With 15 films at the Short Film Corner in the Marché du Film at this year's Cannes film festival, Argentina is well-represented. Two films, in particular, are worth mention for their driving feminine leads.

Golanzo Tobal's Cynthia todavia tiene las llaves, part of the Semaine de la Critique, tells the story of a woman living her life as a ghost in her ex-boyfriend's empty apartment while he is at work. It is easy to sympathize with her as she offers frank conversation to her audience about all of the things that she misses about Juan and the ways that she has managed to stay close to him--listening to his music, lying on his bed, trying on his clothes--without upsetting his meticulous sense of organization. Today, she has a new plan, though--the meal that she usually cooks for herself, cleaning all evidence with her own cleaning supplies before Juan returns, will be shared with him. The possibility of reconciliation is in the air as the faceless Juan unsuspectingly opens his front door. I found myself conflicted between sympathy with Cynthia and the realization that she is, in fact, crazy, having completely given up on her own life and her job to haunt someone who doesn't know that she's there and may not even love her anymore. Cynthia's sentiments and even her actions are relatable; it is only by stepping back from the film that we even begin to question what she has been doing over the past few weeks and how invasive her little ritual actually is.

Even stranger is the INCAA film Te vas a lastimar, from director Olivares Capelle Luz. This film uses dreamlike visuals to portray a woman who seems to have begun sprouting wings. Her grandfather confides that he too grew wings at her age, and he warns her to refuse to allow doctors to operate at all costs. The doctor's decision to operate is shown as a collection of scenes that evoke nightmarish and nearly theatrical qualities, as actors move in dance-like ways and the theater's use of lighting is brought to the silver screen. The young woman's slow appreciation of her newfound gift are brought to climax by a scene in which she flees from doctors and her mother down a corridor with a brightly lit window at the end, inviting almost angelic light into the scene. It is when she climbs upon the ledge to jump that her mother speaks the title, "Te vas a lastimar." You're going to hurt yourself. The young woman awakes, bloody bandages where her wings once were, and though this small bit of evidence remains, it is difficult to decide if, in fact, it may have all been a dream, as the film's style suggests.

- Emily Monaco