Spanish and Latin film festival begins in Whanganui

Mario Sabah and sons in a scene from the Facundo Marguery film At 60km/hr screening on Thursday. Photo/Supplied

The Latin American and Spanish Film Festival kicks off in Whanganui on Thursday night with Facundo Marguery's award-winning documentary from Uruguay, At 60km/hr.

You're divorced, 50 years old, feeling those aches and pains, and your adult children no longer need you.

There's nothing much else to do but tinker away in the backyard on your broken-down old Citroen Méhari, brooding on the dream you shared with your sons 20 years ago of driving around the world.

Or, in this case, crawling around the world, since the lightweight 600cc, two-cylinder, 28hp Méhari has a top speed of only 60km/hr.

But something happens in that backyard when Mario Sabah asks himself "Why not"?

The dream is reignited, the sons agree to come along, they throw their gear in the back and they're off on a 150,000km journey through 45 countries and five continents.

Nations blur into one another, and like all good travel tales, this one sees past the adventure to explore the changes in Mario and in his family.

There is no sugar-coating - it's a hard road and the sons must wrestle with their old man's pig-headedness. Will they last the distance?

Uruguay's entry in this year's festival makes use of hundreds of hours of footage from the family video camera and from interviews with the three main travellers to create a documentary which goes beyond your ordinary travelogue.

The all-terrain vehicle becomes as much a main character as its owner.

Named for a fast-moving type of dromedary camel, the Méhari is subject to the same temperamental outbursts, hiccups and bumpy rides, and displays the same adaptability and stubborn perseverance as its human passengers.

If man can truly be wedded to a car, these men are.

Pablo Delucis of the Latin American bulletin Cartelera declares that what is really valuable about the film is not so much the travel but the story it tells of a family – "a story of sudden ups and downs, of renunciation, of uncertainty and above all of conviction and love between father and son".

At 60km/hour (A 60km/hora) screens at the Davis Lecture Theatre, Whanganui Regional Museum, Watt St, on Thursday, October 18 at 7pm. Entry is free, koha appreciated.