Currently making its way through a wintery Hamilton (May 3-9) before concluding in Christchurch (10-16), the Latin American Film Festival will at the very least make those attending green with envy at the sunbaked South American climate on display. Out of Wellington, KATE BLACKHURST sized up Possible Loves, a Brazilian romantic-comedy that conceptually riffs Sliding Doors; “It is refreshingly non-Hollywood and as such is able to handle straight and homosexual relationships with equal sensitivity, sexuality and humour.” Other films on her schedule: Posthumous Memoirs, an adaptation of a late 19th century novel by Machado de Assis, where “its excellence lies in the fact that it is almost impossible to explain”, and Enlightened by Fire, an ANZAC-timely, alternative Argentinean perspective on the Falklands War. Meanwhile in Auckland, KIM CHOE reviewed the rather far-fetched 7 Days, where a one Claudio Caballero attempts to gamble an exorbitant amount of money in the hope of raising enough funds to lure U2 to Mexico.

Also of considerable interest: Korean Cinema champion Adam Hartzell recently toured our country, posting a lengthy New Zealand Dispatch on the blog of film blogs (and all other film media), GreenCine Daily. In it, he discusses the Latin American Film Festival, Black Sheep, and the many books added to his collection while down under.