Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Mixes art with social projects. Addresses issues such as classism.
Copy: M Format: DVD Language: Portuguese and English Subtitles: Portuguese and English Length: 99 minutes Copy ID: 1441 Comments: Source:
Raca tackles racial inequality in Brazil, via the lives of three black Brazilians: Paulo Paim, the only black senator of the republic; Netinho Paula, singer and TV presenter, and Tiny dos Santos, Maroon activist and granddaughter of slaves. The filmmakers followed these 3 people for a number of years – people they consider are on the frontlines of the country’s race debate/divide – in an effort to bring something unique to the public.
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: Spanish Subtitles: None Length: 42 minutes Copy ID: 1451 Comments: Source:
Raca tackles racial inequality in Brazil, via the lives of three black Brazilians: Paulo Paim, the only black senator of the republic; Netinho Paula, singer and TV presenter, and Tiny dos Santos, Maroon activist and granddaughter of slaves. The filmmakers followed these 3 people for a number of years – people they consider are on the frontlines of the country’s race debate/divide – in an effort to bring something unique to the public.
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: Portuguese Subtitles: English Length: 104 minutes Copy ID: 1438 Comments: Source:
Title: WE DON’T PLAY GOLF HERE!
Description: Mexico serves as a Third World example of how “free market” economics distorts culture and environment. The construction of a golf course is more than the military trying to replace the democratic sport, soccer, with golf. It is how the golf course is going to affect the people in the surrounding area. Fertilizers and pesticides will pollute the nearby waters, Constructing the golf course would require the government to cut down trees, creating an environmental issue. People who believe in taking care of the natural forests around them were being punished by the military for not agreeing with their course of action. Without an individual voice the people of Mexico came together and had strikes against the golf company, the metal company dumping materials, in order to move toward a more democratic country. Despite globalizing efforts of the govenment, the people of Tepozitlan will always fight for what they believe in.
Subject: Culture/Festivals/Food, Economics/Development, Environment/Geography, Politics/Human Rights, Social Issues
Type: Documentary
Year: 2007
Director: Saul Landau
Country: Mexico
Film ID: 789
Comments:
Created: 10/25/2012
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: Spanish Subtitles: English Length: 33 Minutes Copy ID: 1416 Comments: Source: Donation Price: 0 Acquired: 10/25/2012
Title: THOSE I LEFT BEHIND
Description: Those I Left Behind is a documentary that explores the transnational ties that bind Cuban-Americans in the United States to their families still living on the Island. The film also speaks to the controversial travel restrictions enacted by the U.S Government and the emotional impact on the lives of four Cuban families.
Subject: Migration/Immigration, Social Issues, Culture/Festivals/Food
Type: Documentary
Year: 2006
Director: lisandro Perez-Rey
Country: U.S / Cuba
Film ID: 770
Comments:
Created: 2/10/2012
Copy: 1m Format: DVD Language: english and spanish Subtitles: Length: 45 minutes Copy ID: 1402 Comments: master copy for classroom use only Source: Gato Films Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: TENGO VAMOS A VER
Description: Tengo Vamos a Ver is a short documentary and tribute to 50 years of UNEAC, with testimonies by several contributors and through poems by Nicolas Guillen. The director provides a brief tour of the development of UNEAC on the island of Cuba, and its achievements and contribution to Cuban culture policy.
Subject: Culture/Festivals/Food, Politics/Human Rights
Type: Documentary
Year: 2011
Director: Miguel Tores
Country: Cuba
Film ID: 774
Comments:
Created: 3/20/2012
Copy: 1m Format: DVD Language: Spanish Subtitles: None Length: 22 minutes Copy ID: 1404 Comments: master copy for classroom use only Source: UNEAC Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: SHOVELING WATER
Description: Journey to the heart of coca country where United States tax dollars have financed the aerial fumigation of 2.6 million acres of land in Colombia – the world’s second most biodiverse country. See crop-duster’s target coca plants, the main ingredient of cocaine, with concentrated herbicide as part of the U.S. war on drugs. Listen to people on the ground, hear about the impacts, and learn new ideas about how to solve this deadly problem.
Type: Documentary
Year: 2009
Director: Witness for Peace Colombia Team
Country: Colombia
Film ID: 756
Comments:
Created: 11/28/2011
Copy: M Format: DVD Language: English and Spanish Subtitles: English Length: 24 min. Copy ID: 1390 Comments: only checking out for classrooms Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 11/1/2011
Title: Presumed Guilty
Description: In December, 2005, Tono Zuniga was picked up off the street of Mexico City, Mexico, and sentenced to 20 years for a murder he knew nothing about. A friend of Tono’s contacted two young lawyers, Robert Hernandez and Layda Negrete, who gained prominence in Mexico when they helped bring about the release of another innocent man from prison. Shot over three years with unprecedented access to the Mexican courts and prisons, this dramatic story is a searing indictment of a justice system that presumes guilt.
Type: Documentary
Year: 2009
Director: Roberto Hernandez & Geoffrey Smith
Country: Mexico
Film ID: 753
Comments:
Created: 11/28/2011
Copy: M Format: DVD Language: Spanish Subtitles: English Length: 88 min. Copy ID: 1388 Comments: only checking out for classrooms Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 11/1/2011
Title: NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT
Description: For his new film director Patricio Guzmán, famed for his political documentaries (The Battle of Chile, The Pinochet Case), travels 10,000 feet above sea level to the driest place on earth, the Atacama Desert, where atop the mountains astronomers from all over the world gather to observe the stars. The sky is so translucent that it allows them to see right to the boundaries of the universe. The Atacama is also a place where the harsh heat of the sun keeps human remains intact: those of Pre-Columbian mummies; 19th century explorers and miners; and the remains of political prisoners, “disappeared” by the Chilean army after the military coup of September, 1973. So while astronomers examine the most distant and oldest galaxies, at the foot of the mountains, women, surviving relatives of the disappeared whose bodies were dumped here, search, even after twenty-five years, for the remains of their loved ones, to reclaim their families’ histories. Melding the celestial quest of the astronomers
Subject: Environment/Geography, Politics/Human Rights
Type: Documentary
Year: 2010
Director: Patricio Guzmán
Country: Chile
Film ID: 785
Comments:
Created: 7/27/2012
Copy: M Format: DVD Language: Spanish Subtitles: English Length: 90 Minutes Copy ID: 1413 Comments: Source: Icarus Films Price: 400 Acquired: 7/25/2012
Title: NEW WORLD BORDER
Description: New World Border documents the rise in human rights abuses along the U.S.-Mexico border since the implementation of border blockades, which have been erected in populated areas throughout the border region during the last decade. This film includes interviews with immigrant rights organizers, testimony from immigrants, analysis of “free trade” policies & current efforts to build a vibrant movement for immigrant rights.
Type: Documentary
Year: 2001
Country: USA/Mexico
Film ID: 8
Comments:
Created:
Copy: 1 Format: DVD-R Language: English Subtitles: None Length: 28 minutes Copy ID: 8 Comments: Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 2/23/2009
Title: MOMIAS, LAS
Description: This film documents “The Accidental Mummies of Guanajuato” exhibition which appeared at the Natural Science Center of Greensboro, NC in 2012. The history of the city of Guanajuato, Mexico, through the lens of its “accidental mummies”, is explained by historians, architects, anthropologists, and forensics teams. The mummies and crypts are carefully preserved and contribute to the city’s rich cultural heritage.
Subject: History, Social Life and Customs
Type: Feature Film
Year: 2012
Country: United States
Film ID: 794
Comments:
Created: 10/23/2013
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: English and Spanish Subtitles: Length: 55 minutes Copy ID: 1422 Comments: Source: Natural Science Center of Greensboro, NC Price: 0 Acquired: 10/21/2013
Title: MAYAS U SU’UT KA’ANSAH
Description: Filmed in the states of Quintana Roo and Yucatán, “U Su’us Ka’ansah (The Cycle of Teaching) depicts the living ancestral science within Mayan communities. We are given the opportunity to partake in their cultural practices, experiences, and knowledge, as well as their unique ways of thinking. In addition, the documentary reveals ancient Mayan principles which are still present in Yucatán communities today. We are presented with the problems surrounding their language, customs, ceremonies, traditional medicinal practices, products, and land, and how these endanger their cultural identity and ancestral knowledge.
