Luminato Festival Presents Mariano Pensotti's CINEASTAS, Now thru June 9

Luminato Festival is honoured to present the North American premiere of CINEASTAS, a multi-media theatrical presentation about making movies.

"Mariano Pensotti is Argentina's newest theatrical talent, and I am proud to bring him to Toronto for the first time with the Luminato Festival," stated Luminato Festival Artistic Director Jorn Weisbrodt. "Using film editing techniques as its theatrical structure, CINEASTAS is all theatre, about film directors. The stage is cut horizontally like the strips of 35mm film - to see the actors jump from one story to the next and from one character to the next, within moments, is simply riveting. This is one of the most enjoyable and eye-opening performances I have seen on my travels to South America."

Among Latin America's brightest talents, Argentinean author and director Mariano Pensotti has earned plaudits for his masterfully experimental work, 16 new works in the last 13 years, at leading festivals and venues the world over, including in Argentina, Belgium, Germany, France, Ireland, Latvia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Austria, Spain, Chile, England, Denmark and Switzerland.

Four years ago, Pensotti began a series of interviews with various filmmakers in Buenos Aires. He was particularly interested in the ties between their private lives and their films. How, he wondered, did aspects of their lives play out in the fictions they were creating? From those discussions, CINEASTAS was born.

Pensotti followed four filmmakers as each completed a movie in and around Buenos Aires. Concurrently he captured their day-to-day activities and interactions on film. Designer Mariana Tirantte has created a stage with a split screen, allowing parallel interplay of the filmmakers' lives and the films they shot.

CINEASTAS premiered at the Teatro Sarmiento in Buenos Aries and has since been presented at KunstenfestivaldesArts in Brussels, Vienna Festival in Austria, Hebbel am Ufer Theater in Berlin, Holland Festival in Amsterdam, Theaterformen Festival in Hannover, Germany, Festival Temporada Alta in Girona, Spain, Festival Santiago a Mil in Santiago, Chile, and the Festival d'Automne in Paris, France,

As it unspools, five actors, each filling multiple roles, narrate and contrast the multiple stories, embodying the directors in their daily lives and the characters in their films. Pensotti splices the actors' live performances like film scenes, achieving an effect reminiscent of Robert Altman's Shortcuts. Ultimately, his intent is not only to dramatize how reality influences fiction, but also how fiction shapes and influences reality.

Luminato Festival presents CINEASTAS, Written and Directed by Mariano Pensotti, Performed in Spanish with English subtitles, today, June 7 - Monday, June 9 at 7:30PM at the MacMillan Theatre, 80 Queen's Park. Tickets $35-$55.

Front Of The Line: Tuesday April 8, 2014, 12noon - Wednesday April 9, 2014, 11:59PM American Express cardmembers: online at luminatofestival.com or by calling 416-368-4TIX (4849)

Luminato Festival e-Newsletter Subscribers Advance Sale: Thursday April 10, 2014, 12noon - Friday April 11, 2014, 11:59PM Online at luminatofestival.com or by calling 416-368-4TIX (4849)

Official Public Sale: Saturday April 12, 2014, 12noon Online at luminatofestival.com or by calling 416-368-4TIX (4849)

Pre-Performance Talk Ticket holders are invited to join director Mariano Pensotti for a talk at 6:45PM on June 8 and 9.

CINEASTAS is a co-production of Grupo Marea, KunstenfestivaldesArts (Brussels), Wiener Festwochen (Vienna), Hebbel Am Uffer (Berlin), Holland Festival (Amsterdam),Theaterformen (Hannover-Braunschweig), Festival de Automme Paris, Complejo Teatral de Buenos Aires and El Cultural San Martin. Part of Luminato Festival's celebration of the cultural richness of the Americas.

ABOUT THE LUMINATO FESTIVAL: Luminato Festival is Toronto's international multi-arts festival for people open to having art change their outlook on the world. For 10 days each June, Luminato Festival transforms Toronto's theatres, parks and public spaces with hundreds of events celebrating theatre, dance, music, literature, food, visual arts, magic, film, and more.

Luminato Festival is a charitable, not-for-profit, cultural organization whose vision is to commission and present significant local, national, and international programming that reflects Toronto as a crossroads of ideas, cultures and traditions. Now in its 8th year, Luminato Festival has become one of North America's leading arts festivals. The Luminato Festival runs June 6-15, 2014. For more information, visit luminatofestival.com.

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