Thrilled to announce that VERTICES, feature movie by Arturo López Rodas, will be part of the AFI Latin American Film Festival.
Threre will be two screenings: Mon, Sept. 28, 7:00 + Q&A and Tue, Sept. 29, 5:30; at the fabulous AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. 8633 Colesville Road/ Silver Spring, MD 20910.
VERTICES is the debut feature by the talented Salvadoran filmmaker Arturo Lopez Rodas, recently awarded at the Cobb International Film Festival in the United States.
The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, is one of the nation’s premier film centers, exploring and celebrating new and classic films and filmmakers from around the globe. AFI Silver offers a year-round program of the best in American and international cinema, featuring a dynamic mix of specialty first-run movies; retrospectives; festivals; premieres, tributes and other special events; onstage guest appearances; and educational and community-based programs in a theatrical setting of the highest standards. Anchored by the stunningly restored 1938 Silver Theatre, the three-screen AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center is a state-of-the-art film and digital media exhibition venue, which serves as a national model for preserving and honoring our shared film and filmgoing heritage. AFI Silver is a program of the American Film Institute, which was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
“AFI Silver is where filmmakers feel they have died and gone to heaven. You pinch yourself thinking this can’t be real, but it is — one of the best places on the planet to share your work and to see the work of others.”
– Ken Burns, documentarian
VERTICES will also be released in cinemas and other venues across El Salvador and is hoping to be its country’s entry in the race for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Synopsis:
Good old Andrés passed away. Ricardo, José and Francisco meet at his funeral, after not seeing each other in almost thirty years. They used to be close, but life pulled them apart. The three of them agree to get a cup of coffee right afterwards and catch up, for old time’s sake. Soon enough, they start to behave like they were never estranged, visiting old meeting places while discussing life’s trivialities and the inevitability of death.
Arturo López Rodas about VERTICES:
Close friends usually grow apart over time. Life happens and treats people differently. The first draft of my script was about a group of old friends reuniting for someone’s birthday. I had just seen Tarkovsky’s “The Sacrifice” and I was inspired to make a story with a similar setting.
I sent my script to my good friend and filmmaker Francisco Menendez. I wanted his always wise feedback and, also, I wanted to shoot at the place where he grew up. His mom had passed a few months back and he was looking to turn the big old house into a true film school, which we don’t have in El Salvador.
“Of course”, he said. “I’ll read it on the weekend”. I don’t know if he ever read it. He had a heart attack a couple of days later.
I changed my script. Now it took place after a funeral.
Vertices is a story about death and the need to understand and assimilate everything that it entails. It’s about my friends, but it’s also about my father and my friends’ parents, who are no longer with us. It’s a little bit about the people who leave and a little more about the people who stay. It is a reflective exercise in which the actors integrated their life experiences and developed their characters, enriching the plot. I am eternally grateful to be able to share something so personal.
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