Subject: Indigenous Peoples, Anthropology/Archaelogy, Environment/Geography, Social Life and Customs
Type: Documentary
Year: 2007
Director: Abhayaco Balam
Country: Mexico
Film ID: 798
Comments: Audio is in Mayan, subtitles available in Spanish, English, French, and German
Created: 10/23/2013
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: Mayan Subtitles: English or Spanish Length: 60 minutes Copy ID: 1418 Comments: Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 10/23/2013
Copy: 2 Format: DVD Language: Mayan Subtitles: English or Spanish Length: 60 minutes Copy ID: 1419 Comments: Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 10/23/2013
Copy: m Format: DVD Language: Mayan Subtitles: English & Spanish Length: 60 minutes Copy ID: 1417 Comments: Master Copy for Classroom Use Only Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 10/23/2013
Title: LIVING JUAREZ
Description: After Mexican President Felipe Calderón declared war on drug cartels in December 2006, thousands of people have died in Mexico. Juarez is now considered the deadliest city in the world and where most of the casualties of the War on Drugs have occurred. Among those killed were youths from the neighborhood of Villas de Salvárcar, whom the government had described as gang members. Living Juarez follows the families of the victims as they speak out against Calderón and the violence in this area.
Subject: Social Issues
Type:
Year: 2010
Director: Alexandra Halkin
Country: mexico
Film ID: 769
Comments:
Created: 2/7/2012
Copy: 1m Format: DVD Language: Spanish Subtitles: English Length: 21 minutes Copy ID: 1400 Comments: master copy for classroom use only Source: americas media initiative Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: LA PRISION INSOMNE
Description: This documentary gives the viewer the unfortunate important facets of life and the controversial work of the poet Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés, Plácido, during the first half of the turbulent and contradictory colonial nineteenth century in Cuba. The audiovisual speech reveals different nuances and mysteries about the identity of the bard and the essential features and significance of the poetry staff. The film also delves into their participation in the so-called Escalera Conspiracy against the Spanish government in power at the time.
Type: Documentary
Year: 2009
Director: Regino Olivar
Country: Cuba
Film ID: 757
Comments:
Created: 11/30/2011
Copy: M Format: DVD Language: Spanish Subtitles: English Length: 47 min. Copy ID: 1389 Comments: Source: M. Barret Price: 0 Acquired: 11/1/2011
Title: LA CONJURA DE APONTE
Description: With the help of two important Cuban historians, La Conjura de Aponte describes the social context at the time of Jose Antonio Aponte’s rebellion against Spanish rule in Cuba. Aponte, a free black, sought to unite slaves and free blacks in order to stop Spanish rule.
Subject: History, Social Issues
Type:
Year: 2010
Director: Regino Oliver
Country: Cuba
Film ID: 761
Comments:
Created: 1/13/2012
Copy: 1 m Language: Subtitles: Length: 24 minutes Copy ID: 1394 Comments: master copy for classroom use only Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: JOGO DE CENA (PLAYING)
Description: In this film, ordinary Brazilian women who have responded to a newspaper ad tell part of their life stories to director Eduardo Coutinho. In September of the same year, actresses interpret, in their own way, the stories told by those chosen. There are three levels of representation in the film. First, real people tell of their real lives. Second, these characters serve as a challenge to the actors. And third, some of these actors then act out or speak about their own real lives. This film was donated by Duke University Visiting Instructor Aaron Lorenz.
Type: Documentary
Year: 2007
Director: Eduardo Coutinho
Country: Brazil
Film ID: 795
Comments:
Created: 10/23/2013
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: portuguese Subtitles: English & Spanish Length: 107minutes Copy ID: 1424 Comments: Source: Aaron Lorenz Price: 0 Acquired: 10/21/2013
Title: 6 HISTORIAS BRASILEIRAS
Description: ‘6 Brazilian Histories: Santa Cruz’ shows the development of an evangelical church in the Santa Cruz suburb of Rio de Janeiro Brazil and the transformations that the church has made in the lives its congregation. The director wanted to show point of views that are rarely shown in the news. The film was originally released as a television series in 2000.
Type:
Year: 2000
Director: João Moreira Salles
Country: Brasil
Film ID: 783
Comments:
Created: 5/3/2012
Copy: 1m Format: DVD Language: Portuguese Subtitles: English Length: 60 minutes Copy ID: 1411 Comments: master copy for classroom use only Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: HISTORY OF A COMMITTED CINEMA
Description: This is a short fast-paced film displaying the work of the Nicaraguan Film Institute, INCINE, which is a part of the Sandinistan government in Nicaragua. It outlines the difficult technical, cinematic and political tasks confronting INCINE as it strives to build a native film industry.
Subject: Cinema/Theater, Comedy
Type: Documentary
Year: 1983
Director: Emilio Rodriguez
Country: Nicaragua
Film ID: 780
Comments:
Created: 4/10/2012
Copy: 1m Format: DVD Language: spanish Subtitles: English Length: 15 minutes Copy ID: 1407 Comments: master copy for classroom use only Source: Icarus Films Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: HARVEST OF LONELINESS
Description: In today’s weak economy, current immigration laws in different states of the country show hostility towards undocumented immigrants. This was not the case during and after World War II where the United States was in need of laborers who would work the fields of California and other states. This documentary explores the Bracero Program, and immigration reform that sought Mexican workers for temporal guest workers. These workers could not join unions, strike, or seek redress of their grievances, making them vulnearable for exploitation. The program was supposed to boost the economies of both countries, but Mexican wives and children were left behind as husbands traveled north in search of the American Dream. The documentary shows how the main reason for the program was to provide cheap labor without regard for the Mexican families. 58 minutes
Subject: Latinos/Chicanos, Social Issues, Migration/Immigration
Type: Documentary
Year: 2010
Director: Gilbert Gonzalez
Country: US/Mexico
Film ID: 750
Comments: Master Copy: Classroom use only
Created: 10/17/2011
Copy: M Format: DVD Language: English Subtitles: Spanish Length: 56 Minutes Copy ID: 1385 Comments: For classroom use only Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: GRINGO NEXT DOOR
Description: When Jack sees that his chickens are missing, he turns on the only people he thinks to blame – his Hispanic neighbors. The solution? Hire immigrant labor to build a wall between the two homes. A hilarious web of miscommunication ensues in this humorous satire. This short film was shot by UNC-CH students in Pittsboro, NC.
Type:
Year: 2009
Director: Habib Yazdi
Country:
Film ID: 784
Comments:
Created: 5/4/2012
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: English and Spanish Subtitles: English Length: 15 minutes Copy ID: 1412 Comments: donated by Habib Yadzi , contact Seana Monley for extra copies . Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: ENTRE LOS MUERTOS
Description: Entre Los Muertos is a documentary by Jorge Dalton which examines the way San Salvador’s citizens cope with the violence of devastating street crime, constant earthquakes and the ripple effects of decades long war. The film yields strong emotions as it explores the ways in which people perceive and deal with death. The film displays communities who live in cemeteries where tombstones are playgrounds, ‘funerary brokers’ who scout dead bodies for commission, families who bury kin in their backyard, and funerals and festivities on the Day of the Dead. It is an investigation of the economy of death, the value of life and how San Salvadorians walk a fine line between normalizing and desensitizing death, due to their historical roots in violence.
Subject: History, Latinos/Chicanos, Politics/Human Rights
Type: Documentary
Year: 2006
Director: Jorge Dalton
Country: El Salvador
Film ID: 782
Comments:
Created: 4/10/2012
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: spanish Subtitles: English Length: 60 minutes Copy ID: 1409 Comments: master copy for classroom use only Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: EN EL CAMINO DE NUESTRAS ANTEPASADOS
Description: This film uses puppets to deliver lessons about Yucatec Maya language, culture, and history. It deals with issues of contemporary and ancient Maya heritage. The main characters travel to different sites including Chichen Itza, and learn about things such as traditional Maya farming practices, ancient Maya religion, and heritage site looting and preservation.
Subject: Animated, Anthropology/Archaelogy, Environment/Geography, Indigenous Peoples, Social Issues
Type: Documentary
Year: 2012
Director: MACHI
Country: Mexico
Film ID: 786
Comments:
Created: 7/27/2012
Copy: M Format: DVD Language: Maya Subtitles: English & Spanish Length: 60 Minutes Copy ID: 1414 Comments: Source: MACHI Price: 0 Acquired: 7/24/2012
Title: DENYING BRAZIL
Description: A documentary film about the taboos, stereotypes, and struggles of Black actors in Brazilian television “soaps.” Based on his own memories and on a sturdy body of research evidence, the director analyzes race relations in Brazilian soap operas, calling attention to their likely influence on Black people’s identity-forming processes.
