early as 1970. There's also their appearance in Miami where Cuban exiles
staged a protest as well as their biggest triumph - winning a Grammy. My
ratings: ****for Cuban music fanatics, ** for salsa lovers in general and *
for general public.
Van Van will be screened 27, 29 and 30 of April at Kabuki theaters.
Another promising documentary about Latin music SOUND OF BRAZIL was made by
none other than Mika Kaurismaki from Finland whose brother Aki made quite a
splash at the Toronto Film Festival some time ago with his unusual movies
popping up in North-American theaters ever since. Not yet rated.
Sound of Brazil will be shown 4/19 at Castro, 4/21 at Kabuki and 4/23 at PFA.
Why so many dance films are flops? Remember this fabulous Australian movie
Strictly Ballroom? This was a rare film on the dance theme that was also a
work of art winning prizes at several film festivals. Its Japanese version
Shall We Dance and the American Dance With Me don't even come close. Another
dance movie, Tango Lesson, could bore you to death if not for its tango
numbers. Unfortunately, here comes one more from Hong-Kong, DANCE OF A DREAM (
)and
this one takes the prize for its capacity to rot your teeth with its sweetener
coated stupidity. One nice tango number and a few pleasing salsa sounds
cannot compensate for the time wasted watching it. * for the easy to please
dance lovers. None for everybody else.
Still interested? 4/28 and 5/01 at Kabuki.
Don't get fooled by the Taiwanese movie titled MILLENNIUM MAMBO. It has
nothing to do with the dance. If interested in world cinema, watch for the
upcoming film festival review in the beginning of May.
Return to SalsaCrazy Features!
