Category: Drama
¿Quien Diablos Es Juliette? / Who In The Hell Is Juliette?
Shot in Cuba and the US over a period of three years, this film features remarkable cinematography by first time director Carlos Marcovich. Winner of the Latin American Cinema Prize.
Cuba, Drama, Mexico, Social Issues, Social Movements/Resistance, USAABRIL DESPAÇADO (BEHIND THE SUN)
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.
Brazil, DramaACOSADA: DE PIEL DE VIBORA (CORNERED: MADE OUT OF SNAKESKIN)
Eugenia Ramírez, a young dentist, returns home from a congress, only to find that her apartment has been ransacked. Furious, she tries to recover her childhood photo album at any cost, demanding that justice be done. However, she is unaware that this interferes with the interests of a gang of delinquents who turn her into the pursued instead of the pursuer.
Drama, Mexico, Social IssuesAGUAS BAJAN TURBIAS, LAS
Based on the novel of Alfredo Varela, El río oscuro, this film has been called the last great social-folkloric film produced in Argentina before filmmakers turned to nuevo cine, and the cine de liberación in the 1960s
Argentina, DramaAleijadinho: Passion, Glory and Torment
Part of a two DVD set called "Race and History in Brazil." The other DVD in this set is called "Denying Brazil." ALEIJADINHO: PASSION, GLORY AND TORMENT is a fictionalised drama about the life of 18th-century sculptor Antonio Francisco Lisboa, who was known as Aleijadinho. Born the son of a slave, Lisboa struggles with prejudice, mental illness, and disease but never stops expressing himself through his art.
Art, Brazil, Drama, Social IssuesALICIA EN EL PUEBLO DE LAS MARAVILLAS
In this groundbreaking satirical film about the Cuban Revolution, the craziest situations are seen as normal by most of the inhabitants of Wondertown. Alicia, however, struggles to make sense of what is happening around her from the moment she arrives. This film by Daniel Diaz Torres mixes absurdity, humor and horror, and was banned because it was believed to be anti-revolutionary.
Cuba, Drama, Social IssuesALLA LEJOS Y HACE TIEMPO
A moving story about growing up in the pampas, based on the famous autobiographical novel of the same title. Through his deep friendship with an old "gaucho," a boy coming of age becomes fascinated with nature and the mysteries of the human soul.
Argentina, DramaAlmost Brothers / Quase Dois Irmãos
This searing look at the class struggle in Brazil over a period of four decades is told through the closely linked yet fatallz divided lives of Miguel, a middle-class white rebel, and Jorge, his black childhood friend. Remembering their time of imprisonment by the right wing government in the 1960s, Miguel returns as a progressive politician to the prison where Jorge serves a sentence as a gang leader, to seek his help in changing the cycle of death and poverty.
Brazil, Cinema/Theater, Drama, Politics/Human Rights, Social IssuesAlsino y el Condor
An allegory about an idealistic ten-year-old peasant who dreams of flying like a condor. He eventually learns to fly when he joins guerrillas fighting in an imaginary Central American country.
Drama, Economics/Development, Nicaragua, Politics/Human Rights, ReligionAmores Perros (Love’s a Bitch)
This film is a bold, intensely emotional, and ambitious story of lives that collide in a Mexico City car crash. Inventively structured as a triptych of overlapping and intersecting narratives, Amores Perros explores the lives of disparate characters who are catapulted into unforeseen dramatic situations.
Drama, Mexico, Social IssuesAnd the Earth Did Not Swallow Him
A moving and powerful portrait of the life of a poor Mexican American boy and his migrant farm worker family, as they struggle to adapt to life in American society. Adapted from the novel "...y no se lo trago la tierra" by Thomas Rivera. Through its many human stories of growing up as a Mexican American the story exposes the rich cultural traditions which have given shape to life in the American Southwest
Drama, Latinos/Chicanos, USAAngel de Fuego
A tragic urban story about the unfortunate life of a 13-year old circus girl in Mexico City. She is expelled from her job when the official of the circus finds out she is pregnant. She meets a troupe of traveling puppeteers preaching the word of God and joins them, eventually entrusting her son to God.
Drama, Mexico, Social Issues, Women's StudiesAntonia
From the Producers of City of God and acclaimed writer/director/producer Tata Amaral comes Antônia, a moving soulfoul look into the lives of four women living on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Determined to escape their poveryy stricken lives, the talented younf women form an all=female rap group but find their road to success is riddled with sexism, racism and violence. One by one, they succumb to their frim realitiews, putting the group's future, and their lifelong friendships, in jeopardy. Until they learn that out of struggle comes strength, and out of strength, the courage to continue on.
Subject: Music/Dance, Social Issues, Drama, Women's Studies
Ardiente Paciencia
A young man is in love with the daughter of a local bar owner in a Chilean village. The young man enlists the help of the famous poet Pablo Neruda to woo his beloved.
Biography, Chile, Drama, HistoryAura, El
Espinoza is a shy taxidermist who secretly dreams of executing the perfect robbery. On his first ever hunting trip, in the calm of the Patagonian forest, his dreams become reality when he accidentally kills a man who turns out to be a real criminal and inherits his scheme: the heist of an armored van carrying casino profits. Caught up in a world of complex new rules and frightening violence, Espinoza's lack of experience puts him in real danger. And he has another, more dangerous liability: he is an epileptic. Before each seizure he is visited by the ''aura'': a paradoxical moment of confusion and enlightenment where the past and future seem to blend. Is a world of violence what he really wants and can he actually survive? Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
Argentina, Cinema/Theater, DramaAzucar Amarga / Bitter Sugar
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.