Subject: Cinema/Theater, History, Politics/Human Rights
Type: Documentary
Year: 2000
Director: Joel Zito Araujo
Country: Brazil
Film ID: 788
Comments:
Created: 10/16/2012
Copy: Master and Copy 1 Format: DVD Language: Portuguese Subtitles: English Length: 92 Minutes Copy ID: 1415 Comments: Source: Art Mattan/ AfricanFilm Price: 0 Acquired: 10/9/2012
Title: CUBA: AN AFRICAN ODYSSEY
Description: Cuba : an African Odyssey is a documentary of Cuba’s central, yet little known, role in supporting African national liberation during the Cold War. This two-part DVD firsts deals mainly with Cuba’s involvement in the Congo in the early 60’s and the second with Cuba’s intervention in Angola in the 70’s to early 90’s. Directed by Jihan El-Tahri , the documentary also includes interviews with many of the powerful people involved including Pik Botha and Fidel Castro.
Subject: History, Politics/Human Rights
Type: Documentary
Year: 2007
Director: Jihan El Tahri
Country: Africa , Cuba
Film ID: 772
Comments:
Created: 2/14/2012
Copy: 1m Format: DVD Language: Eng,French,Spanish, German , Portuguese Subtitles: English & Spanish Length: 190 minutes Copy ID: 1403 Comments: master copy for classroom use only Source: art france development Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: CRISE FINANCEIRA: O QUE PENSAM A JUVENTUDE BRASILEIRA E AS TRABALHADORAS DOMÉSTICAS…?
Description: “Financial Crisis: Latin American Youth and Women Domestic Workers’ Views” interviews young people and domestic workers about the global financial crisis of 2008-present. Interviewees offer their opinions about the roots of the crisis and offer solutions. Part of 4-DVD collection, “Coletânea Gênero, Raça e Etnia.”
Subject: Economics/Development, Social Issues
Type: Documentary
Year: 2010
Country: Brazil
Film ID: 734
Comments: Part of 4-DVD collection,
Created: 2/21/2011
Copy: 1 Format: DVD-R Language: Portuguese Subtitles: English & Spanish Length: 11 minutes Copy ID: 1365 Comments: Source: Donation: Kia Caldwell via UN Price: 0 Acquired: 4/11/2011
Title: BROTHER TOWNS
Description: Brother Towns/Pueblos Hermanos describes the lives of immigrants from Jacaltenango, Guatemala who currently work and reside in Jupiter, Florida. The documentary explores the motives of migration to the United States and the hardships that the Mayan descendants of Jacaltenango face either in Guatemala or in the United States. The documentary also includes the voices of those who have responded to undocumented immigration: those who adamantly oppose it and also the advocates who help migrants acclimate to a new place.”
Subject: Migration/Immigration
Type: Documentary
Year: 2010
Director: Charles Thompson and Michael Davey
Country:
Film ID: 760
Comments:
Created: 1/13/2012
Copy: 1 m Format: DVD Language: Subtitles: Length: 58 minutes Copy ID: 1393 Comments: master copy for classroom use only Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: BAJO EL TACANA
Description: Bajo el Tecana is a short documentary about a group of women migrants, who are interviewed by a group of researchers, before heading to the north. The film takes place in the village of Soconusco, Chiapas on the border between Guatemala and Mexico. Made with the support from Mexican Commission on Human Rights and the OIM ( International Organization for Migration), this film combines text, testimonials and images.
Subject: Border, Migration/Immigration
Type: Documentary
Year: 2007
Director: Isabel Vericat
Country: Mexico
Film ID: 781
Comments:
Created: 4/10/2012
Copy: m Format: DVD Language: SPANISH Subtitles: English Length: 26 MINUTES Copy ID: 1408 Comments: master copy for classroom use only Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: AL OTRO LADO
Description: An aspiring corrido composer from the drug capital of Mexico faces two choices to better his life: to traffic drugs or to cross the border illegally into the United States. From Sinaloa, Mexico, to the streets of South Central and East L.A., Al Otro Lado explores the world of drug smuggling, illegal immigration, and the corrido music that chronicles it all. Description from producer.
Subject: Migration/Immigration, Border, Economics/Development, Latinos/Chicanos
Type: Documentary
Year: 2005
Director: Natalia Almada
Country: Mexico
Film ID: 743
Comments:
Created: 4/4/2011
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: Spanish Subtitles: English Length: Copy ID: 1384 Comments: Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Copy: M Format: DVD-R Language: Spanish Subtitles: English Length: Copy ID: 1386 Comments: Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 9/9/9999
Title: JOGO DE CENA (PLAYING)
Description: In this film, ordinary Brazilian women who have responded to a newspaper ad tell part of their life stories to director Eduardo Coutinho. In September of the same year, actresses interpret, in their own way, the stories told by those chosen. There are three levels of representation in the film. First, real people tell of their real lives. Second, these characters serve as a challenge to the actors. And third, some of these actors then act out or speak about their own real lives. This film was donated by Duke University Visiting Instructor Aaron Lorenz.
Type: Documentary
Year: 2007
Director: Eduardo Coutinho
Country: Brazil
Film ID: 795
Comments:
Created: 10/23/2013
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: portuguese Subtitles: English & Spanish Length: 107minutes Copy ID: 1424 Comments: Source: Aaron Lorenz Price: 0 Acquired: 10/21/2013
Title: MOMIAS, LAS
Description: This film documents “The Accidental Mummies of Guanajuato” exhibition which appeared at the Natural Science Center of Greensboro, NC in 2012. The history of the city of Guanajuato, Mexico, through the lens of its “accidental mummies”, is explained by historians, architects, anthropologists, and forensics teams. The mummies and crypts are carefully preserved and contribute to the city’s rich cultural heritage.
Subject: History, Social Life and Customs
Type: Feature Film
Year: 2012
Country: United States
Film ID: 794
Comments:
Created: 10/23/2013
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: English and Spanish Subtitles: Length: 55 minutes Copy ID: 1422 Comments: Source: Natural Science Center of Greensboro, NC Price: 0 Acquired: 10/21/2013
Title: PUEBLOS INDIGENAS, LOS
Description: Los Pueblos Indigenas Hoy is a ten part series that is an educational resource about the indigenous peoples of Mexico. Sponsored by the Mexican government, the series aired on Mexican national television in 2010 in honor of the Bicentennial celebration of Mexican independence. It features studio interviews with indigenous people, including rights advocates and leaders. Each program is 55 minutes and is presented in Spanish and using Spanish subtitles to translate interviews, with two programs on each DVD.
Four-disc set.
Subject: Indigenous Peoples, Culture/Festivals/Food, Social Life and Customs
Type: Documentary
Year: 2010
Country: Mexico
Film ID: 792
Comments:
Created: 10/23/2013
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: spanish Subtitles: Spanish Length: 55 minutes per program Copy ID: 1420 Comments: Source: Price: 0 Acquired: 10/9/200
Title: BABAS
Description: This is a documentary about the history of wet nursing among Brazilian families. The film is a reflection on how it had developed over the years in different contexts throughout the twentieth century, from black slaves nursing white children to mothers hiring a nanny. The film uses subjective narration, autobiographical elements, photographs, domestic footage, and newspaper ads to reflect on how genuine affective relationships are nevertheless influenced by a long-range history of racial oppression in Brazil. This film was donated by Duke University Visiting Instructor Aaron Lorenz.
Subject: History, Social Issues, Social Life and Customs
Type: Documentary
Year:
Country: Brazil
Film ID: 799
Comments:
Created: 10/25/2013
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: portuguese Subtitles: English Length: 20 minutes Copy ID: 1423 Comments: Source: Aaron Lorenz Price: 0 Acquired: 10/21/2012
Title: WHEN THE DRUM IS BEATING
Description: This documentary explores the music of the famous Haitian orchestra “Septentrional” along with the violent history of Haiti. Through Septentrional’s powerful musical pieces, accompanied with brutal scenes, viewers are taken on a graphic journey through Haiti’s culture and history; from French colonialism and bloody revolutions to natural disasters and foreign debt while Septentrional’s beautiful sounds of Haitian voodoo beats and Cuban big band serve as a backdrop. This film contains graphic images.
