Film buffs and porteños, take note: This coming weekend, the year’s first edition of the Festival de Cine Bajo las Estrellas will bring outdoor screenings of two Costa Rican films, Puerto Padre, directed by Gustavo Fallas, and Por las Plumas, directed by Ernesto Villalobos, to the Pacific port city of Puntarenas.
The Festival began in 2012 as a project of the Costa Rican Center for Cinematographic Production, inspired by various film festivals taking place in both Latin America and Europe. Its mission: to bring audiovisual art forms to parts of Costa Rica beyond the Central Valley.
“Most of the time, all cultural events occur in the capital,” Daniela Arias, spokeswoman of the festival, told The Tico Times. “We want to reach other communities. Our plans are to share with different people and expose them to a different film style, not the commercial one.”
The Puntarenas version, which is co-sponsored by local production company Nosotros Producciones, is the third edition of the festival, and the first in the province of Puntarenas. Previous iterations of the festival have included events in the Osa Peninsula, Puerto Viejo, Bagaces, Sarchí, San José, and Nandayure, screening Costa Rican films including El Regreso by Hernán Jiménez, Cielo Rojo by Miguel Gómez, and Gestación by Esteban Ramírez.
“This time Puntarenas was chosen because we really wanted to release the movie Puerto Padre in this location,” Arias said, “It was filmed right here in Puntarenas and some of the actors are from here, so we want them to be part of this experience.” Director Gustavo Fallas will participate in the festival and will share information about the movie with the audience.
Besides enjoying the experience of watching movies outdoors, festival participants will be able to participate in workshops about audiovisual production in order to learn about the filmmaking process. The festival will also screen some short films produced by students from Veritas University.
For more information about the festival, visit the Cinematographic Center website.
