“Argentineans express profound universal
truths in simple anecdotes. It gives their
storytelling tremendous impact,” says
Andrés Lema-Hincapié, assistant professor
of contemporary Spanish-American literatures
and cultures. He is working to integrate
films from Ibero-America, countries in the
Americas that were formerly colonies of Spain
or Portugal, into this year’s Starz Denver
Film Festival.
Such films are noticeably absent at
events across the United States, says Lema-
Hincapié. When he broached the idea to
Howie Movshovitz, the Starz Film Center’s
education director, he was told to start small.
Supported by the Department of Modern
Languages, Lema-Hincapié coordinated the
university’s first Ibero-American Film Series
last fall, screening four Argentinean films and
drawing student audiences who may otherwise
never have such exposure to that culture. The
series continued through the spring.
Lema-Hincapié says Argentina’s thriving
cinema makes its films powerful candidates
for November’s film festival. In both his native
Colombia and the United States, he suggests,
audiences without choices cannot appreciate
the cultural nuances of different regions. Films
from Spain, for instance, could offer audiences
a deeper understanding of that single country’s
complexities. He is excited about making his
case to the incoming executive director of
the Starz Denver Film Festival through his
acquaintance with Movshovitz.
Lema-Hincapié believes it would be
inspirational to bring Argentinean
filmmakers, actors and critics to speak
with audiences in Denver. This ambitious
project may take time, but he’s begun to lay
the groundwork