Subject: History, Social Life and Customs, Music/Dance, Culture/Festivals/Food
Type: Documentary
Year: 2011
Director: Whitney Dow
Country: United States/Haiti
Film ID: 793
Comments:
Created: 10/23/2013
Copy: 1 Format: DVD Language: english Subtitles: English Length: 84 minutes Copy ID: 1421 Comments: Source: N/A Price: 0 Acquired: 8/21/2013
Part 2 of a series of shorts from the 2004 Geografias Suaves regional film festival which feature Maya speaking peoples from Yucatan and Chiapas. The shorts include a video postcard documenting the lives and everyday experiences of children and their communities as well as stories based on folklore and oral tradition from the region.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: ___ Minutes
In February 2011, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hosted His Eminence Cardinal Roger Mahony. Cardinal Mahony heads the nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, the 5-million member Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which is 70% Latino. In his presentation Mahony drew on scriptural and Catholic social justice doctrine in his call for immigration reform legislation. Also included with this film is selection of interviews with children of undocumented immigrants provided by Cardinal Mahony, as well as a public Q & A following the lecture.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 61 minutes
Description: This feature-length film deals with 24 hours in the life of Santiago de Cuba, one of the main supply cities of the rebels led by Fidel Castro and of underground urban action perpetrated by the rebel and clandestine 26th of July Movement. Taking place in 1959, the movie narrates how escalating violence bursts out in the tranquil life of people and different social groups in the city. First-time director Rebeca Chávez participated in the clandestine struggle in her teenage years and has characterized the film as “a reflection on violence.”
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 90 minutes
Description: Laura, a professor, conducts research for a PhD dissertation that delves into the Havana underworld in search of Albert Yanini, the most famous Cuban pimp from the turn of the twentieth century. Shot to death by his French rivals for control over the Havana prostitution business, Yarini’s power of seduction captivate the soul of a culture that both criticizes and reveres him. Recently submitted by Cuba for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, the film is an exploration of Cuban sexuality and masculinity.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 96 minutes
Description: Milka has known Alexis since they were children, and loved him for as long as she can remember. When Alexis falls in love with and decides to marry another woman, Milka makes a deal with a mysterious stranger with unusual power in an attempt to win him back.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 105 minutes
Description: In 1910 a revolution erupted in Mexico, among its rallying cries "the right to vote." Nearly a century later "Sufragio Efectivo" is heard again as thousands take to the streets. Through the legacy that filmmaker Natalia Almada inherited as the great-granddaughter of Mexican president Plutarco Elias Calles (1924-1928), one of Mexico’s most controversial revolutionary figures accused of having been a "Dictator", "Iron Man" and "Nun-Burner", yet also acclaimed for having been the "father of modern Mexico," El General is a portrait of a family and a country under the shadow of the past.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 83 minutes
Description: Over the course of the 1960s, the revolutionary government in Cuba confronted active and violent opposition from armed counter-revolutionary groups operating on the island. This film dramatizes this confrontation through the story of Alberto Delgado, a Cuban agent who infiltrated one counter-revolutionary group in the Escambray Mountains.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 124 minutes
Description: This new feature-length film by Cuba’s most recognized filmmaker, Fernando Pérez, won the most collateral awards at the 32nd International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. The film focuses on the childhood and adolescence of Cuba’s nineteenth-century hero José Martí, covering the years he lived in Cuba before being sent into exile for political sedition at the age of seventeen. The film has already obtained two awards at the Ibero-American Festival in Huelva, Spain. It has received top awards on the island and was named the best movie of 2010.
Copies: 1 (DVD); 1 (DVD+R)
Length: 115 minutes
Description: An award-winning and discerning depiction of the impact of migration on Mexican families and villages left behind by loved ones who have traveled north for work.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 96 Minutes
Description: "Domestic Work, Decent Work" portrays the reality of African descendants and indigenous women domestic workers in Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, and Paraguay in their quest for rights, respect, and dignity. The documentary highlights opportunities and challenges for these countries in promoting women’s economic rights and empowerment. Part of 4-DVD collection, "Coletânea Gênero, Raça e Etnia."
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 31 minutes
Description: In Mexico, the voices of the woman who have chosen to have an abortion are virtually absent from public debate. Aborto Sin Pena will introduce you to three of these women, from distinct cultural backgrounds. What they say will surprise you.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 20 minutes
Description: The Brazilian badlands, April 1910. Tonho is ordered by his father to avenge the death of his older brother. The young man knows that if he commits this crime, his life will be divided in two: the 20 years he has already lived and the few days he has left to live, before the other family avenges their son’s death. He is torn between fulfilling his ancestral duty and rebelling against it, urged by his younger brother Pacu. That’s when a tiny traveling circus passes through the vast badlands where Tonho’s family lives.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 92 minutes
Description: Aleida Guevara talks fondly about her father, the world famous Che. Aleida talks about the real Che, separating the myth from the man. This bilingual DVD contains a Spanish language version, and another version in Spanish with English subtitles.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 31 minutes
Description: Based on the best-selling novel by Juan De Recacoechea, about a Bolivian high school teacher who is trying to gain entry into the United States to reunite with his son in Miami. Along the way he falls for a beautiful prostitute, while his passion for detective novels encourages him to turn to crime and cross paths with corruption.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 90 minutes
Description: This documentary discusses Argentina’s current economic crisis by focusing on the effects of neoliberal economic policies implemented in the early 1990s. Subjects such as the “corralito”, pesification, devaluation, piqueteros, neighborhood associations, mass movements, occupied factories, and the effects of the crisis on education, and heath care are all covered in this thorough look at present-day Argentina.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 55 minutes
Description: The documentary is about Jacques Monard/Ramón Mercader, the KGB agent who assassinated León Trotsky in Mexico. It is an account from the people who knew him during his childhood, and up to and after the crime. This film reconstructs his motivations and his destiny. Starring Elena Poniatowska, Carlos Moniváis, and Guillermo Cabrera Infante.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 99 minutes
Description: This visceral, energizing look at contemporary Cuba is an impassioned love story set against the political and economic tensions of Havana. Gustavo, an idealistic young Communist with a glorified vision of the Castro regime, falls in love with Yolanda, a disenchanted dancer who longs to escape to Miami. Despite their radically opposed beliefs, Gustavo and Yolanda are inseparable. The city begins to erupt around Gustavo when his rebellious musician brother injects himself with the AIDS virus in suicidal protest, and his father realizes that he will earn more money as a hotel bar pianist than as a doctor.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 102 minutes
Description: A Documentary that delves into the history of the banana. The film starts by explaining the globalization of the banana and its effects on the economy of Honduras. It shows the viewer the hardships and difficulties faced by the common banana workers and their relationship with the fruit corporations.
Copies: 3 (DVD)
Length: 46 minutes
Description: Borders tells three small stories to illuminate a much larger one: the consequences of a world order in which products freely cross borders that people may not. Borders is a succinct and powerful meditation on the contradictions of U.S. border and trade policy. PART 1: LOVE ON THE LINE: Families divided by the U.S./Mexico border reunite for transnational picnics. PART 2: CONTAINER CITY: The metal containers that bring products to the US make Newark, New Jersey a different kind of bordertown. PART 3: A VISIBLE BORDER: An x-ray image shows the way 21st century workers are responding to borders that are open to products but not to them.
Copies: 2 (DVD)
Length: 2-3 minutes each
Description: During a track and field meet a meteor strikes a stadium in Cuba, killing roughly 93 people. A round table of journalists has a discussion on the significance of the event, debating what the most important aspects of the event are. The film is a meditation on the role of journalism in contemporary Cuba; a practice that supposedly has to be combative, investigative, and neutral. What, then, is the real role of journalism?