Cuba, Drama, Social IssuesBaile Perfumado
The inhospitable backlands, or sertão, of northeastern Brazil was home to a fearsome group of social bandits - the cangaceiros. Among the most infamous of these outlaws, known by their hats covered with mystic talismans, was the bespectacled Lampião whose depredations became legend in the 1930s. The film portrays the filmmaker and photographer Benjamin Abrahão, a Lebanese immigrant, who captured the elusive bandits with his camera.
Biography, Brazil, Drama, HistoryBarroco
An impressionistic journey through the music of Cuba, Spain and Mexico from pre-Columbian times to the present, on the occasion of the Fifth Centenary of the Conquest.
Art, Cuba, Drama, History, Social IssuesBefore Night Falls / Antes que anochezca
Episodic look at the life of Cuban poet and novelist, Reynaldo Arenas (1943-1990), from his childhood in Oriente province to his death in New York City. By 1964, he is in Havana where his writing and homosexuality get him into trouble: he spends two years in prison, writing letters for other inmates and smuggling out a novel. He befriends Lázaro Gomes Garriles, with whom he lives stateless and in poverty in Manhattan after leaving Cuba. When asked why he writes, he replies cheerfully, "Revenge."
Cuba, Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Politics/Human Rights, Social Issues, USABella del Alhambra, La
A period musical, based on the novel The Song of Rachel by Miguel Barnet, the film concerns a young woman who uses everyone to attain her dream of being a singer at the Alhambra, Cuba's top burlesque theatre in the 1920's.
Art, Cuba, Drama, HistoryBlood and Wine
A shocking new thriller from the acclaimed Brazilian filmmaker based on the award winning novel Veias e Vinhos by Miguel Jorge on a horrifying story buried for over 40 years. Blood and Wine centers on Mateus, a modest business owner, his wife Antonia, their three children and Mateus' brother Pedro. After Mateus launches a restaurant in Goias in central Brazil, he and his familz find themselves persecuted by a wholly corrupt, graft-laden police force. The outcome is terrifying as almost all of Mateus family is brutally murdered. Will the sole survivor see the criminals brought to justice?
Cinema/Theater, Drama, Politics/Human RightsBoca del Lobo, La
La Boca del Lobo is fiction inspired by the Peruvian army's November 1983 massacre of 47 men, women and children suspected of terrorism. When the news of the massacre came out, the army blamed Shining Path for the atrocities, but one eyewitness testified to the contrary. The movie portrays the moral and emotional disintegration of the members of a small army detachment sent away from any world they know to root out Shining Path missing in a remote mountain village.
Drama, Economics/Development, Peru, Politics/Human Rights, ReligionBodas de Sangre
An adaptation for ballet by Antonio Gades, Spain's leading ballet and flamenco star, of Federico Garcia Lorca's famous folk tragedy, performed in full costume in a bare Madrid rehearsal hall.
Drama, SpainBreak of Dawn / Rompe el Alba
Oscar Chavez, a great Mexican singer and actor is the leading actor of this story about the life of Pedro Gonzalez, the host of a radio show in 1930s Los Angeles. His life was filled with romance and music until he challenged a powerful and corrupt political system.
Drama, Latinos/Chicanos, Social Issues, USABulto, El
El Bulto is a young photographer who is beaten and loses consciousness during a 1971 student protest. He wakes up twenty years later to find a new and different world of computers, new illnesses, and the absence of Communism. His family has also changed, and he is no longer 20 years old. Trying to make up lost time, he learns that his long sleep may have been for the best.
Drama, MexicoCabeza de Vaca
Freely adopted from the book Naufragios by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (written in 1542). The film portrays the saga of the adventures of a group of Spanish soldiers in Mexico. Their leader, Cabeza de Vaca, is considered to be one of the first Spaniards to come to some appreciation of the native Indians.
Biography, Drama, History, Indigenous Peoples, MexicoCallejón de los Milagros, El (Midaq Alley)
Film adaptation of the Naguib Mahfouz novel. Set in downtown Mexico City, the film portrays three neighbors: Rutilio, whose emerging homosexual orientation destroys his marriage; Susanita, an old maid who falls prey to a thief; and Alma, a virgin (Salma Hayek) who becomes a cocaine addict and prostitute. The film is among the most awarded films of Mexican cinema, having received some 49 international prizes.
Drama, MexicoCamila
Based on a true story from the 1800s, the film relates the tragic story of two young lovers: Camila, from a wealthy traditional family, and a young priest. They both defy family, church, and state in order to pursue their happiness. This is Maria Luisa Bemberg's most acclaimed film, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film
Argentina, Classic, Colonial, Drama, HistoryCananea
Story of the revolt at the American-owned Cananea mine in the years preceding the Mexican revolution. This revolt led to the eventual nationalization of Mexican mines. The film is told from both the miners' viewpoint and the American viewpoint, as personified by Colonel Green, the mine owner.
Drama, History, Mexico, Social Movements/ResistanceCanoa: Memoria de un hecho vergonzoso
One of the first powerful statements about the repression of the student movement in 1968 in Mexico. This documentary-style film depicts the case of five young employees of the Autonomous University of Puebla attacked in the small town of San Miguel Canoa by locals who believed the group consisted of dangerous Communist agitators given the anti-student propaganda circulating at the time. Villagers killed two of the students, and almost burned the remaining three alive.
