documentary / music
Tango Illusions
Tango Illusions wanders the steamy dance halls and sweltering streets of Buenos Aires to understand the hearts, minds and souls of the porteños–the city’s residents. Tango is the lens, the political chaos of modern Argentina is the backdrop.
In the austral summer of 2001, after four years of deep economic depression, Argentina found itself on the verge of bankruptcy, political chaos and social disintegration. American filmmaker Joshua Dylan Mellars reported the Argentine political upheaval–as a wire service and radio correspondent–by day and filmed the tango world by night.
“When Mellars arrived in Buenos Aires, tango’s Mecca, there were nightly marches to the Plaza de Mayo, drums rolling, pots banging…Shirtless demonstrators wielded slingshots and paving stones, blocking roads and setting cars on fire. During the turmoil in Argentina, the milonga (tango dance hall) remained a good place to escape reality, a fantasy world of dance.”
– San Francisco Chronicle
Tango Illusions screened to sold out audiences at film festivals in L.A., New York City, Miami, San Francisco and Montreal. The film won the “Best Cine Latino” award at its standing room only Napa-Sonoma Wine Country Film Festival premiere and won the “People’s Choice” award at Canada’s Bay Street Film Festival.
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