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 25 minutes
Description: The German filmmaker Wim Wenders directs a documentary about the Cuban musicians in the group Buena Vista Social Club. This group has toured the U.S. and their albums have been best sellers for months. The elder members have many unique stories to tell from a country that has been sealed off to American citizens for decades.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 101 minutes
Description: A small-time traveling sideshow plays over 9,000 miles of backcountry Brazil, a mixture of primitivism and progress. One of the most original and entertaining films of recent years, it is an exotic, entertaining, exuberant, and often very moving film by Carlos Diegues.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 110 minutes
Description: Camino a la Escuela shows the journey of six kids and a teacher to the education center in the one of Perus most highest and iciest points.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 17 minutes
Description: This film interweaves video letters carried across the U.S./Mexico border by the film’s director with the personal stories of women left behind in post-NAFTA Mexico, giving voice to 4 amazing women who feel the effects of failed immigration and trade policies on a daily basis. Focusing on a side of the immigration story rarely told by the media or touched upon in our national debates, Letters from the Other Side offers a fresh perspective, painting a complex portrait of families torn apart by economics, communities dying at the hands of globalization, and governments incapable or unwilling to do anything about it.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 73 Minutes
Description: This film, based on ritual and legends from the Popul Vuh, as well as Tzeltal and Mayan stories, and shot in the Chiapas region of Mexico, focuses on a small Tzeltal village during a terrible draught. Desperate for relief, thirteen men set out on a quest to save their people from starvation.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 95 minutes
Description: In 2004, Aleida Guevara conducted an exclusive interview with Hugo Chavez, president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, exploring Venezuelas explosive revolutionary terrain post-April 2002 – when Chavez survived a coup attempt instigated by the United States. Featuring an interview with Jorge Garcia Carneiro, head of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, and with Venezuelans involved in the countrys many social programs, this film affords a rare opportunity to glimpse through the blockade of information imposed by the United States and into a country rich with hope, dreams and oil. Chávez, Venezuela and the New Latin America" provides a unique insight into the changing political atmosphere in Latin America.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 60 minutes
Description: Our universal passion for chocolate goes back over 3,000 years. This documentary explores the history of this divine substance through artifacts, ritual, and obsession; and takes the viewer on a journey from ancient Mesoamerica to Europe’s finest chocolate houses. It is the first documentary of a series focusing on four ritual foods of the Americas: chocolate, tequila, corn and potatoes. Produced by Archeo Productions.
Copies: 1 (DVD)
Description: A pair of filmmakers journey to the interior of Brazil, screening short films to audiences in town squares. From Bahía to the Amazon, they discover a vast country going to the movies, seeing themselves on the big screen for the first time. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 56 minutes
Description: This collection of short films is part of the series Corto metraje, más que un instante from IMCINE and CinemaFilms. This original series showcases 51 short films by up and coming Mexican directors, cinematographers and actors. The films touch on a variety of subjects, people, and lifestyles. Some are comical, some are sad, and some are thought provoking. All of these films are very useful for Spanish Language classes. This specific volume contains the following films: La suerte de la fea a la bonita no le importa; Benjamín; Adiós mama; Noche de bodas; Espías en la ciudad; Sr. X; Hombre que no escucha boleros; Pasajera; Ligerita. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 5 to 20 minutes (films vary)
Description: This collection of short films is part of the series Corto metraje, más que un instante from IMCINE and CinemaFilms. This original series showcases 51 short films by up and coming Mexican directors, cinematographers and actors. The films touch on a variety of subjects, people, and lifestyles. Some are comical, some are sad, and some are thought provoking. All of these films are very useful for Spanish Language classes. This specific volume contains the following films: De mesmer, con amor ó té para dos; Sístole diástole; El agujero negro del sol; ¿Que hora es?; El milagro; De jasmín en flor. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 9 to 22 minutes (films vary)
Description: This collection of short films is part of the series Corto metraje, más que un instante from IMCINE and CinemaFilms. This original series showcases 51 short films by up and coming Mexican directors, cinematographers and actors. The films touch on a variety of subjects, people, and lifestyles. Some are comical, some are sad, and some are thought provoking. All of these films are very useful for Spanish Language classes. This specific volume contains the following films: La maceta; La historia de I y O; Sus demonios; A la otra; Circuito interior; El columpio del diablo; Gertrudis Blues. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 5 to 21 minutes (films vary)
Description: This collection of short films is part of the series Corto metraje, más que un instante from IMCINE and CinemaFilms. This original series showcases 51 short films by up and coming Mexican directors, cinematographers and actors. The films touch on a variety of subjects, people, and lifestyles. Some are comical, some are sad, and some are thought provoking. All of these films are very useful for Spanish Language classes. This specific volume contains the following films: Azar; Rogelio; Ponchada; E pur si muove; Me voy a escapar; Una bala; Malos presagios; Peor es nada; El pez dorado; Juego de niños. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 5 to 14 minutes (films vary)
Description: This collection of short films is part of the series Cortometraje, más que un instante from IMCINE and CinemaFilms. This original series showcases 51 short films by up and coming Mexican directors, cinematographers and actors. The films touch on a variety of subjects, people, and lifestyles. Some are comical, some are sad, and some are thought provoking. All of these films are very useful for Spanish Language classes. This specific volume contains the following films: ¿Qué me va a hacer?; Cita en el paraíso; Otoñal; Malos hábitos; El árbol de la música; El valor de la amistad; Brusco despertar; La cumbre; Mantis religiosa. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 5 to 19 minutes (films vary)
Description: This collection of short films is part of the series Corto metraje, más que un instante from IMCINE and CinemaFilms. This original series showcases 51 short films by up and coming Mexican directors, cinematographers and actors. The films touch on a variety of subjects, people, and lifestyles. Some are comical, some are sad, and some are thought provoking. All of these films are very useful for Spanish Language classes. This specific volume contains the following films: Veneno; La tarde de un matrimonio de clase media; Lávelo y úselo; Un arreglo civilizado para el divorcio; Día de suerte; Encrucijada; El héroe; Contratiempo; El excusado; Pronto saldremos del problema. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 2 to 16 minutes (films vary)
Description: From the literary world of magic realism, this award-winning film adapted from the book by the same title chronicles life in Mexico near the Texas border in the early twentieth century. Unrequited passions, changing political situations and even madness emerge in this highly entertaining and endearing story. The cooking scenes and the portraits of food are spectacular, as are the romantic scenes. Copies: 2 (DVD and VHS) Length: 102 minutes
Description: This delicious black comedy, set in the jungles of Brazil, tells the story of a French explorer who in vain tries to be accepted by the tribe of cannibals who has captured him. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 80 minutes
Description: A beautifully photographed and haunting tale of obsession and repressed desire played out against the backdrop of a decaying mansion in Santiago. Glum, middle-aged bachelor Don Andres hires Estela, a 17-year old country girl, to care for his wealthy and abusive grandmother. He grows increasingly obsessed with her, blinding himself to the threats around him and his own mental breakdown. Based on the novel by Jose Donoso.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 140 minutes
Description: Father Amaro is a new priest assigned to the small rural town of Los Reyes, Mexico. He soon discovers that a conspiracy of corruption, sex, and lies has consumed the local parishes. Though he tries to resist falling into the corrupt actions of his colleagues, temptation eventually draws him in.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 102 minutes
Description: This documentary follows two Cuban exiles, Bay of Pigs invasion veterans, upon their return to their native island. As attendees of a conference discussing the invasion, they interact and attempt to reconcile the past with former battlefield adversaries, including Fidel Castro. Narrated by Martin Sheen.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 52 minutes
Description: Identical Twins, Margarita and Ramona de Saá, grew up to become acclaimed ballerinas with the National Ballet of Cuba. Once inseparable, their relationship deteriorated as one sister left for America and the other embraced the Cuban Revolution. Mirror Dance is the story of two women forever linked by birth and dance but struggling to overcome a deep rift between sisters and nations alike. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 54 minutes
Description: Julia, played by María Rojo, works by day as a telephone operator in Mexico City and at night turns to her real passion, which is dancing. Once a week she goes to a ballroom to dance with Carmelo, a fifty-year-old, well-groomed man and excellent dancer of danzón. One day Carmelo disappears and Julia’s search for him is transformed into a search for her own self-identity. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 120 minutes
Description: This film captures the beauty and richness of San Franciscos annual Day of the Dead celebration. Enjoy scenes from this cross-cultural Mexican tradition that honors ancestors and families. People of all ages celebrate with a festival of marvelous costumes, reflective altars, live music and a neighborhood procession, all while exploring the relationship between the living and the dead. View all these aspects of the Dia de los Muertos holiday along with interviews with artists and participants. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 14 minutes
Description: The California Dream suddenly becomes a hilarious nightmare when the entire Latin American population of the Golden State vanishes. For most “the disappearance” forces the cracks in their private lives wide open, including news reporter Lila Rodriguez, the state’s last remaining Hispanic, and senator Steven Abercrombie III, who becomes governor pro tem despite his anti-immigrant stance. Confusion, misunderstandings and humorous situations abound, making this film a comedic satire and a modern fable with a very current message. This is the full-length feature film based on the 1997 short film of the same name. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 98 minutes
Description: Individuals who leave their countries in hopes of a better life in the United States have a rough road ahead of them. Mexican filmmaker Tin Dirdamal follows a number of refugees in a refugee center in southern Mexico, from whence they hitch illegal rides on freight trains to the northern border. Copies: 2 (DVD) Length: 84 minutes
Description: This film is a portrait of two brothers who work deep in the silver mines of Cerro Rico, Bolivia. Raised without a father and living on the slopes of the mine, 14-year-old Basilio and his 12-year-old brother must work to support their family and afford supplies vital to their education Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 82 minutes
