“EMA” Pablo Larraín / Chile / 2019 / 102 min

https://pragda.com/film/ema

Spanish with English subtitles

Adoptive parents Ema (Variety’s 10 Latinxs To Watch 2020’s Mariana Di Girolamo) and Gastón (Gael García Bernal) are artistic free spirits in a contemporary dance troupe whose lives are thrown into chaos when their adopted son Polo is involved in a shockingly violent incident. As her marriage crumbles in the wake of the couple’s decision to reverse the adoption, Ema embarks on an odyssey of liberation and self-discovery as she dances and seduces her way into a daring new life. Centering on the sinuous, electrifying art of reggaeton dance, Ema is an incendiary portrait of a lady on fire, the story of an artistic temperament forced to contend with societal pressure and the urge to conform. From one of Chile’s greatest living filmmakers, Pablo Larraín, comes a psychologically acute exhumation of Latin American life under restriction featuring an unforgettable heroine who is determined to move freely through the world, as she electrifies everyone and everything around her.

5 pm, Shriver 001

Free entrance

All films are captioned

The 2024 Latin American Film Festival is co-sponsored by the Aronson Center for International Studies, the Center for Advanced Media Studies and the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures.