La sociedad del semáforo (The Stoplight Society), a Colombia/Spain/France/Germany co-production, directed by Rubén Mendoza, will be one of 12 films scheduled to screen at MoMA's Iberoamérican Images film exhibition here in NYC – a collection of Latin American, Spanish, and Portuguese movies, mostly unknown to those of us here in the USA.
The films in the exhibition are titles supported by Ibermedia, an intergovernmental organization with over 20 member countries that facilitates and finances co-productions of documentaries and fiction films between its Spanish- and Portuguese-language member countries, and grants money for international distribution and promotion.
These film travel, screening at festival, exhibitions and screening series all over the world. Ibermedia, and they're in New York currently, at MoMA, for the third time.
Several of the filmmakers with films in the series will be present to introduce their films – like La sociedad del semáforo (The Stoplight Society); I found its trailer most appealingly delirious, even though it's not subtitled, and I couldn't understand a word 🙂
Its synopsis reads:
In the city, thousands of displaced peasants gather around traffic lights to beg at intersections. One of them, Raul, who makes ends meet by collecting recyclable garbage, stubbornly claims he has invented a device that extend the duration of red lights, allowing more time for acrobats, jugglers, beggars, and peddlers to collect money in stalled traffic. In the midst of this fantastic delirium, the lives of Raul and his fellow travelers slides further towards the abyss, and their predicament becomes a symphony of despair, devoid of hope and touched by anarchy. Innovative and unafraid to take on seriously flawed characters, the film captures a barely acknowledged underbelly of urban life, but its real achievement is the discovery of sardonic humor and even joy in the most unlikely places.
I embedded the trailer below; for the full lineup of MoMA's Iberoamérican Images film exhibition, which runs from today, through December 15th, click HERE.
