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Buenos Aires, Argentina — Alongside a tide of pensioner rallies and a workers strike that crippled a day’s transportation, the 26th edition of the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (Bafici) managed another explosive set of diverse screenings and industry discussions that wrapped on April 13, after 13 days of cinematic indulgence.

An awards ceremony, held at La Boca’s Usina del Arte Saturday evening, ushered in the final day of the buoyant affair, Laura Casabe’s “The Virgin of the Quarry Lake,” “Under the Flags, the Sun” from Juanjo Pereira, and Tomás Terzano’s latest short “The Banner,” (“El Banner”) taking top plaudits.

The meticulously curated program coaxed throngs of cinephiles to six arthouse and mainstream venues nestled in the heart of the city’s theater district, Teatro San Martin, acting as the event’s industry hub. The Museo del Cine, south-of-center, held special screenings and events in parallel. 298 films from...

Domestic bliss and a fruitful career collide with latent trauma and erotic expression in the teaser trailer for Argentine helmer Javier Van de Couter’s latest project, “Thesis on a Domestication” (“Tesis sobre una domesticación”), shared exclusively with Variety.

Backed by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna’s ambitious Mexican production company La Corriente del Golfo (“State of Silence”), the film will compete for the Q Hugo Award, bowing globally as it screens within the LGBTQ+ focused Outlook program at the Chicago International Film Festival, running Oct.16-27, before heading on to Morelia.

Buenos Aires-based Aurora Cine founder Laura Huberman (“El perro que no calla”), Ramiro Pavón at Argentina’s Oh My Gomez! Films (“El perfecto David”), Van de Couter and La Corriente del Golfo’s Lorena Cándano de la Peza, Mónica Pérez and Kyzza Terrazas produce the project alongside Bernal and Luna, their companies’ ever-championing bold narratives that add...