Drama, History, Mexico, Social IssuesCarla’s Song
1987, love in time of war. A bus driver George Lennox meets Carla, a Nicaraguan exile living a precarious, profoundly sad life in Glasgow. Her back is scarred, her boyfriend missing, her family dispersed; she's suicidal. George takes her to Nicaragua to find out what has happened to them and to help her face her past. Once home, Carla's nightmarish memories take over, and Carla and George are thrown into the thick of the US war against the Sandinistas. A mystery develops over where Carla's boyfriend is, and the key to his whereabouts may be Carla's friend Bradley, a bitter American aid worker.
Cinema/Theater, Drama, History, Nicaragua, Politics/Human Rights, Social Movements/ResistanceCarmen
A modern dance company rehearses a flamenco-ballet version of the Bizet opera, and the principal performers commence living out the scenario in the reality of their own daily lives. It is passionate, pulsating and beautifully danced: Gades is one of Spain's most famous flamenco dancers the former director of the National Ballet.
Drama, SpainCastillo de la Pureza, El
An educated man tries to keep his family closed off from the outside world while he goes mad from the ideologies contained in books. The film is based on a true story related to the suppression of the student movement in Mexico in 1968.
Drama, MexicoCecilia
Loosely based on the classic nineteenth-century Cuban novel, Cecilia Valdéz by Cirilo Villaverde. The movie is a reflection on the birth of Cuban nationality. A beautiful mestizo woman struggles to become a part of the world of the white aristocracy. She chooses Leonardo to accomplish her goals. Their tortuous passion is juxtaposed against the emergence of the nation and the struggle for independence.
Cuba, Drama, HistoryCelebrating Cinco de Mayo
This educational video aimed at children is separated into three sections. The first section explains what Cinco de Mayo is, why it is celebrated and its importance. The second section talks about the history of Cinco de Mayo. The third section talks about how the holiday is celebrated. It includes music, arts and crafts, food, parades and general festivities that take place on Cinco de Mayo.
Cuba, Drama, HistoryCentral Do Brasil / Central Station
One of Brazil's most acclaimed films and winner of a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Inside Rio de Janeiro's Central Station, two very unlikely souls are about to become inextricably linked. When a young boy witnesses his mother's accidental death, a lonely retired schoolteacher reluctantly takes the child under her wing.
Brazil, DramaChacotero Sentimental, El
This film centers around a young and eccentric radio show host who has a successful program on the air. His anonymous callers tell their stories of love, entanglements, misunderstandings and passionate affairs.
Chile, Comedy, DramaCidade Baixa / The Lower City
Deco and Naldinho are best friends in a constant struggle to earn an honest living in the gritty world of Salvador de Bahia's Lower City. When a beautiful prostitute named Karina asks to hitch a ride, the twosome quickly becomes a threesome. To survive life in the Lower City, the trio must learn to accept each other as lovers, friends and enemies.
Brazil, Drama, Social IssuesCidade De Deus / City Of God
In the midst of the streets of the world's most notorious slum, Rio de Janeiro's "City of God," a frail and scared young boy will grow up to discover that he can view the harsh realities of his surroundings with a different eye: the eye of an artist. In the face of impossible odds, his brave ambition to become a professional photographer becomes a window into his world and ultimately his way out.
Brazil, Drama, Social IssuesCity of Men
Two lifelong friends raised amidst the turmoil of Rio de Janeiro's notorious Pool Hall Hill attempt to navigate the treacherous maze of adulthood after celebrating their 18th birthdays and becoming caught up in the city's endless cycle of violence in director Paulo Morelli's companion piece to the Golden Globe-winning drama City of God. Laranjinha and Acerola may not be bound by blood, but these childhood friends are closer to one another than most brothers. While their friendship has gone a long way in helping them both to cope with the strife that surrounds them, the hard truth is that they will both have to fend for themselves now that they've entered into adulthood. For Laranjinha, entering this stage in life means finding his long-lost father; for Acerola it means finally taking responsibility for his growing family. Now, as Laranjinha's cousin, quick-tempered local drug lord Madrugadão (Jonathan Haagensen), finds his power threatened by his former right-hand man Nefasto (Eduardo BR Piranha), it quickly becomes apparent that a formidable war is brewing in the poverty-stricken shantytown. The brother of Laranjinha's girlfriend, Camila (Naima Silva), looks to be a key component in this battle, threatening to draw a neutral man into a deadly confrontation. Meanwhile, Acerola's wife, Cris (Camila Monteiro), is threatening to move to S?o Paolo so that her family won't be consumed by the violence that has torn apart so many families before.
Anthropology/Archaeology, Brazil, Drama, Politics/Human Rights, Social IssuesCiudad En Rojo / City In Red
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."
Cuba, Drama, History, Social Issues, Social Movements/ResistanceCiudad Y Los Perros, La
A story about how cadets rebelling against authority in a military academy end up forming a junta with its own hierarchy and rules. Based on the novel by Mario Vargas Llosa.
Drama, Peru, Social Movements/ResistanceComo Agua Para Chocolate
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.
Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Mexico, Social Life and Customs, Women's StudiesComo Era Gostoso o Meu Francês / How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman
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.
Brazil, Drama, HistoryConfesion a Laura
An emotionally gut-wrenching drama from Colombia set during a violent civil war which occurred after the assassination of liberal leader Jorge Gaitán in 1948. Three people are trapped in Laura's house during the Bogotazo riots, setting the scene for an unforgettable night.
