The Brazilian economy - and its cinema - has bounced back, with Walter Salles' Central do Brasil one of the most talked-about films in this year's competition. The Argentinian Film Institute is pouring money into local product. New laws in Spain have endowed its cinema with a mainstream edge.
Leading the Latin charge today is Vicente Aranda's La mirada del otro (The Naked Eye). Tracking the attempts of a upper-class woman to explain her sexuality to other people, La mirada is likely to raise an eyebrow or a thousand.
Many of the films, such as Brazilian box-office hit, The Battle of Canudos, explore their own society, its pain and poverty. But, as Jeanne Waltz's O que te quero suggests, Latin cinema is more than flamenco and local references. Ventura Pons' acclaimed Caricies (Caresses) - in the market tomorrow - has a Spanish feel, but its tales of lovelessness in the city could occur in Berlin.
One influence is a new generation of filmmakers who are borrowing heavily from US movies. Another is a sense of a generational divide, as in Fintar o destino (Dribbling Fate) by Portugal's Fernando Vendrell and Escrito en el agua from Argentina's Marcos Loayza's.
Perhaps the film which best captures this new malaise, is Alejandro Amenabar's Panorama player Abre los ojos (Open Your Eyes). Its hero suffers a car crash; uncertain about his past and present, he decides to take the risk of living in the future. JH
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