The Latin American Film Series is a free preview of films and documentaries related to Latin America chosen and hosted by our graduate student body. The film series take place on Thursday nights at 7pm in room 102 of Jones Hall.
Screenings are free and open to the public.
February 17: The Sixth Section (U.S./Mexico, 2004)
Alex Rivera's "The Sixth Section" tells a contemporary story that reveals a new perspective on Mexican migrant labor life. Rivera and co-producer Bernardo Ruiz followed José Garcia, a young man from the small Mexican town of Boqueron. Garcia decided to leave to support his wife and family, coming to the U.S. hidden in the trunk of a car. Once here, he moved to Newburgh, New York, and found much more than a job — he saw that he could use his own labor in America to relieve the stark poverty of his hometown. Directed by Alex Rivera.
February 24: Burnt Money (Plata Quemada) (Argentina, 2002)
When two gay thugs Angel and El Nene join a plan to hold up an armored truck with a group of seasoned gangsters, their love and loyalty to each other is tested. Angel is wounded by police gunfire during the robbery, forcing El Nene to kill them all in a fit of rage. Things become complicated when they escape to Uruguay and the police threaten to torture the driver’s mom if she doesn’t tell them where they are. With their pictures plastered on the cover of every paper, drowning in drugs and alcohol, the gang begins to bicker. Against his boss’s wishes El Nene leaves the apartment and roams the streets where he meets a prostitute called Giselle in whom he begins to trust. Director Marcelo Piñeyro whose films have been both critically acclaimed and commercially successful is one of the most important figures in contemporary cinema in Argentina. His fourth film is a delicate balance of a crime and love story. Burnt Money is based on a book by Ricardo Piglia and was inspired by a famous bank robbery in Buenos Aires in the 1960s. Directed by: Marcelo Piñeyro. Presented by: Denise Frazier.
March 3: Maria Full of Grace (U.S./Colombia, 2004)
Maria Alvarez is a Colombian teenager who lives with three generations of her family in a cramped house in rural Colombia.. Desperate to leave her job stripping thorns from roses, Maria accepts a large paycheck, agrees to be a mule for drug-runners: she has to swallow dozens of thumb-sized capsules of heroin and smuggle them into New York. This debilitating process is painstakingly described, and of course not everything goes as planned when Maria and her fellow mules land in America. The trump card is the lead performance of Catalina Sandrino Moreno, who won awards at the Seattle and Newport Film Festivals.. Her empathetic face carries us along on Maria's journey, and humanizes a problem that is too easily relegated to a headline. The dramatic thriller builds toward a conclusion that could only be based on a thousand true stories. Directed by: Joshua Martin. Presented by: Gray Miles.
March 31: Untamed Women (Mujeres Insumisas) (Mexico, 1995)
Frustrated by their confined existences and of being mistreated by their husbands, four housewives from a small Mexican town leave their husbands and children behind as they try to build new and more satisfying lives. They find work and adventure in a Guadalajara cabaret,though danger looms when one of the women becomes involved with a drug dealer. Some stolen money offers another chance for freedom in Los Angeles, but one determined husband will not give up his search for the woman who abandoned him. It was nominated for 14 Mexican Academy Award. Presented by: Amy George Hirons.
April 21: Domésticas/Maids (Brazil, 2001)
A fast, sexy, and life-affirming film from the director of City of God, Maids offers both superb slice-of-life acting and sophisticated film work. In Brazil, there are no less than three million housemaids, each with her own, yet universal story of loneliness, ambitions and loss but also of mutual solidarity and love. Based on one of the most popular and widely praised modern Brazilian stage plays, this defiant and original film, follows the stories of five maids who are brought together by the drudgery of their work and the bus they ride. Set to the rhythm of a samba, the film draws an intimate portrait of these characters and their problems. Directed by Fernando Meirelles and Nando Olival
April 28: Life+Debt (Jamaica, 2001)
With twenty-five years of "help" from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank intended to bring Third World nations such as Jamaica into the fold of free market economies, these "restructuring" policies have crippled Jamaica's efforts toward self-reliant development while enriching the lenders. This scathing film is an unapologetic look at the "new world order" from the point of view of Jamaican workers and farmers, as well as government and policy officials. Featuring a dynamic reggae soundtrack and a searing voice over based on text by Jamaica Kincaid, as well as interviews with former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley, Deputy Director of the IMF Stanley Fisher and President of Haiti Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Life and Debt portrays the relationship between Jamaican poverty and the practices of the World Bank while driving home the devastating consequences of globalization. Directed by Stephanie Black Presented by: Xela Korda
Carlos Henriquez Consalvi, better known in El Salvador as Comandante Santiago, founded Radio Venceremos in 1980. The founding of Radio Venceremos corresponded with the beginning of a civil war in El Salvador that pitted a group of militant rebels, the FMLN, against a brutal military dictatorship. For the next 11 years, Santiago served as the voice of the clandestine FMLN radio, broadcasting his reports with a 40-yr-old transmitter that had seen service in World War II while constantly evading capture by the military in the northeastern hills of the nation. Radio Venceremos was one of the few sources of oppositional press in El Salvador during the reign of the repressive military regime. As such, Santiago and his team were among the first to report on the infamous massacre at El Mozote and other atrocities commited by government troops, played a major role in recruiting campesino support for the rebel cause, and provided popular education about socialist ideals and Salvadoran history. Radio Venceremos was also used to assist in military operations. After the war ended in a negotiated peace settlement in 1992, Consalvi turned his attention to documenting the history of El Salvador, because he felt that so much of the historical record had been lost during the war. He founded a museum, El Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen, has collected an impressive collection of archival information, and has produced several documentary films. His visit will be of interest to scholars of communication, social movements, democratization, war, and history.