Colombia, DramaCoronación / Coronation
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.
Chile, Drama, LiteratureCosas Que Deje En La Habana
Nena, Rosa and Ludmilla are three Cuban sisters that arrive in Madrid looking for a better life than the one they left behind in Havana. Their aunt, Maria, has lived in Spain for many years and has a business in which she intents to exploit her nieces for a roof to live in. A whole world of conflicts, deceits and comical situations face them, soon realizing that Madrid is not the paradise they intended to find.
Drama, SpainCrimen del Padre Amaro, El
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.
Drama, Mexico, ReligionCronos
An ingenious alchemist creates a device that grants him eternal life. Four hundred years later an elderly antique dealer discovers the properties of this unique invention. Though he grows younger every time he uses the device, there is a terrible price to pay.
Drama, MexicoCuestion De Fe, Una
In this lively road picture, three friends are contracted by a notorious gangster to create a carved statue depicting the Virgin Mary for a religious celebration in Bolivia. Domingo is the one commissioned to carve the life-size figure. After carving it, Joaquin, a gambler manages to procure a truck to transport it. They are also joined by Domingo's only friend Pepelucho. Loading the statue upright in the truck they set off on an incredible adventure.
Bolivia, Drama, ReligionDanzon
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.
Drama, Mexico, Music/Dance, Women's StudiesDe Cierta Manera
A fascinating cinematic mix of documentary and fiction, Gómez (who died just before completing work on the film) looks at the marginal neighborhoods of Havana shortly after the triumph of the 1959 Revolution. With Mario Balmaseda and Yolanda Cuellar.
Cuba, DramaDe Eso No Se Habla
Marcello Mastroianni stars in this film by the late Maria Luisa Bemberg, one of Latin America's greatest directors. Mastroianni plays Ludovico, a sophisticated world traveler who retires to a small town and is drawn to the most intelligent woman in the village, a dwarf who has been sheltered by her overprotective mother. A charming fable about love and the intrusion of society.
Argentina, Drama, UruguayDenying Brazil
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.
Brazil, Cinema/Theater, Country/Region, Drama, History, Politics/Human Rights, SubjectDiarios De Motocicleta / Motorcycle Diaries
The Motorcycle Diaries is an adaptation of a journal written by Ernesto Che Guevara when he was 23 years old. He and his friend, Alberto Granado are typical college students who, seeking fun and adventure before graduation, decide to travel across Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Peru in order to do their medical residency at a leper colony. The two best friends start off with the same goals and aspirations, but by the time the film is over, it's clear what each man's destiny has become.
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Drama, Literature, PeruDioses Rotos, Los / Broken Gods
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.
Cuba, Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Social Life and CustomsEl Compadre Mendoza
This rare example of classic Mexican cinema examines the corrupted ideals of the Revolution in the story of an opportunistic landowner who faces the choice of remaining loyal to a general in Zapata's army and being financially ruined or saving his own skin. The character of the general is clearly modeled on Zapata himself.
Classic, Drama, History, Mexico, Social Movements/ResistanceEles Não Usam Black-Tie
Union leader's son doesn't want to engage in a strike, because his wife is pregnant, thus disregarding his father's tradition of political activism.
Brazil, Drama, Economics/Development, Politics/Human Rights, Social Issues, Social Movements/ResistanceFabula De La Bella Palomera
Based on a fragment from his novel Love in the Time of Cholera, this film was conceived and co-written by Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez. It tells the story of Orestes, a wealthy factory owner who falls madly in love with a married pigeon breeder. Part of the film series Amores Difíciles.
Drama, Literature, MexicoFour Days In September
This thriller is based on the true-life events. In 1969, the MR-8 urban guerrillas kidnap the US Ambassador to Brazil (Alan Arkin) to demand the release of prisoners held by the military junta. The dictatorship's secret police close in on the bungled operation while time runs out. Now, the diplomat’s life hangs in the balance, caught between a government unwilling to cooperate, and his fear for the captors themselves.
Biography, Brazil, Drama, HistoryFrida
Taymor recreates the tactile passion and beauty of Frida Kahlo’s art as a backdrop for her life of romance and revolution. Frida chronicles the life of artist Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek), from her upbringing to her worldwide fame. The film shows the turbulence and controversy that surrounded both Frida and her husband, Diego Rivera, throughout their lives as political activists, artists, and lovers. Frida received a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and two Oscars.
Art, Biography, Drama, Mexico, USA, Women's StudiesFrida: Naturaleza Viva
On her deathbed artist Frida Kahlo (played by Ofelia Medina) conjures up images and memories of her life as a painter, revolutionary and woman of the world. Her stormy relationship with muralist Diego Rivera, her tender hospitality for exiled Leon Trotsky, her struggle for acceptance as an artist, and the travail of her illnesses and injuries are all recalled in a style reminiscent of her own work, simultaneously sophisticated and primitive, flamboyant and delicate.
Art, Biography, Drama, Mexico, Women's StudiesFrontera, La (The Exile)
During the Pinchet Regime, opposition politicians were often sent into internal exile to small rural towns. This film tells the story of such a relegado in a remote southern fishing village (Puerto Saavedra) where he finds mystery, love, and a new way to see the world. La Frontera is the most awarded Chilean film in history.
Chile, Drama, Politics/Human Rights, Social Issues, Social Movements/ResistanceGallo De Oro, El
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.
