[NY Daily News, March 6, 2013]

Film Cycle Captures Epic Encounters

José Manuel Simián

What do the study of Argentinean actors rehearsing a Shakespeare play, the traces left by Orson Welles’ trip through Brazil in 1942, and the objects found at the house of a Chilean filmmaker? That they can all be the starting point of “Epic Encounters,” says film critic Jerónimo Rodríguez, curator of the six-film cycle that runs until April 10 at the 92YTribeca (200 Houston, Manhattan).

“It’s called ‘Epic Encounters’ because all these films have to do with encounters (whether fortuitous or premeditated) between mostly Latino filmmakers with episodes that have been almost forgotten by history, or activities that are rarely represented on screen,” adds Rodríguez, host of film segment Toma Uno on NY1 Noticias.

The cycle —co-organized by the prestigious Flaherty Seminar (“the best-kept secret among those who love innovative cinema,” says Rodríguez)— starts today at 7pm with the screening of “Vikingland,” the work produced by Spanish director Xurxo Chirro from the video footage shot two decades ago by a Galician sailor traveling between Denmark and Germany. Like in most screenings of the cycle, the auteur will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.

“I’m interested in the frailty of the past, especially when that past is slippery and fuzzy,” adds Rodríguez. “Cinema sometimes has the capacity to illuminate those corners and make them a part of our present.”

Tickets and more details: www.92y.org/Tribeca