The programmers of the Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente (BAFICI) are pillars of independent cinema in Latin America. This year, they join REGARD with a generous selection of some of the finest recent Argentine short films, a program brimming with playfulness, energy, and creative vitality. Together, these works offer a striking portrait of a cinema that continually reinvents itself. Working with minimalist elements arranged in playful alchemy, Té de Burbujas unfolds as a light and charming comedy. La Pasión transforms cinephilia into a driving force, affirming that a cinema nourished by its own history can never fade away. With Parado mirando, contemporary filmmaking takes shape through wandering and chance encounters, as carefree youths drift through a city that seems to overlook them. Everyday life takes an unexpected turn in El día interrumpido, which follows a mother whose children insist on visiting a cemetery. In No quiero ver el sol, quiero ver el sol, two young girls embrace the art of “whatever it takes,” propelled by an idea as absurd as it is disarming: what if we never slept again? Finally, El Banner draws inspiration from urban neurosis, as the delayed delivery of a banner triggers a frenetic comedy from which no one emerges unscathed. Taken together, these films showcase the richness and inventiveness of contemporary Argentine cinema. Far from losing momentum, this vibrant scene continues to flourish with renewed energy, driven by the talent of its filmmakers and sustained by BAFICI’s unwavering commitment since 1999.

* Screened as part of a double feature with the Americana program