1. City Of Men
After City of God, Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund’s swaggering drama about life in Rio’s slums, became a smash hit, Brazil’s TV Globo commissioned a mini-series to expand on the already epic story. In four 30-minute episodes screened together, directors Meirelles, Lund, Cesar Charlone, and Regina Case deploy many of the same actors—and, one hopes, some of the same bravado.
2. Marcelo Piñeyro Retrospective
In a festival pocked with Argentine films, the Film Society honors five by the veteran Piñeyro, including Tango Feroz, his full-throttle tribute to Argentine rock pioneer José Alberto Iglesias, and the New York premiere of his most recent film, Kamchatka, a gritty tale narrated by a 10-year-old who observes his family’s perseverance during the country’s “dirty war.”
3. What Sebastián Dreamt
In this unusual entry from Guatemala (the festival also includes films from Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Uruguay), novelist Rodrigo Rey Rosa adapts his own novel about a Spaniard who moves into the Guatemalan rain forest and clashes with poachers.
4. Pin Boy
A prize winner in Argentina, Ana Poliak’s simply shot drama tracks a kid who finds his first job—and second home—in an old-school bowling alley.
5. Love Hurts
Teenagers crisscross the graffiti-splashed barrios and gated communities of Mexico City in Fernando Sariñana’s very contemporary Romeo-and-Juliet romance.
September 17 to 29 at the Walter Reade Theater.