Jun 28, 2010
Festival
San Francisco, CA – Alamar (Mexico 2009, SFIFF 2010), Pedro González-Rubio’s effortlessly beautiful film about a father and young son spending a summer working (and playing) along Mexico’s Caribbean coast, opens Friday, July 30 on SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.
Seemingly fused together with salt spray and sunlight, Alamar floats and bobs along with the rhythms of the surf as two men and a boy fish, prepare food, eat, sleep, work and talk (barely) along the water. Seagulls hover and flap inches from their heads, crabs and turtles dart and scurry along the beach, sunsets and sunrises come and go, tides rise and fall-and a father, son and friend watch the summer go by. If it sounds simple, it is, but such is the beauty of a film that casually draws together nature and man, documentary and fiction, as if the art of moviemaking were the most innate, heartfelt act in the world. In today’s contemporary cinema landscape, Alamar‘s purity of spirit and form comes as a revelation. “I was inspired by the simplicity of happiness,” says director Pedro González-Rubio of his poetic film, set amid the Mexican Caribbean’s spectacular natural beauty and sleepy coastal villages-the Mayan fishing communities of the country’s fabled Banco Chinchorro (home to the world’s second-largest coral reef). Alamar is a crowning example of the renaissance in Mexican independent film, and a memorable testament to the fact that cinema still can draw inspiration from, and dare to capture, the simplicity of happiness.
Written by Pedro González-Rubio. Photographed by Pedro González-Rubio. With Jorge Machado, Roberta Palombini, Natán Machado Palombini. In Spanish with English subtitles. 73 min. Distributed by Film Movement.
For screeners and interviews contact hilary@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit: http://www.sffs.org/pressdownloads.
At the Sundance Kabuki all seats are reserved and an amenities fee is in effect for most shows. Tickets are available through the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas box office, at kiosks in the lobby and online at sundancecinemas.com/kabuki with print-at-home capability. San Francisco Film Society members receive discounted admission only to SFFS Screen programs and only at the box office, not online or at the lobby kiosks.
Also coming to SFFS Screen
August 6: Making Plans for Lena In Christophe Honoré’s latest work a family weekend in the Breton countryside spirals out of control for recent divorcée Lena (Chiara Mastroianni) when her mother invites her ex over without her knowledge in this New Wave-inspired look at a woman on the verge.
August 13: Vengeance Johnnie To’s genre-busting gem populated by a hit man turned chef, family men moonlighting as assassins and earnestly official women detectives stars Johnny Hallyday, the iconic French crooner who exudes cool.
August 20: Army of Crime Robert Guédiguian’s lush historical drama focuses on a largely overlooked cell of French Resistance fighters-refugees of the antifascist fight throughout Europe, mostly Jews and communists-led by French Armenian poet Missak Manouchian (Simon Abkarian) and his wife Mélinée (Virginie Ledoyen).
For full, complete and up-to-date information on all SFFS Screen programming, including buying tickets, visit sffs.org. Information and tickets are also available at sundancecinemas.com.