Description: El Día que Me Quieras is a meditation on the last picture taken of Che Guevara, as he lay dead on a table surrounded by his captors. Freddy Alborta, the photographer of the famous image, gives an interview as part of this documentary investigation of the power of photography. The film provokes a sense of loss and mourning, grounded, however, in Ches placement in the context of Latin American intellectual life. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 30 minutes
Description: Includes thirty-five interesting scenes and situations from a love story where the heartbeat ups and downs of a couple; Diastole and Cistole is a creative sample of couples relations; their happy moments, misfortunes and the games we play. Humor, jealousies and crazy ideas are the main ingredients of this funny and awarded comedy. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 80 minutes
Description: This film documents the 2002 presidential campaign of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvia for thirty days. The film is less focused on the public appearances of Lula and more on the behind the scenes action of the campaign team, including strategy meetings, private conversations, and family interactions. (2 disc set) Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 117 minutes
Description: Favela Rising documents a man and a movement, a city divided and a favela (Brazilian squatter settlement) united. Haunted by the murders of his family and many friends, Anderson Sá is a former drug-trafficker who turns social revolutionary in Rio de Janeiros most feared slum. Through hip-hop music, the rhythms of the street, and Afro-Brazilian dance, he rallies his community to counteract the violence and oppression. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 80 minutes
Description: Every year on July 16th the town of Paucartambo celebrates the festival of the Virgen del Carmen, Mamacha Carmen. According to tradition, the beauty of this festival arises from the competition between it and the Virgen del Rosario, the former celebrated by mestizos and the latter by Indians. Dance groups provide ways for the inhabitants of the town to identify themselves as individuals, as well as relate with one another as a single mestizo identity. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 34 minutes
Description: This documentary is a personal profile of Fidel Castro and a view of the developments since the revolution 10 years before. There are a lot of images of Fidel: listening to complaints, arguing, laughing, and philosophizing. There is beautiful footage of the Bay of Pigs invasion, and of Fidel and Che Guevara in the mountains. Also there are interviews with political prisoners. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 96 minutes
Description: This award-winning film raises issues of tolerance and diversity by presenting sexual, artistic, and ultimately political struggles in Cuba through the story of several individuals. Through the touching relationship of a middle-aged gay artist and a young idealistic student, Alea portrays many of the current debates and ideologies impacting the lives of Cubans. Copies: 2 (DVD and VHS) Length: 112 minutes
Description: The story of two Brazilian families who put everything at risk to cross the border into the United States from Mexico, in search of a better life. Having gotten over the first leg of their journey, they all confront unexpected obstacles as they struggle to both reach their goals and adapt to their new reality. They fight for their dreams with the same courage and determination with which they cross new frontiers that appear on their way. Entirely based on true stories that were compiled to make up this beautiful and moving story. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 106 minutes
Description: Based on a story by Juan Rulfo. A poor man is given a near-dead fighting cock and he nurses him back to life. While this brings him life, he finds that when he forgets his roots and he soon runs out of luck. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 105 minutes
Description: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s last film before his death, Guantanamera is a romantic, fluid road-trip movie set in contemporary Cuba amid economic crisis and crumbling infrastructure. In a tribute to the resilient spirit of Cubans in trying circumstances, and a sly critique of the regime, Alea masterfully weaves in tributes to Death of a Bureaucrat and other works. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 104 minutes
Description: The generation gap is taken to the extreme by a group of young people. They have decided to exterminate all senior citizens. Isidro Vidal, the protagonist, is a middle-age man thrown in the midst of this absurd and merciless war. Ultimately, the love of a woman shows him that happiness is possible only for those who show the courage to live fully to the end of their days. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 90 minutes
Description: After Argentina declared its independence from Spain in the mid-19th century, Spain fought back by sending its armada across the Atlantic to crush the revolution. To repulse the Spanish, a guerrilla movement sprang up among the gauchos, led by Martín Güemes. This legendary moment in Argentinian history was captured on an epic scale. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 92 minutes
Description: This film presents a revisionist view of the life Ernesto Che Guevara. Various interviews with former comrades of Guevara present a portrait of the man that is a stark contrast to the official mythology of Ches historical role in the revolution. Their stories present a cruel, vindictive side of Ches personality responsible for a number of botched revolutionary ventures, including the campaign in Bolivia that led to his death. Far from the selfless hero of official Cuban history, viewers are presented with a cowardly, incompetent ideologue whose disregard for the views of others led to his downfall. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 71 minutes
Description: Set in pre-revolutionary Cuba (late 1950s), this winner of the 1990 Grand Coral Prize in Havana deals with the inner conflicts of a young girl’s coming of age, her identification with a Hemingway she never meets, and a society she finds confining. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 90 minutes
Description: Six short documentaries about the protests and populist movement taking place in Oaxaca. Interviews, photographs, and documentation of particular events, like the attempted takeover of Benito Juarez Autonomous University by the Federal Police on November 2nd 2006 are included. Various struggles and themes are analyzed in these short productions that document and present images of the current repression of Oaxacan citizens. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 5-12 minutes
Description: Based on a short story El Gallo de Oro by Juan Rulfo, this film tells the story of Dionosio Pinzon, a Mexican peasant living with his mother. Born with a deformed hand, and living a very meager life, Dionosio’s luck turns around when he is given a losing gamecock which he nurses back to health. He trains the bird for fighting, begins to make money, and begins a relationship with a gold-digging singer. As he makes money, though, he begins to become more and more corrupt–and it becomes apparent that his winning streak will not last. Remake of the 1964 film El Gallo de Oro. Copies: 2 (DVD) Length: 130 minutes
Description: La Ley de Herodes is a hilarious, outrageous satire set in a tiny Mexican town in 1949. Damián Alcázar stars as Juan Vargas, a junkyard operator is recruited as a temporary mayor following the demise of the latest corrupt town leader. At first, Vargas is the ideal politician: hes honest, desperate and not terribly ambitious – or so it seems. But eventually, Vargas gives in to overwhelming temptation, bribery, and even violence in this brilliant, tongue-in-cheek story about government treachery. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 122 minutes
Description: This is a series of short film clips that tell stories about people who, in one way or another, are affected by the Olympics. These 11 short stories bring out a lot of different emotions in the viewer; they are comical, sad, and informative. The cortometrajes range in length from 4 to 20 minutes. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 77 minutes
Description: A diverse group of Cubans finds itself stuck at a remote bus station. Their shared situation brings them together such that they transform the bus station into a kind of socialist utopia, and when they can finally leave, they dont want to. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 106 minutes
Description: A classic of Cuban cinema, which looks at the lives of three women, an upper class Lucía in the 1890s, a middle class Lucía in the 1930s, and a working class Lucía in the 1960s. Copies: 2 (DVD and VHS) Length: 160 minutes
Description: Breaking new ground in the world of Cuban art, this is the first documentary to focus exclusively on the art and artists from Cuba’s easternmost region: Oriente. This film takes the viewer on an insightful journey where one will be introduced to Eastern Cuba’s most highly acclaimed painters in this culturally rich region by way of studio visits and interviews as well as excursions into the countryside. A unique and delightful brand of Cuban humor often permeates the content and adds to the emotional and intellectual impact of the story. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 43 minutes
Description: The talents of top director Roberto Gavaldon, novelist B. Traven (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) and cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa combined to produce this gentle, moving fable on human morality. Macario is a young peasant, despondent over his inability to provide for his family. On the Day of the Dead, he meets Death, disguised as another peasant, who trades him the power to cure the dying for a portion of turkey. Macarios fame spreads around the country, and he soon has a flourishing business until a local doctor decides to call in the Inquisition. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 91 minutes
Description: Set in 1973, in Santiago, Chile, Machuca is a poignant coming-of-age film, drawn from the filmmakers childhood. Two boys from different economic backgrounds become great friends, while the conflicts on the streets lead Chile to the bloody and repressive military coup, changing forever their lives, their relationship and their country. Copies: 2 (DVD) Length: 115 minutes
Description: Nominated for best film award and recipient of the Special Jury’s Prize in Havana’s 1994 film festival, this movie tells the story of a Havana University Physics Professor’s torturous relationship with her daughter during the special Period in Cuba. Based on the 1984 short story by Mirta Yáñez "Beatles Contra Duran Duran," the film marks a departure from director Fernando Pérez previous style of documentary-like realism and evokes a hypnotic trance-like feel as it presents generational conflict and the adolescent search for identity as metaphoric representations of post-revolutionary Cuban society. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 58 minutes
Description: This classic of Mexican cinema begins when a young woman reporter interviewing a world-famous artist, asks him about a painting of a nude Indian girl he had done years before and which he never revealed. The painter replies that it was the cause of a tragedy and proceeds to tell its story. Maria, a woman who lives in Xochimilco, struggles with the owner of the general store, to whom she owes money, her love for Lorenzo, and the artist who tries at all costs to paint the portrait of the beautiful woman who he had noticed at the market. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 97 minutes
Description: Maria Alvarez, a bright, spirited 17-year-old Colombian is desperate to leave her job stripping thorns from flowers. Maria accepts a lucrative offer to transport packets of heroin – which she must swallow – to the United States. The ruthless world of international drug trafficking proves to be more than Maria bargained for. This dramatic thriller builds toward a conclusion so powerful and revealing it could only be based on a thousand true stories. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 101 minutes
