Caazapá International Film Showcase to offer free screenings and filmmaker talks

Caazapá will host its first International Film Showcase this Friday and Saturday, bringing free screenings and filmmaker discussions to the capital of Paraguay’s sixth department.

The program begins Friday at 3:30 p.m. on General Genes Street, beside the Copaco premises, with “Profesión cinero,” a documentary by Hugo Gamarra about Tito Juan Vera, who took cinema to communities across Paraguay.

At 6 p.m., Paz Encina’s “Ejercicios de memoria” will examine the story of Agustín Goiburú, who disappeared during Paraguay’s dictatorship, through the memories of his children. Sebastián Peña Escobar’s “Los últimos” follows three friends on journeys through the Paraguayan Chaco. A discussion with Peña Escobar will follow the 8 p.m. screening.

Saturday’s schedule opens at 11 a.m. with the German children’s film “Checker Tobi y el viaje a los ríos voladores,” by Johannes Honsell. Gabriel Muro’s Argentine documentary “Un suelo lejano,” about the founding of Nueva Germania, will screen at 2 p.m., followed by a discussion.

At 5 p.m., the showcase will present Yulia Lokshina’s German documentary “Alrededor del paraíso,” which premiered this year at the Berlin Film Festival and was filmed in Caazapá. The film portrays European migration to the area. Director Lokshina, sound technician Alejandro Weyler, cameraman Zeno Legne and editor Urte Allfs will attend the post-screening discussion.

Ñande Cine is coordinating the event with support from the Goethe-Institut through the Paraguayan-German Cultural Institute, Goethe Zentrum.