JG: The 38th edition of the Havana Film Festival is under way for another 3 days until the 18th of December and a total of 18 full length films are competing for the 2016 Coral Award. With the participation of seven countries among which Argentina, Mexico and Chile are begining to stand out in terms of the quality of their work. They have all come together in Havana with films that are giving rise to a wide spectrum of opinions since their first release in theatres internationally.

GJ: Today’s review is of The Argentinan/Brazilian Spanish Language comedy Las Ineses, a 74 minute 2016  co-production produced and directed by Pablo José Meza. Las Ineses was written by Victoria Mammoliti, and Pablo José Meza and the movie stars Byron Barbieri, Valentina Bassi, Graciela Bonomi.

Producer Director Pablo José Meza, was born in Buenos Aires, in 1974. He graduated in Cinema Direction at Fundación Universidad del Cine in 1997. He wrote the screenplay for “Buenos Aires 100 Kilometers”, in 2001, that won the “Best Unedited Screenplay Award” at the 23rd. Havana Film Festival, Cuba and Meza went on to win the Best New Director prize at the Huelva Latin American Film Festival in Spain.

And the story line of our present movie La Ineses? Carmen and Rosa are friends, married to guys named both García, next-door neighbors, and they are both pregnant. What’s more, they go in labor at the same time. When their babies are delivered they start noticing something's not quite right. So what we have is a classic comedy of confused parentage…

JG: So, can we throw La Ineses into the larger context of Argentinian and Latin American society?

GJ: I think so. But there are few reliable statistics relating to rates of infidelity. It's not the kind of thing people tell the truth about, or have ever told the truth about. Psychologists think men traditionally overstate their infidelities, while women understate. The most regularly invoked figures suggest that roughly 30-40% of those in a marriage or long-term relationship will be somewhat unfaithful at some point.

JG: I can buy that! Logic would suggest we're having more affairs than ever. We're presented with more opportunities to cheat. We work more and travel more, and consequently are more absent from our homes. The evolving landscape of technology means we are connected – sometimes intensely and continuously – with many more people than before. Technology also means that the very definitions of infidelity have broadened. Emotional infidelities are increasingly an issue; entire affairs are played out online; intense relationships – which may or may not blur the line on friendship, who knows? – flourish via the intimacy of the text message exchange.

And, as a final word, in which theatre did you view Pablo José Meza’s La Ineses.

GJ: I saw La Ineses at the Riviera on 23 between G and H. The enormous theatre was filled to capacity. A full house. The atmosphere was one of enormous expectation before and of committed intelligence throughout the movie. The humerous ending was anticipated by the audience and the laughter and applause utterly uplifting. I left the cinema a richer man.