Long Time No Sleep

In 1969 Argentine filmmaker Hugo Santiago directed Invasión, his opera prima, written by Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares, and later settled in France. This film documents his return to Buenos Aires in 2013 to shoot his latest film, Le ciel du centaure.


In this genre-hopping road movie from Daughters of Fire director Albertina Carri, Violeta, the director of an amateur lesbian porn hit, is invited to make a mainstream crossover. With a budget and cast, but no firm idea where to go, the crew head off on a road trip in search of their perfect film.

Roque starts University in Buenos Aires but he is not particularly interested in attending classes or working towards a degree. Instead, he dedicates his time to one of the many groups vying for control of the university, motivated less by grand political ideals than by a wish to get close to Paula, an attractive young teacher heavily involved in internal university politics.

It is no coincidence that the second feature by Argentinian Melisa Liebenthal begins with a quote from “Duino Elegies” by Rilke, who was concerned with existential angst. And, more prosaically, Marina, the film’s young protagonist, is faced with similar anxiety. In fact, her problem is her face. One morning, she discovers her face has changed, and she can no longer recognise herself. Not even her mother can, who bumps into her on the street and says hello to her like she would to any stranger (deadpan, surreal humor is part of the film’s recipe). Marina is thus forced to confront her identity: who is she? Is she determined by her parent’s DNA or by her ID card? Can she be identified by a family portrait, by biometrics or the love of those around her, including her Colombian boyfriend? Is she prettier now?

In 1899, German neurobiologist Christofredo Jakob arrived in Argentina to conduct his research at the Hospital de las Alienadas, an insane asylum for women. More than a century later, in a semi-abandoned ward of what is now the Hospital Moyano, the traces of that experience appear in the form of brains and heads preserved in formaldehyde, stuffed animals and photographs from the patients who inhabited the hospital.