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The British Grant Gee is one of the most groundbreaking and brilliant filmmakers of rock culture and its surroundings of the last two decades. His credits include the notable documentaries about Radiohead (Meeting People Is Easy, on the harmful but inevitable effects of the massive “success” of a rock band) and Joy Division (trailer; co-written with critic and essayist Jon Savage and based on the tragic and fascinating story of a very relevant band in the history of rock). These and others key works will be screened in this year’s BAFICI, in addition to counting him in as one of the prestigious international guests coming to Buenos Aires.

The advance ticket sale runs through Wednesday, April 11 inclusive. Tickets can be purchased on-site at the Hoyts movie complex of the Abasto Shopping Mall (Av. Corrientes 3247), every day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and at Casa de la Cultura (Av. de Mayo 575), Monday to Friday, same hours. This ticket outlet will have a special schedule for the Easter Holidays: on Thursday, April 5, the box office will be open during regular hours, and on Friday 6, it will remain closed. The general admission ticket is 15 pesos, and the discount ticket is 13 pesos (for students and seniors who can prove their status). Also, tickets will be available for online purchase at this website.

At the different ticket outlets there will be an express lane for the purchase of a maximum of six tickets and a regular line for purchasing more than six tickets. If you would like to have a faster purchase experience, we recommend that you plan out your choices in advance by filling out the fast purchase form, which you can download by clicking here. The form will also be available at the Information desk. By doing this, you will speed up your purchase as well as other’s.

In this edition, three Argentine films will participate in the prestigious International Competition: La araña vampiro, by Gabriel Medina; Germania, debut film by Maximiliano Schonfeld; and Los Salvajes, by Alejandro Fadel. Together with these, there will be three foreign films that will have their world premiere at this BAFICI: Aquí estoy aquí no, by Chilean director Elisa Eliash; The International Sign for Choking, by American Zach Weintraub; and Emak bakial, by Basque filmmaker Oskar Alegría.

The strong presence of debut films by young filmmakers in the Argentine Competition (six out of fourteen) stands out once again as a hallmark of the Festival, which maintains its commitment to providing a launch pad for new creators and their original works. The debut films to premiere in this edition of BAFICI are Al cielo, by Diego Prado (trailer; produced by the La Plata Independent Film Festival); Mis sucios 3 tonos, by Juan Manuel Brignole; Igual si llueve, by Fernando Gatti; Ante la ley, by Emiliano Jelicié and Pablo Klappenbach; Salsipuedes by Mariano Luque (which participated at this year’s Berlinale); El espacio entre los dos, by Nadir Medina; and Villegas, by Gonzalo Tobal.

The already traditional film section for children and adults started in 2009 and has ever since grown in interest, attendance and variety. With the aim of bringing diverse film styles closer to children, moving away from the usual and most mainstream of films, Little BAFICI shows that there is a lot to see, and this edition is not the exception. This year, the section most notably includes Freddy Frogface (Denmark, 2011), by Peter Dodd, who will be attending the Festival, and Ricardo Ramón and Joan Espinaca’s Papá, soy una zombi (Spain, 2011), to be screened as part of the free open-air film series at the amphitheater of Parque Centenario.

The always prolific Argentine Competition of the BAFICI will feature, this year, 14 films, mostly debut films, which will have their world premiere. Something that, as Festival Artistic Director Sergio Wolf pointed out, reflects once again the Festival’s commitment to provide a national and international showcase for young filmmakers. In this competition, the awards granted by the jury will be “Best Film” and “Best Director” (in this edition, including a cash prize of 20 thousand pesos, awarded by the Association of Argentine Film Directors).

This year, Panorama's new sections focus on universal and individual issues that are reflected in different storylines and have already been present in the Festival, though never been conceptually grouped. For instance, Law of Desire strings together titles that refer to sex as a vital drive in human life, notably Q (Trailer) by French director Laurent Bouhnik and the provocative documentaries Il n’y a pas de rapport sexuel and Buy Me; and Pagan Visions ventures into territories opposed to any sacralization and having their own particular rituals, such as those of farmers in Battle of the Queens and those of ravers in Anna Pavlova Lives in Berlin, or the private world of talented artist León Ferrari in Civilización. Other brand new sections, like Adolescences and Trances, promise similar quality.

This year, BAFICI has the honor of serving as a showcase for the world premiere of the films Aquí estoy, aquí no, by Chilean director Elisa Eliash; The International Sign for Choking, by the American Zach Weintraub (filmed in Buenos Aires); and La casa Emak Bakia, by Basque filmmaker Oskar Alegría. Each one of them, for different reasons, is generating buzz given its particular storyline and director’s talent. And, as highlighted by Festival Artistic Director Sergio Wolf at the presentation of BAFICI, they demonstrate the trust and interest in participating raised by the festival, of international filmmakers, producers and distributors.

After the official presentation of the festival’s program, sections and exhibition venues for the 2012 edition, it is time to announce the full day-by-day schedule, with detailed information about films and their screening dates, times and locations. This will be published on Tuesday, on this website. As of tomorrow until the beginning of ticket presale, scheduled for Tuesday, April 3, all prospective festival-goers will be able to plan their road map and select the programming of their choice. You’ve been warned!