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Buenos Aires 100 Kilometros
Buenos Aires 100 kilometros (2004) is an Argentine, French, and Spanish, film, written and directed by Pablo Jose Meza. The picture features Juan Ignacio Perez Roca, Emiliano Fernandez, Alan Ardel, Hernan Wainstein, Juan Pablo Bazzini, among others. Buenos Aires 100 kilometros at the Internet Movie Database.
The film, partly funded by INCAA, tells a coming-of-age story in a town 100 kilometers from Buenos Aires.
Plot
A group of five friends around thirteen years old begin to understand that the life is not simply about riding bicycles, playing soccer games, or, if they can, enjoying the summer.
Guido (Alan Ardel): works under his fathers orders and is sometimes rewarded with a beating.
Damian (Juan Pablo Bazzini): is an adopted child and, as such, suffers from an identity crisis that typically marks the teenage years.
Matias (Hernan Wainstein): is left outside his own house every night by his hateful parents.
Alejo (Emiliano Fernandez): discovers that his mother has a lover and that women have desires and men have their failures.
Esteban (Juan Ignacio Perez Roca): is the goal-keeper of the football team and, as such, has the central role among his friends. Esteban draws his generosity from his family.
With their hormones kicking-in due to reaching puberty the boys become curious of women and begin to have sexual desires. Yet, they still have to deal with their parents and families.
They begin to spend time outside a women's hairdressing salon.
The five boys yearn to grow older faster and dream about a place outside of their small town.
Cast
Juan Ignacio Perez Roca as Esteban
Emiliano Fernandez as Alejo
Alan Ardel as Guido
Hernan Wainstein as Matias
Juan Pablo Bazzini as Damian
Sandra Ballesteros as Raquel
Rolly Serrano as Oscar
Daniel Valenzuela as Horacio
Adriana Aizemberg as Dona Anita
Distribution
The film was first presented at the Marrakech International Film Festival in Morocco on December 8, 2004. It opened wide in Argentina on February 10, 2005.
The picture was screened at various film festivals, including: the Toulouse Latin America Film Festival, France; the Cartagena Film Festival, Colombia; the Gramado Film Festival, Spain; the Huelva Latin American Film Festival, Spain; the Havana Film Festival, Cuba; and others.
Critical reception
Deborah Young, film critic for Variety magazine and reporting from the San Sebastian International Film Festival, gave the film a mixed review and wrote, "There's a feeling of autobiography in Pablo Jose Meza's first feature, Buenos Aires 100 Km....Without the sardonic edge of similar tales like the Uruguayan 25 Watts, pic also lacks the charm of a magic tale about growing up. What's on the screen is a notch franker than most TV fare, but not structured enough to win much play outside festivals...Aside from a few well-observed scenes and moments, there are a lot of warmed-over ideas and little compelling cinema." Young, Deborah. Variety, film review, October 14, 2004. Last accessed: February 17, 2008.
Sneersnipe Film Review, in a column reported from the Gramado Film Festival in Spain wrote, "Unpretentious and refreshingly touching, Pablo Jose Meza's film, Buenos Aires 100 KM, tells the ordinary story of a group of 5 Argentinean teenagers as they approach and apprehend the adult world and its brutal vanities for the first time." Sneersnipe Film Review, 2005.
Awards
Wins
Huelva Latin American Film Festival, Spain: Best New Director, Pablo Jose Meza; Silver Colon, Best Screenplay, Pablo Jose Meza; Special Jury Award, Pablo Jose Meza; 2004.
Lleida Latin-American Film Festival: Best Film, Best Original Screenplay; Pablo Jose Meza; 2005.
Nominations
Marrakech International Film Festival: Golden Star, Pablo Jose Meza; 2004.
Cartagena Film Festival, Colombia: Golden India Catalina; Best Film, Pablo Jose Meza; 2005.
Gramado Film Festival: Golden Kikito Latin Film Competition; Best Film, Pablo Jose Meza; 2005.
Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best First Film, Pablo Jose Meza; 2006.
External links
Buenos Aires 100 kilometros at the cinenacional.com .
Buenos Aires 100 kilometros Brazilian official web site at Panda Filmes.
Buenos Aires 100 Km film review at La Nacion by Adolfo C. Martinez .
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Buenos Aires 100 Kilometros