Classic, Comedy, Drama, History, Mexico, Social Movements/ResistanceGertrudis Bocanegra
Gertrudis Bocanegra Lazo de la Vega--played by award winning actress Ofelia Medina--a criollo woman who participated in the Mexican war of independence, is the central character of this film. Gertrudis becomes acutely aware of the social injustice prevalent in Mexico in the late Colonial period and gets involved in the Hidalgo's movement for independence. Using the technique of flashback, she tells her story from her prison cell in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.
Colonial, Drama, History, MexicoGuantanamera
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.
Comedy, Cuba, Drama, Social IssuesGuerra Del Cerdo
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.
Argentina, Drama, Social IssuesHabana Blues (Havana Blues)
Cuba is a land of music and consequently a land of musicians. Habana Blues is full of lots of extraordinary music, but what makes it so special is the way Zambrano details the lives of the protagonists and the choices they are forced to make regarding their music, their families and their country. Cannes Festival Official Selection, 2005.
Cuba, Drama, Music/Dance, Politics/Human RightsHail Umbanda
This view of Brazil’s fastest growing religion shows both the public and private sides of Umbanda, a mix of Catholicism with both Afro-Brazilian and indigenous spiritualism. The primary focus of the film is a renowned Umbanda priest, also known as the Pai de Santo (father of the gods), and his explanation of a variety of aspects of his religion.
Cuba, Drama, Music/Dance, Politics/Human RightsHasta La Reina Isabel Baila El Danzon
A woman in Havana has had visions of Queen Isabel and considers herself to be a medium who has regular contact with the fifteenth-century monarch.
Cuba, Drama, Music/Dance, Politics/Human RightsHello Hemingway
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.
Cuba, DramaHijo De La Novia
Rafael Belvedere makes his living running a restaurant and the combination of a stressful job and familial tensions are wearing him down to a frazzle. It's been almost a year since he last paid a visit to his mother, who is battling Alzheimer's in a retirement home. When his father decides that he wants to renew their wedding vows the affair turns out to be far more complicated than Rafael imagined.
Argentina, DramaHistoria Oficial, La (The Official Story)
Set in the 1980s, the film follows the sheltered wife of a wealthy businessman who finds herself face to face with a legacy of terror as she begins to discover that her adopted daughter may have been stolen from a family "disappeared" during the Argentine military dictatorship in the 1970s.
Argentina, Drama, History, Social Movements/ResistanceHistorias De Futbol (Soccer Stories)
This film includes three stories about football, one of the most important twentieth-century rituals. A third division player from Santiago de Chile is bribed, but does not realize that his behavior betrays more than the loyalty of his team-mates. A boy from Calama, Chile wins the local derby pichanga, a soccer match that can last all afternoon, but he loses the few pesos he acquired by pawning his mother's last possessions. Francisco, a boy from the city, is stuck in a remote corner of the southern island of Chiloé on the day that Chile has to play its qualifying match for the World Cup. The only TV is in the house of the Serón sisters. While the local male population gathers to watch the match, the sisters decide which of them will initiate the young Francisco into love.
Chile, Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Politics/Human Rights, Social Life and CustomsHombre De Exito, Un
With César Evora, Jorge Trinchet, and Daisy Granados. A young ambitious man begins climbing the social and political ladder in Cuba in the 1930s. After the fall of Machado in 1933, his political career takes off, his ethics and scruples continue to decline, and his connections to family and friends deteriorate.
Cuba, Drama, History, Social Movements/ResistanceHombre de Maisinicú
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.
Cuba, Drama, HistoryHOMBRE MIRANDO AL SURESTE (MAN FACING SOUTHEAST)
Argentina, Drama, Social IssuesHombre Muy Viejo Con Alas Enormas, Un (A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings)
Amid the debris of a Colombian cyclone lands an old man with enormous wings, whose seemingly miraculous anatomy attracts the curious and devout from around the world. Silent and disheveled, this fantastical "creature" is housed in a chicken coop as his host and the onlookers wait for his heavenly message, which turns out to be a mixed blessing. Original story by Gabriel García Márquez, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Part of the film series Amores Difíciles.
Drama, Literature, SpainImperio De La Fortuna, El
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.
Comedy, Drama, History, MexicoJesus
This feature film tells the story of the life of Jesus in Yucatec Maya language. It is a great resource for those who want to practice and master the language.
Drama, History, Indigenous Peoples, Mexico, ReligionJOSÉ MARTÍ: EYE OF THE CANARY (JOSÉ MARTÍ: EL OJO DEL CANARIO)
Colonial, Drama, History, Social Movements/ResistanceJulio Y Su Angel
An eight-year-old boy tired of living in an orphanage and working in a tortilla factory decides to search for the guardian angel his mother promised to send. The angel appears to him as a grumpy old Mexican man who teaches him the values of life, work, family, and friendship while they embark on an adventure through tropical paradises.
Drama, Mexico, Social IssuesJusticia Esta Con Ella, La
Laws against the violence towards women and their families. Prod: Dinamu-SNV.
Drama, Mexico, Social IssuesKeeper Of Promises (O Pagador De Promessas)
Zé is a very poor man from the Brazilian countryside. His most prized possession is his donkey. When his donkey falls terminally ill, Zé makes a promise to Saint Bárbara: If his donkey recovers, he will carry a cross - like Jesus - all the way from his city to Saint Bárbara's church in the state capital. Upon the recover of his donkey, Zé leaves on his journey. He makes it to the church, but the priest refuses to accept the cross once he came to know the context of Zé's promise. Please note: this film does not have subtitles. It is not rated and includes scenes of domestic violence and some sexual content.