Description: In this animated film, a sequel to the original Vampiros en la Habana, multiple scientific discoveries are made that allow vampires to go out into the sun. Many people want control of the substance, and are willing to fight for it. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 87 minutes
Description: Set in the early 1960s, the film centers on the Europeanized Cuban intellectual, too idealistic (or lazy) to leave Miami, but too decadent to fit into the new Cuban society. This is both a critique of Revolutionary society and a critique of that critique. It is also the first film from post-revolutionary Cuba to be released in the U.S. Copies: 2 (DVD) Length: 97 minutes
Description: John Shea, Sissy Spacek, Jack Lemmon. A young American journalist mysteriously disappears during the violent 1973 military coup in Chile. When his wife and father attempt to find him, they are confronted with a deeply disturbing political reality relating to their own country and the country they are investigating. A 1982 Cannes Film Festival winner. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 122 minutes
Description: On a Honduran mountainside overlooking vast fields of sugar cane, a six-year-old boy named Marlon dreams of becoming an artist. Twelve-year-old Inri dreams of attending university. Little Yorleni simply dreams of having a family. Meet the children of the Montaña de Luz orphanage, their lives a living testament to the beauty and innocence of childhood in the face of adversity beyond their years. With artistry and honesty, the camera paints a stirring portrait of a loving community where nothing is truly certain but hope and where each birthday is a celebration of dreams fulfilled and dreams to come.
Description: This film is the working classes’ response to globalization. It engages the audience in the issues of immigration, factory flight, and the organized demand for economic justice. Filmed over an 8-year period in the mountains of east Tennessee, interior Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, this documentary is rooted in the authentic expression of workers who speak about their lives, work, disappointments, and hope. These conversations are combined with scenes in factories, fields, union halls, Mexican stores, city parks, and employment agencies. The documentary travels to the U.S.-Mexican border (El Paso – Juarez) to create deeper understanding of factory flight out of Morristown, and to interior Mexico to look at the forces that cause immigration. The film ends with a stunning union victory at a large poultry processing plant in Morristown, Tennessee.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 60 min
Description: This documentary deals with the development of the life of a group of children living in the street. It reflects diverse individual and group stories revealing the codes that exist between them. The film was shot with two cameras, one of them used by the children and the other by the directors.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 50 minutes
Description: Mayan Indian peasants organize in an effort to improve their lot in life. After the army destroys their village and kills their family, a teenage brother and sister decide they must flee to El Norte. After receiving clandestine help from friends and humorous advice from a veteran immigrant on strategies for traveling through Mexico, they arrive in Los Angeles, where they try to make a new life as young, uneducated, and illegal immigrants.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 139 minutes
Description: In this comedy, a Dominican widower, Balbuena (Luisito Martí), decides to leave the economic strictures of island life behind for the streets-are-paved-with-gold promise of the Big Apple.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 104 minutes
Description: In this comically-numbered sequel, Balbuena (Luisito Martí) returns to New York, where he must marry an American citizen to remain in the country legally.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 117 minutes
Description: Feature film by Fina Torres, director of the international hit Celestial Clockwork, and winner of the Camera dOr at the Cannes Film Festival. An important historical milestone in Latin American cinema, Oriana is a film about Maria, a young woman who returns to the home of her aunt Oriana in the Venezuelan jungle, where she spent summers as a child. Oriana has passed away and willed the house to Maria. When Maria returns to prepare the house for sale, she is struck by various memories of her time there as a child, memories that gradually lead her to discover a secret that had been kept for decades. Copies: 1( DVD) Length: 88 minutes
Description: An impassioned exploration of the roots of black rebellion in nineteenth-century Cuba, based on a famous Cuban anti-slavery novel of the period. Copies: 2 (DVD) Length: 98 minutes
Description: There are approximately 2 million undocumented children who were born outside the U.S. and raised in this country. This documentary explores the situation of young people who were educated in American schools, hold American values, know only the U.S. as home and yet risk deportation to countries they may not even remember. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 88 minutes
Description: Based on The Pearl by John Steinbeck, who also assisted with the cinematography, this stunning film portrays the struggles of a poor Mexican family. Set in a community in Baja, the film centers around the family’s efforts to survive and save their baby by diving for pearls. A disturbing vision of poverty and racism, and a visual masterpiece, due to the direction of Emilio Fernandez and the photography of Gabriel Figueroa. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 77 minutes
Description: Ten-year-old Pixote (Portuguese slang for Peewee) is one of three million homeless children in Brazil. Hauled off to a crowded detention center, wide-eyed Pixote witnesses rapes, beatings and other acts of random violence by both the guards and the inmates. With the tranvestite Lilica and his lover Dito, Pixote escapes from the reform school and embarks on a life of violence and crime. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 127 minutes
Description: With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990 Cuba lost half of its oil imports and survived. The economy shifted from large farms or plantations and reliance on fossil-fuel-based pesticides and fertilizers, to small organic farms and urban gardens, converting Cuba from a highly industrial society to a sustainable one. This documentary shows Cubas success in this transition and is aimed at giving hope to a developed world hooked on oil and to lift American’s prejudice against Cuba by showing the Cuban people as they are. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 53 minutes
Description: A handsome tale of revolution and conflict, set in the mid-1600s. Disgruntled slaves in northeastern Brazil leave their plantations and form Quilombo de Palmares-their own democratic nation in the jungle. This doesn’t sit well with the Portuguese landowners, who send in their troops to restore control. This historical saga is a stirring fusion of folklore, political impact, and dynamic story-telling, realized in vibrant colors and set to the pulsing beat of Gilberto Gil’s musical score. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 114 minutes
Description: Shot in fluid vérité style, the film focuses on the stubborn survival of deeply-ingrained traditions of machismo and sexism in post-revolutionary society. Teresa is a housewife and mother whose involvement in political and cultural groups incurs the displeasure of her husband. This film is most appropriate for university students and adults, but may also be used in high school classroom settings. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 120 minutes
Description: The cruelty of one Mexican cacique has left his village completely without water, and the population is living in misery. The people of Rio Escondido will have to struggle for justice, and a newly arrived schoolteacher will help them find the courage to do so. Copies: 2 (DVD) Length: 110 minutes
Description: The brutal tale of a teenager making a go of it in one of the world’s toughest town’s: Medellin, Colombia. Rodrigo dreams of playing rock and roll. He rallies his friends into a punk band. From a web of violence, fear, aimlessness, drugs, and jail, rock and roll emerges as salvation, escape, hope –and agony. Employing a cast of young actors and real-life street toughs – some of whom meet violent ends before the film was released – Rodrigo D invites comparisons to Luis Buñuels classic Los Olvidados. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 91 minutes
Description: A film about October 2, 1968, Mexico City -the day of the massacre of students in Tlatelolco–the Plaza of the Three Cultures. The story begins with two students returning to their apartment carrying a wounded friend. From that point, evolves a plot impregnated with anguish and fear that culminates in a heart-breaking end. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 95 minutes
Description: Incisive, quietly powerful drama chronicling the last three years of the life of Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador. The focus is on the way in which he became an outspoken defender of human rights and was eventually assassinated. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 102 minutes
Description: This is a joyous and colorful three-part musical odyssey that follows the powerful flow of Afro-Cuban music from its origin five centuries ago in Africa and Spain to the contemporary sound of such exciting popular artists as Gloria Estefan, Ruben Blades, and jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie. Program one traces the African and Spanish roots, Program 2 traces the cultural blending in the Caribbean, and Program 3 traces its popularity in the United States and eventually through the world. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 58 minutes each part
Description: Alicia returns to the pueblo where she spent her childhood and adolescence after an absence of 15 years. Despite the many changes that her pueblo has undergone, she finds that everyday life remains much the same as it was when she left. Copies: 2 (DVD) Length:
Description: The story of the legendary Tejana singer, Selena, who was tragically murdered by the president of her fan club. Jennifer López and Edward James Olmos star in this movie about he talents, triumphs, and tragedies of the Quintanilla family. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 127 minutes
Description: The first Guatemalan feature film. Neto is the eleven year old son of a Guatemalan official in the mid-fifties, during a period of turmoil when the elected government was threatened by a U.S. backed invasion. While political unrest forms a tense background, Neto – with only a child’s understanding of the adult world – tries to enjoy his youth anyway. He naturally gravitiates toward his flamboyant, irresponsible uncle more than his plodding, earnest father. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 106 minutes
Description: A visually stunning film that was made in Cuba between 1961 and 1964 by the acclaimed Soviet director Mikhail Kalatozov (The Cranes Are Flying). The camera work is amazing in this propaganda epic that portrays four vignettes of Cuba in the period immediately prior to the 1959 Revolution. The film is a rivetingly beautiful examination of the social and economic conditions in Cuba during the Batista era. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 141 minutes
Description: In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act – the take – has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. Armed only with slingshots and an abiding faith in shop-floor democracy, the workers face off against the bosses, bankers and a whole system that sees their beloved factories as nothing more than scrap metal for sale. With The Take, director Avi Lewis, one of Canada’s most outspoken journalists, and writer Naomi Klein, author of the international bestseller No Logo, champion a radical economic manifesto for the 21st century.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 87 minutes
Description: One of the most purely joyful pieces of cinema in year. A tango dancer falls in love with his beautiful partner and clashes with her gangster boyfriend. Using a variety of tempos, pairings, and rhythms, the many breathtaking tango numbers illustrate the complexity and depth of the dancers’ emotions as well as the tango’s lush appeal.
