Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2011

The eighth LBFF comes to Tokyo and Yokohama with a bevy of attention-getting films from Iberia and Latin America. Making the trip from Chile for the festival is influential film director and essayist Alberto Fuguet, who appeared on the cover of Newsweek in 2003 representing the new generation of Latin writers. Films to watch out for include Gerardo Naranjo’s hard-hitting portrayal of Mexico’s drug war, Miss Bala, and a rare screening of Cuba no Koibito, Kazuo Kuroki’s 1969 depiction of a doomed Japanese-Cuban love affair (girl chooses country over man) produced on the occasion of tenth anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

Shinjuku Wald 9, Sep 15-19 and Yokohama Bulk, Oct 7-10 (listing).