8th Hispanic Film Festival

The Athens Hispanic Film Festival – FeCHA returns for its 8th edition,  to highlight for one more year the cinematic wealth of Spanish-speaking countries. The 8th FeCHA will take place at the open-air cinemas Ellinis Cinemax Europa Cinemas, Aello Cinemax, while screenings will be hosted by the Cervantes Institute of Athens and the Hellenic American Union.

The 8th FeCHA is part of This is Athens – City Festival by the Municipality of Athens.

The program of the 8th FeCHA includes 17 feature films, a tribute to the Peruvian director Roberto Bonilla and a selection of the best Spanish-language short films of recent years in the beloved section of the cortoFeCHA Festival.

The official opening film of the Festival will be the film “Bajo Terapia”, in the presence of the film’s director and producer Gerardo Herrero and producer Mariela Besuievsky. In the film three married couples undergo an unusual group therapy. Their psychologist, although she is not with them in the session, has left them folders with instructions on what to do. The film is based on the award-winning play by Argentine writer Matías Del Federico, which was first performed in Argentina in 2015, and has since been performed in more than 15 countries around the world. Herrero and Besuievsky produced the 2010 Academy Award-winning Best Foreign Language Film, The Secret in Her Eyes.

The 8th FeCHA will close with the film ” Radical”, by Christopher Zalla, which won the Audience Award at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Based on a true story, the film tells the story of a teacher in a corrupt and violent Mexican border town who tries a radical new teaching method to unlock his students’ curiosity and potential, perhaps even their intelligence.

Program

Wednesday, May 29 | 21:00

Tribute to the Peruvian director Roberto Bonilla. In collaboration with the Embassy of Peru.

Roberto Bonilla is an excellent director and screenwriter, who has made short documentaries, animated films and fiction films. His film work depicts the cinematography of Peru in the period of the 80s and 90s and is an important contribution to the audiovisual heritage and history of Peruvian cinema.

Es Amador | 1979, 12 minutes

To the rhythm of violin and cajón, the documentary shows part of the life of Afro-Peruvian musician and zapateador Amador Ballumbrosio, known to his friends as Champita.

Caña dulce, caña brava | 1980, 13 minutes

Based on the poetic narration “Hay Si, Santiago Paisi”, by Cesar Calvo, an irrigator from northern Peru sows the “caña brava” and harvests the “caña dulce”.

Lazeros | 1990, 10 minutes

In Úcupe, Chiclayo, there was the hobby of the horsemen to go out to capture wild donkeys that came down from the ravine of the highlands to the coastal plain, in search of fresh grass. Master Urita is in charge of making the leather lassoes; the patrol is commanded by Jaime Rivas, the best Lazerote, and Segundo Rivera, the fastest roper in the world.

El tercer sueño | 1987, 10 minutes

On a deserted beach, two 17th century gentlemen duel for the honor of a beautiful 20th century woman.

Al toque de queda | 1987, 9 minutes

Animated short film that narrates, in a comedy tone, the adventures and misadventures of a character who is shot during the curfew, installed to stop the wave of violence that convulses the country by the terrorist group Shining Path.

PM López | 1999, 16 minutes

Short film that, with black humor, depicts life as a reality TV show.