Brazil, Culture/Festivals/Food, Drama, ReligionKiss Of The Spider Woman (Beso De La Mujer Araña )
Political prisoner Valentín Arregui and homosexual pederast Luis Molina share a Brazilian prison cell in this fantastical drama from Manuel Puig’s book by the same title. Molina helps pass time by recounting memories from one of his favorite films, a wartime romantic thriller that just may also be a Nazi propaganda film, in order to spur Valentin’s imagination and distract him from the brutal realities of political imprisonment and separation from his love.
Brazil, Drama, Social IssuesLejania
A dramatic and sensitive analysis of the lejanía, the distance or separation among members of the same family, created by the Cuban revolution. A Cuban mother, now living in Miami, returns to visit her son whom she abandoned 10 years earlier.
Cuba, Drama, Social Issues, Social Movements/ResistanceLey De Herodes, La (Herods Law)
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: he’s 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.
Comedy, Drama, History, Mexico, Politics/Human Rights, Social IssuesLinda Sara
Linda Sara is the first Puerto Rican film to be nominated for an Oscar. This film is about a love that transcends time and a family about to lose the only thing they own: the house they have lived in since their birth.
Drama, Puerto Rico, Social Life and CustomsLucia
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.
Classic, Cuba, Drama, History, Social Movements/Resistance, Women's StudiesMacario
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.
Classic, Drama, MexicoMachuca
Set in 1973, in Santiago, Chile, Machuca is a poignant coming-of-age film, drawn from the filmmaker's 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.
Chile, Drama, History, Social Movements/ResistanceMadagascar
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.
Cinema/Theater, Cuba, DramaMadame Satã
Born to slaves in the arid wasteland of NortBrazil and sold by his mother at the age of 7 for amule, Joao Francisco dos Santos battled all stereotypes on the mean streets of Lapa, Rio de Janeiro. Jailed for 27 of his 76 years, dos Santos was an explosive figure prone to excessive bouts of violence and moments of extreme tenderness the next. Karim Ainouz's extraordinary and complex portrait of the triumphs and tragedy of this colorful personality unfolds against the vibrant, sordid backgrouns of Lapa in the 1930s> a thronging underworld of pimps and whores, of cut-throats, queers and artists, of dark bars and brotherls thick with smoke, drenched in sweat and cheap perfume. A world filled with violence and raw desire, where desperate dreams spring from poverty and squalor.
Anthropology/Archaeology, Brazil, Culture/Festivals/Food, Drama, Music/Dance, Social IssuesMan Who Copied, The
omance and intrigue await a poor copy machine operator who learns that counterfeiting and murder are a lethal combination in this enthralling Brazilian thriller that blends good-humored romanticism, poignant social observations and exciting criminal action. Fresh from his success in the acclaimed hit Madame Sat, handsome Lzaro Ramos stars as 20 year-old Andre, a dreamer whose days consist of working at a copying store while at night he draws comic book fantasies and spies on Silvia (Leandra Leal), the beautiful clothing store salesgirl who lives across the street. After he summons enough courage to meet her, their lives take an unpredictable turn when the lure of cash proves to be too great a temptation. In combining magical realism and comedy, director Jorge Furtado creates a new cinematic vision that is propelled by a lively soundtrack and a first-class ensemble cast.
Art, Brazil, Comedy, Drama, Economics/Development, Social IssuesMango Yellow
Short stories revolving around a bar and a hotel in Recife, unveil a mosaic of exotic characters living in the Brazilian underground: a butcher married with an evangelical woman, a necrophile in love with a bar owner, a transvestite, and many others.
Art, Brazil, Culture/Festivals/Food, Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Social IssuesMaria
Based on a novel by Jorge Isaacs. This third cinematographic version of the famous story is a classical representation of Latin American melodrama. Maria is the story of Efraín, a young man who returns to the Valley of Cauca after having spent six years in a college in Bogotá. In his hometown he is pleasantly surprised by his cousin María who has become a beautiful adolescent.
Colombia, Drama, History, LiteratureMaria Candelaria
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.
Classic, Drama, MexicoMaría Cano
When María Cano (Maria Eugenia Dávila) was recruited into the labor movement in Colombia in 1925 she was prepared for the revolution to come. She worked strenuously to organize workers becoming something of a folk hero. What she was not prepared for, after her five years of imprisonment (beginning 1928), was that the whole movement would lose steam and that she would have to live the rest of her life with her lost dreams of what might have been. These feelings are very strongly represented in her poetry. This biographical movie shows her life during those years, and considers her bitterness in later life
Colombia, Drama, Social Movements/ResistanceMaria Llena De Gracia (Maria Full Of Grace)
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.
Colombia, Drama, Social IssuesMariachi, El
The critically-acclaimed film debut from Robert Rodríguez, shot with no second takes using borrowed equipment and a talented cast of unknowns. A case of deadly mistaken identity leads the protagonist, who aspires only to be a mariachi, to trade his guitar for a gun and play for his life in this vision of bandido violence in Mexico.
Border, Drama, Mexico, Social Issues, USAMemorias Del Subdesarollo
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.
Classic, Drama, Social IssuesMi Niño Tizoc
Based in Mexico, a poor man struggles to make ends meet while facing the adversity of socioeconomic prejudice. Finances become worse once his ten-year-old son becomes seriously ill, and the man must find the means to heal his son.