Copies: 2 (DVD and VHS) Length: 115 minutes
Description: The story of a Brazilian monk’s quest to be ordained as a priest against a backdrop of personal crises, war, and social collapse. Brother Sebastian confronts numerous obstacles, including his guilt at being raped as a child, his attraction for the beautiful, androgynous Gabriel, doubts about his faith, the torments of a mysterious demon, and the growing jealousy of the man who raped him, now a fellow brother in Sebastian’s order. The year is 2030.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 147 minutes
Description: When the Aztecs arrived in the Valley of Mexico 600 years ago, they found a mysterious city of great pyramids. With this video students will examine some of the theories and legends surrounding the mysterious civilization of Teotihuacán, see some of the existing artifacts and ruins of Teotihuacán, and study some of the unique cultural traits of the Teotihuacános, which include their architecture and their religion
Copies: 2 (DVD and VHS) Length: 18 minutes
Description: Every night a special white train makes its way from the Tucumán province to Buenos Aires. Its passengers are an alternative army of workers who make ends meet by collecting paper and cardboard. The directors observe their engaging protagonists busily going about their work to try to make a living in a country wrecked by financial chaos and economic instability.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 80 minutes
Description: This black and white documentary travels to La Tropical, a Cuban dance club just outside of Havana, where dance, passion and music take precedence over the politics of the nation.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 93 minutes
Description: Based on the Peru-based novel “Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter” by Mario Vargas Llosa. When radio reporter Martin (Keanu Reeves) falls for his sexy aunt Julia (Barbara Hershey), the station’s zany soap opera writer Pedro (Peter Falk) decides to play cupid – and broadcast the details! Courtship soon turns to chaos with Martin’s love life in the shambles, Julia in disgrace and irate listeners rioting in the streets. Everyone will have to tune in tomorrow… to discover how it all turns out.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 108 minutes
Description: When someone makes a brief visit in the Yucatan Peninsula, it is called a visit of a “turix.” When one sees a dragonfly, it is considered good luck. The video-magazine Turix is like the dragonfly; it is an open space for creative, audiovisual expression of the indigenous inhabitants of south-southeastern Mexico. This video is divided into eight short sections, each one the work of independent film makers and rural media workshops with children and adolescents of rural communities. They are produced by and for the people of these communities and spoken in the languages of the region.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 35 minutes
Description: This is a film about Mayan communities and the languages spoken in them. This movie shows the journey children make to become fluent in both Mayan and Spanish. True to its Mayan title, this move is about a community’s efforts to teach its children Mayan and to break the barriers the adults have of people who speak different languages.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 25 minutes
Description: A critical comedy of the pain and frustration encountered by a mother of a low income family when she attempts to throw a costly party for her daughter’s fifteenth birthday. The father’s objections (he sees such celebrations as antiquated and petit bourgeoisie) highlight the contradictions of family and social relations in modern day Cuba.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 84 minutes
Description: Thirteen year-old Monica survives the urban Columbian streets by selling flowers to couples at local bars and restaurants. She is befriended by 10 year-old Andrea, who left her home to flee from her abusive mother. Together, with other friends, they sniff glue and puff cigarettes and marijuana. The film is a portrayal of 24 hours of Monicas life–on Christmas Eve–as she dreams of spending Christmas with her boyfriend. In reality, it is just another day of misery lost in the swirl of glue intoxication.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 116 minutes
Description: This documentary narrated by three small children examines different aspects of indigenous communities within México. The indigenous groups portrayed are the Lancadones, Maxahuas and Otomies. In each community the children narrate their surroundings, traditional ways of making a living and other aspects specific to their communities, including how to make tortillas, how to make paper, etc.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 6 minutes; 13 minutes; 12 minutes
Description: An absurd, slyly critical film in which Bebe takes us on a taxi ride through Havana on the day of Santa Bárbara/Chango. Set to the music of Bola de Nieve and Benny Moré, the characters of Mariana, a ballerina, Julia, a middle-aged woman, and Elpido, a musician, intersect in a surreal, dazzling slice of life.
Copies: 2 (DVD) Length: 106 minutes
Description: Jorgito (age 12) and Malú (11) are neighbors, classmates and best friends. When Malú’s mother decides to marry a foreigner so she can leave Cuba Malú is deeply upset and hopes to reach her father before he signs an agreement allowing her to emigrate. She runs away from her home with Jorgito, her traveling companion. Thus begins their adventure. The film was shown in the San Francisco International Film Festival, and was nominated for the 2006 Oscar.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 80 minutes
Description: This film is a look at the decline of Uruguayan middle class through the life of Jacobo, a lonely sock factory owner in Montevideo. When he hears about the impending visit of his irritatingly cheerful brother, he enlists his faithful assistant Marta to pretend to be his wife.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 94 minutes
Description: Released in 2001 in Mexico, where it broke box-office records, director Alfonso Cuarón’s sexy comedy follows two teenage boys who go out on the road with an older Spanish woman they both lust after. Sumptuous cinematography, wonderful performances by the young cast and a subtle glimpse into Mexican life and its politics.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 100 minutes
Description: Based on the novel by Octavio Paz, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Las trampas de la fe, deals with the life of this Mexican nun. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz remains in many ways an enigma to those who read her poetry and essays.
Copies: 2 (DVD and VHS) Length: 101 minutes
Description: Features interviews with three artists instrumental in the Chicano art movement: Juana Alicia, Jose Montoya, and Malaquias Montoya. The three describe their early influences and inspirations, and discuss their philosophies on art and life.
Copies: 2 (DVD) Length: 75 minutes
Description: Two short documentaries by Asori Soto about life in Cuba. Zona Afectada, illustrates the hard physical work involved in securing water in Havana, Cuba in order to take a bath. Mosquitos tells the story of how the government deals with the mosquito problem.
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 8 minutes; 6 minutes
Description: Adapted from the 1978 stage play by the preeminent Chicano playwright Luis Valdéz, Zoot Suit is a musical drama of racism and intolerance in the culture of Los Angeles. It begins in 1942 with the death of a young Chicano (Mexican-American) which directly leads to the infamous “zoot suit riots.”
Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 103 minutes
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