As Fall Approaches, Camden International Film Festival Spends Time With ‘The Illusion Of An Everlasting Summer’ — SkimNews
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- Alessandra Sanguinetti made her directorial debut with The Illusion of An Everlasting Summer, which screened at CIFF after bowing at the Locarno Film Festival in August and will next play San Sebastián, Film Fest Gent, Chicago International Film Festival, and Mill Valley.
- Sanguinetti followed cousins Guillermina "Guile" Aranciaga and Belinda "Beli" Stutz on an Argentinian Pampas farm beginning in 1999, originally intending to photograph farm animals before pivoting to the girls.
- Sanguinetti explained she shifted from still photography to video because "Photography's just too flat. I have to film this," saying the video camera freed her to play with the girls rather than dictate to them.
- Sanguinetti revealed that Guillermina has seen earlier cuts of the film, but Belinda refused, insisting "I want to see it when it's out," and won't recognize the narrative arc Sanguinetti constructed in editing.
- CIFF's 22nd edition also features Oscar winners Alex Gibney (Musk), Laura Poitras (They're Here, co-directed with Rachel Lauren Mueller), two-time winner Barbara Kopple (Union Town), and Oscar-shortlisted Luke Lorentzen (Boatbuilders), all fresh from Venice world premieres.
- CIFF continues through Sunday in Camden and Rockland, with the Fowlie Award — a $10,000 audience prize named for founder Ben Fowlie — plus the Harrell Award and Cinematic Vision Award to be presented at the close.
Why it matters: The festival's midway slate leans heavily on Venice transfers, signaling CIFF's continued pull as a curated stop on the autumn documentary circuit. Sanguinetti's debut — a 25-year patient portrait built from a photographer's overflow of still material — offers a counterweight to the political-documentary fare dominating the rest of the lineup, and Belinda Stutz's refusal to see the finished film underscores how the director's editorial choices may still reshape how its subjects see their own lives.
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