Drama, Indigenous Peoples, MexicoMiddle Of The World, The
Romao, illiterate and unemployed, feels destiny drawing him on an odyssey to Rio de Janeiro in pursuit of a job and a decent life. Based on a true story, the movie follows a family of seven on a journay 2000 miles across the hinterlands of Brazil on bicycles. Along the way, director Vicente Amorim beautifully explores the inner dynamics of a family facing a great challenge. The Middle of the World is an unimaginable road movie, both graceful and tender, about having the courage to pursue your dream.
Brazil, Cinema/Theater, Drama, Social Issues, TravelMiel Para Oshun
Taken from Cuba as a child by his father, Roberto returns to the island 32 years later in search of his mother. He soon finds his American customs in conflict with those of his birthplace. Also, he discovers new revelations about his family history: though told his mother had abandoned him, Roberto learns from his cousin Pilar that his wealthy father had kidnapped him when fleeing the Revolution- leaving behind his poor black mother. Roberto, Pilar, and a driver named Antonio then take up a journey through Cuba to track her down, only to make more shocking discoveries along the way.
Cuba, Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Social IssuesMil Nubes De Paz / A Thousand Clouds Of Peace
Gerardo, a gay teenager, roams the streets of Mexico City in search of someone able to reveal the secret, hidden between the lines of a goodbye letter from his ex-lover. In his journey through barren alleys and roadways, he is haunted by images: each masculine body he sees reminds him of his lover.
Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Mexico, Social IssuesMilagro De Tepeyac, El
Released in 1917, this silent film focuses on the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico. Lupita, a young woman in Mexico is concerned about her fiancée's trip to Europe because of the war. The woman asks for the intervention of Guadalupe to protect him.
Art, Cinema/Theater, Classic, Drama, MexicoMiss Mary
Between pre-war Buenos Aires and the turbulence of Peron's Argentina are remembrances of things past. This is the story of Miss Mary (Julie Christie) the compassionate English governess and the wealthy family that lives and dies by their inflated sense of tradition and of the broad political events and intimate personal dramas that will carve their destinies.
Argentina, Drama, Social IssuesMissing
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.
Biography, Chile, Drama, History, Latin America, Politics/Human Rights, Social Movements/Resistance, USAMontaña De Luz
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.
Biography, Chile, Drama, History, Latin America, Politics/Human Rights, Social Movements/Resistance, USAMuerte De Un Burocrata
The story of a young man's attempt to fight the system is an entertaining, hilarious account of galloping bureaucracy and the tyranny of red tape
Cuba, Drama, Social Issues, Social Movements/ResistanceMujer de Benjamin, La
Seventeen-year old Natividad is bored with her life in her village. Meanwhile Benjamin, fifty something, fat, and the fool of the village, is in love with Natividad. Incited by his friends, Benjamin decides to kidnap her. Leandro, Natividad's boyfriend, interferes in the kidnapping and unleashes a violent episode which determines the fate of Natividad and restores the deteriorated image of Benjamin in the eyes of the villagers.
Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Mexico, Social Life and CustomsMuralla Verde, La
A young family, determined to escape the pressures of life in Lima, struggles to exist in the exotic, overgrown Peruvian jungle. Godoy's autobiographical story is perhaps the most honored Peruvian film of all time.
Biography, Drama, Environment/Geography, Peru, Social IssuesNegra Angustias, La
Daughter of a rebel, Angustias is ostracized for her refusal to marry, her independence, and her scorn for men. She falls in love, only to be rejected because of her race and class which cause her to return to her role as a revolutionary.
Classic, Drama, Gender/Sexuality, History, Mexico, Social Movements/ResistanceNicolas Y Los Demas
A simple story about complicated people, this movie is about the casual meeting of two friends who have not seen each other in twentysome years. While beginning with humorous satire and irony, the story takes a dramatic turn.
Drama, Puerto RicoNorte, El
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.
Border, Drama, Latinos/Chicanos, Mexico, Migration/Immigration, USANovia Que Te Vea
Two young Jewish girls, born Mexican, shape their lives under the pressures of the early sixties and their own awareness of conflicting loyalties. The subject of the life of the Jewish community within the ethnic complexity of modern urban Mexico is new to the Mexican cinema. Novia que te vea reveals the cultural diversity of the Jewish community and the social and political attitudes that flourish in it.
Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Mexico, ReligionNueve Reinas / Nine Queens
A polished, vastly entertaining and elaborate caper film, as well as a sharp character study that examines the question of honor among thieves. Juan is a small-time crook who gets caught conning a convenience store clerk, and Marcos is a big-time swindler who steps in to "arrest" him with the hope of recruiting him for a bigger job obtaining a counterfeit collection of some extremely rare stamps known as the Nine Queens.
Argentina, Drama, Social IssuesO outro lado da rua / The Other Side Of The Street
Regina, a lonely and retired grandmother, defies social expectations maintaining a very active lifestyle in Rio de Janeiro's urban life. She does this largely by supplying the police with tips on criminal activities in the area. When she witnesses what she believes is a murder across the street, she tries to obtain incriminating statements from the supposed perpetrator but in the process her whole world changes...
Anthropology/Archaeology, Brazil, Cinema/Theater, Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Social IssuesÓ Pai, Ó
During the Carnival in the historical site of Pelourinho (Salvador, Bahia, Brazil), we follow the lives of the tenants of a falling-to-pieces tenement house who try to get by using creativity, irony, humor and music.
