The Circuit

by Martin Dale
"Norteado" swept up all 3 awards in San Sebastian's Films in Progress section, but the prize-giving speeches also emphasized the quality of this year's selection, showcasing the current vitality of Latin American cinema.

Loneliness, claustrophobic social pressures, the struggle to survive, disorientated men, feisty women and wonderful intrinsic humor, were just some of the intriguing ingredients of the 6 Latin American films in this year's 14th edition.

In "Arctic", the third feature by award-winning Buenos Aires-based director Santiago Loza, we follow a young man as he wanders through a sweltering zone of the Argentinian interior in the hope of recovering his kidnapped wife

Loza creates a sense of icy despair and oppression by almost constantly tracking directly behind the protagonist, filling one third of the frame with his sweat-drenched shoulders and nape of his neck, deliberately hiding the wider landscape.

29-year old Chilean-director Sebastian Silva stirred up visible interest from sales agents at the screening with his second feature, "The Maid".

Catalina Saavedra stars as a live-in maid who spent her last 23 years essentially confined to the house, where she is slowly losing her mind.

Silva sets the audience on a knife-edge, unsure whether the maid is about to derail psychologically and creating moments of intrinsic humor.

Inspired by the director's own childhood experiences and shot in his family home, the film turns on its organic portrayal of the family members where the servant is the bedrock of the family -- as long as she's in crisis so is the rest of the family.

Providing a rare insight into life in Nicaragua, Florence Jaugey's "La Yuma" portrays a young woman from a poor neighborhood who is training to become a boxer.

"Optical Illusions" by 33-year old Cristian Jimenez has a subterranean melancholic humor that the director claims is typical of his home town Valdivia in Southern Chile where the film is set.

The film weaves together three stories, including that of a shopping mall security guard who falls in love with an elegant young woman who's hooked on shoplifting.

"The Tree" by Carlos Serrano, has certain parallels with Loza's "Arctic." We follow a lonely man's disconcerting journey through the streets of Madrid as he tries to come to terms with losing his job and separating from his wife.

Winning film, "Northless" by Rigoberto Perezcano begins in similar vein - with a lone man crossing the desert in blistering heat, but then switches gear and transforms into a tale about attempts to cross the intimidating US-Mexico border wall. 

Notwithstanding the oppressive imagery of the border wall and repeated, desperate attempts by Mexicans to cross it, the film also carries a humorous touch as the main character romances, and is helped by, two local women whose husbands have both previously crossed the border leaving no trace.

The Variety España team is on the ground in Spain, bringing regular dispatches throughout the San Sebastian Film Festival.