Screening: THE HEIRESSES and Q&A with Filmmaker Marcelo Martinessi and Star Ana Brun Moderated by Nick McCarthy of NewFest

• Film

Chela and Chiquita have been partners for decades, lifelong members of Paraguay’s moneyed elite–until the money runs out. Now they spend their days selling their furniture, glassware, and silver to whoever will make them an offer. When Chiquita, the more garrulous and resilient of the two women, is sent to prison, Chela has to cope with loneliness and incipient poverty. Then a new option develops. The movie is anchored by two extraordinary, magnetic performances (Ana Brun as Chela won the Best Actress prize in Berlin) that suggest the untold inner resources of its principal characters. The director credits Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT as an important influence, describing THE HEIRESSES as “a coming-of-age film for a 60-year-old woman.”

PARAGUAY/GERMANY/BRAZIL/URUGUAY/NORWAY/FRANCE   2018   98 MINS

IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES      DISTRIB FILMS US

Nick McCarthy is the Programming & Operations Manager of NewFest, New York’s LGBT Film & Media Arts Organization; in addition to programming the annual New York LGBT Film Festival, Nick curates and runs NewFest’s year-round screening programs and series. His writing on film and media has appeared in multiple publications, including NBC News, Time Out New York, Slant Magazine, and the Boston Phoenix.