TIFF 50: "Noviembre" makes for a formidable debut

by Cláudio Alves

Dedicated to the memory of the victims, their families, and those still looking for the missing, Tomás Corredor's directorial debut reflects on the Palace of Justice siege in Bogotá, Colombia, without ever leaving a bathroom where M-19 guerrilleros took refuge and held hostages over two fateful days in November 1985. It starts at the close, with archival recordings over grainy blackness from which the vision of a destroyed room emerges, sunlight pouring in through a hole in the wall. One might wonder what happened here that turned a commonplace public toilet into an apocalyptic tableau such as this. Noviembre then goes back, to the beginning of the end, when the militants first took their hostages into the windowless room and signed their fates…

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TIFF 50: Natalia Reyes loses her identity in "It Would Be Night in Caracas"

by Cláudio Alves

In the past decade, Natalia Reyes has consolidated her reputation as one of Latin American cinema's most promising rising stars. Though Birds of Passage put her on the map for many a cinephile, her sojourn into Hollywood filmmaking probably earned her more recognition. Six years ago, the Colombian actress was one of the highlights of Terminator: Dark Fate, and just this year, she appeared alongside Kerry Washington in Shadow Force. Indeed, 2025 is something of a banner year for Reyes, who stars in two new projects making their way through the fall festival season. Mariana Rondón and Marité Ugás' It Would Be Night in Caracas and Tomás Corredor's Noviembre find their star amid moments of societal unrest – the 2017 Venezuelan protests and the 1985 Palace of Justice siege in Bogotá.

First up, the Caracas-set drama, which had its world premiere today at Venice before making its North American debut at TIFF…

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