Mar del Plata sets Pena as No. 2

Argentina festival to run Nov. 6-16

By CHARLES NEWBERY

BUENOS AIRES -- Argentina's Mar del Plata Intl. Film Festival has tapped Fernando Pena to be second-in-command at Latin America's only FIAPF Class A festival.

Pena is working under helmer Jose A. Martinez Suarez, an institution in Argentina, to prep the 23rd edition of the fest, which will run Nov. 6-16.

He declined to give details, saying announcements will be made in two months or so.

An archivist, critic and programmer, Pena quit last year as director of the Buenos Aires Intl. Festival of Independent Film, the country's biggest and busiest for production and sales deals.

The National Film Institute, Incaa, shifted the Mar del Plata festival to November from March to take advantage of a pre-summer buzz in the coastal city.

Incaa, which sponsors the fest, hopes to bring in better titles and more foreign talent, given that March is a busy time on the fest circuit, sandwiched between Berlin (February) and Cannes (May).

Pena said the fest will take submissions of docs, features and shorts until Aug. 29

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