Brazil, Culture/Festivals/Food, Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Music/Dance, Social Life and CustomsOnce Upon a Time in Rio
De and Nina come from opposite worlds; he is a working-class guy who lives in the favelas; she is a high-class student who lives in a bubble of wealth and so-called-safety. Crossing all boundaries of Rio's social apartheid, they end up falling in love at the common-grounds of Ipanema beach. Inevitably, growing from the guts of a magical city, their true love test every limit of a fractured society.
Brazil, Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Politics/Human Rights, Social IssuesOro Maldito
Themes of greed and redemption weave through this story of a young man's obsessive search for gold. His quest takes him deep into the jungle and into fateful encounters with other "beings" in Bolivia's tropical region of Cochabamba.
Bolivia, Drama, Indigenous Peoples, Social IssuesOtra Conquista, La
The synthetic cultural identities resulting from the forcible conversion of Mexico's indigenous people by the Spanish are explored through the eyes of Cortes's mistress Tecuíchpo and a fictional half-brother, the illegitimate son of Montezuma II
Drama, History, Indigenous Peoples, MexicoPapeles Secundarios
Awarded best film in 1990 at the New York Festival Latino. A theater group in crisis is the setting for this story. Its aging actors, on stage as in life, confront their fears and failures. The story takes a new twist when a group of young actors join the group, unleashing a chain of unexpected events.
Cinema/Theater, Cuba, DramaPaulina Y El Condor/En Camino
These are two short animated films set in Bolivia, one made in Bolivia and the other in Switzerland. In "Paulina," a condor saves an Aymara girl from being obliged to become a maid in La Paz. In "En camino," a highland family moves to the big city to find a better life, but ultimately settles in the jungle, growing coca. (En camino is a silent film, with the German title Unterwags.)
Animated, Bolivia, Drama, Indigenous Peoples, SwitzerlandPedro Páramo
Based on one of the masterpieces of Spanish American literature, the novel by Juan Rulfo was adapted for the screen by Carlos Fuentes. Juan Preciado travels to the town of Comala to find his father, Pedro Páramo (John Gavin); instead he finds a phantom town where death is the reigning presence.
Classic, Drama, History, Literature, MexicoPerfume De Violetas
This film portrays the true story of Yessica and Miriam, two teens from Mexico city that start a profound friendship in middle school. The friends share notebooks, games, likes, make-up, and perfume until Jorge and El Topi, two violent accomplices, kidnap Yessica. The indifference and selfishness of the adults break the friendship of the two young girls and carry them to the brink of tragedy.
Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Mexico, Social IssuesPerla, La
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.
Classic, Drama, Indigenous Peoples, Literature, MexicoPictures From A Revolution
Photographer-filmmaker Susan Meiselas returns to Nicaragua to find out what happened to the people she photographed years earlier at the height of the civil war. Meiselas and her collaborators capture the shattered lives and broken dreams of people on both sides of the conflict.
Art, Drama, Nicaragua, Social Movements/Resistance, USAQati Qati: Susurros de muerte
This is a fiction film based on a short-story from Bolivian Andean region. Fulo, a man from a small village in Bolivia not believe old traditions regarding the existence of souls and spirits. He has to face his wife's mysterious disappearance as a punishment for challenging these ancient beliefs. Winner of the best scenic production award at the 1999 Latin American Film and Video Festival of Indigenous Communities.
Bolivia, Drama, Indigenous Peoples, Social IssuesQue Viva Mexico!
Sergei Eisenstein's lost masterpiece documents the history of Mexico and its people. With sequences devoted to the Edenic land of Tehuantepec, the savage majesty of the bullfight, the struggles of the noble peon and the hypnotic imagery of the Day of the Dead "Qué viva México!" is a vivid tapestry of Mexican life. The film was shot on location in Mexico by Edouard Tisse and financed by American novelist Upton Sinclair. It was later reassembled and restored by Grigory Alexandrov.
Art, Cinema/Theater, Drama, History, MexicoQuilombo
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.
Brazil, Colonial, Drama, History, Social Movements/ResistanceREED: MEXICO INSURGENTE
Drama, MexicoROMANCE DA EMPREGADA (THE STORY OF FAUSTA)
Brazil, Comedy, Drama, Social Life and CustomsROMERO
Drama, El Salvador, History, Social Movements/ResistanceSIN DEJAR HUELLA
Comedy, Country/Region, Drama, Mexico, Spain, Subject, TravelSLEEP DEALER
Border, Cinema/Theater, Drama, Latinos/Chicanos, Mexico, Migration/Immigration, USAXICA
Brazil, Drama, Gender/SexualityY TU MAMA TAMBIEN
Drama, Gender/Sexuality, Mexico, Social IssuesYAKWA: O BANQUETE DOS ESPIRITOS
Brazil, Culture/Festivals/Food, Drama, Indigenous Peoples, Social Life and CustomsYANCO
Art, Cinema/Theater, Classic, Drama, MexicoYO LA PEOR DE TODAS
Argentina, Biography, Colonial, Drama, History, ReligionZapata’s Garden
In 1994 the Zapatistas reclaimed land in Chiapas' Lacandon jungle in southern Mexico to found the Autonomous Municipality of Emiliano Zapata. Since then, they have been building a new society in which there are neither servants nor bosses. Members of the community ensure their autonomy by tending to an organic vegetable garden and working collectively in all endeavors.
Drama, Indigenous Peoples, Mexico, Social Movements/ResistanceZoot Suit
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."
Drama, History, Latinos/Chicanos, Music/Dance, Social Movements/Resistance, USA