At the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (BAFICI), which returns to the cinemas for its 23rd edition which runs from April 19 to May 1, 2022, the HFPA will hold several events that will highlight its contributions to film restoration and cultural exchange.

This year, the Festival will devote a section to screening restored Argentine classics such as Mario Soffici’s Prisoners of the Land (1939) and Manuel Antin’s The Odd Number (1962), as well as international gems like L’avventura (1960) and Il desserto rosso (1964) from Michelangelo Antonioni, among many others. Three HFPA-funded restorations of films (in partnership with IndieCollect) by queer icon Jan Oxenberg will also be screened.

As BAFICI’s artistic director Javier Porta Fouz explained in his heartfelt introduction, “Jan Oxenberg’s two shorts plus the feature that are being shown in versions restored by IndieCollect under the director’s supervision are among the highlights of this edition of BAFICI.”

Porta Fouz’s enthusiasm didn’t end there as he explained why it was so important for him to screen Oxenberg’s films in Buenos Aires. “Oxenberg’s only feature film to date is more than thirty years old, and it’s one of those films that exemplify the absurd way films circulate. Thank You & Good Night was well received in its time, but that time didn’t extend, it didn’t last. And that is one of the injustices this focus will try to mend because, with her films, some of the paths of contemporary film will suddenly become clearer. And we will be presented with a unique and enjoyable opportunity of becoming more lucid in the way we think [of] cinema and the world through cinema.”

Oxenberg’s films are part of a large number of restored films from all over the world, including some classics from Argentina, that several organizations have been rescuing in the last few years with the financial support of the HFPA. For this special occasion, the journalistic group behind the Golden Globes also funded the subtitling of the films in Spanish to get them ready for screening at BAFICI. Home Movie, A Comedy of Six Unnatural Acts and Thank You & Good Night will be exhibited together several times, the premiere screening on April 21 at the legendary cinema Lorca on Avenida Corrientes, which will be also available online for viewing in other parts of the South American country.

But the big day for the HPFA will be April 25. At 7 pm, a representative from the group will take part in a panel organized by the festival about film restoration at the Cultural Center San Martin that will be moderated by Leandro Listori from the Museum of Cinema Pablo Ducros Hicken. The subject of the conversation will be Restoration: Patrimony and Authorship. Other participants will be Alberto Acevedo from the MUBI platform; Fernando Madedo, president of the Society of the Audiovisual Patrimony; and Mariana Avramo from the career of Audiovisual Preservation and Restoration.

Later that day, a reception organized by the HFPA and the Society of Film Critics of Argentina, which has presented the prestigious Condor de Plata awards for the best local films for almost 70 years, will take place at Milion, the official venue of the festival where the inaugural party will be hosted. There selected attendees will mingle and talk about the films they have seen while learning about the important transformation the HFPA is going through.

This is not the first time the HFPA has organized a reception at the Festival. In 2019, the press organization based in Los Angeles organized the first one, with many film directors, journalists, and accredited festival guests celebrating at the gardens of Museo Larreta in the chick neighborhood of Belgrano. They learned about the important philanthropic mission of the HFPA, which over the last 28 years has granted over $50 million to several good causes, including funding scholarships for 2,224 students and financing the restoration of 138 films in collaboration with several partners.

At the 23rd edition of BAFICI, through its thirteen-day run, 500 screenings will take place in 15 venues across Buenos Aires, and 200 more screenings will also be available in virtual form to extend the celebration of cinema to the whole country.