Hispanic cinema and the aesthetics of deceleration: Festival report

As in past years, the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival continued highlighting Spanish and Latin American cinema. Many of these films were characterized by their slowness or the ‘cinema of deceleration’ (Gemünden). Prominent proponents of this new aesthetic are Sebastián Lelio’s film Gloria (for which Paulina García won the Silver Bear), Neus Ballús’ first feature length semi-documentary La plaga, Ana Guevara Pose’s and Leticia Jorge Romero’s Tanta agua and Isabel Coixet’s slow-moving, science fiction Ayer no termina nunca, among many others. Of particular note was the workshop given by Argentine Lucrecia Martel.