Queer Thursdays Cinema – Jan 9 @ 7:30 PM – THIS IS NOT BERLIN

Photo by Alfredo Altamirano

Questioning his role within the soul thieving conformity of mid-’80s Mexico City, 17-year-old Carlos is loath to participate in adolescent machismo antics, preferring instead to tinker with electronics while listening to classic rock. He has a kindred spirit and best friend in Gera and a burgeoning infatuation with Gera’s untouchably cool sister Rita, an artist at ease with her outsider status. When Rita invites them to see her band at infamous avant-garde club the Aztec, they’re introduced to an uninhibited world of performance art, edgy music, and sexual fluidity-welcome counteragents to two-fisted teen politics and the imminent threat of adulthood. Inspired by club owner and progressive artist Nico, wide-eyed Carlos experiments with identity politics, tasting the forbidden fruits of hedonism at the expense of Gera’s devotion.

Venue: Cinestudio

Directed by: Hari Sama

2019, Mexico, 115 min, in Spanish with English subtitles

 

“Hari Sama’s autobiographically inspired feature is a joyfully edgy dive in the Mexico City punk/New Wave underground of the mid-80s.” Read the full VARIETY review here.

2019 Sundance Film Festival
Nominated, Grand Jury Prize
World Cinema – Dramatic

2019 Tribeca Film Festival
Nominated, Best International Narrative Feature
Tribeca Critics’ Week