Film Guides

The UNC-Duke Consortium has created the film guides below to facilitate educators' incorporation of Latin American and Caribbean films into their lessons. Click on the title of the film for the complete film guide.

Alsino y el Condor

This film rewrites the Nicaraguan folktale of the boy who wanted to fly as the story of a boy living through the brutality of Somoza’s war on the Nicaraguan people and the corresponding rise of the Sandinistas.

Benedita Da Silva

A profile of the first black woman to be elected city councilor and member of the Brazilian Parliament from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.

Betty y Pancho

A portrait of the 50 year marriage of Elizabeth Catlett, the renowned African American sculptor, and the Mexican painter, Francisco Mora.

La Boca del Lobo

La Boca Del Lobo graphically depicts the violent struggle between the Peruvian military and the Shining Path guerrillas, focusing on the peasants that are caught in the middle of abuse from both sides.

La Boda

You are invited to the wedding of Elizabeth and Artemio in Nuevo León, Mexico. The video introduces a young couple whose lives and community have roots in Mexico while they encounter the challenges of migrant life in the United States.

Borderline Cases

This documentary reveals the complexity and magnitude of the environmental situation created by over 2000 “maquiladoras,” or factories run by international companies on the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border.

Brazil

This film is intended as an introduction to Brazil, for people of all ages.

Break of Dawn

Oscar Chavez, a great Mexican singer and actor, is the leading role in 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.

Buena Vista Social Club

Wim Wenders, a German filmmaker, author and playwright, made this documentary about the Cuban musicians in the Buena Vista Social Club.

Cabeza de Vaca

This film portrays 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 indigenous people of the Americas, and his conflicting interests provide valuable insights into the friction between the goals of empire and the concerns of basic humanity.

Caracoles

This is a celebration of the death of the “Aguascalientes” and the birth of the Caracoles and the Good Government Assemblies. Zapatista leaders discuss how changes will affect internal political and economic processes, gender relations, and their relationship to international civil society.

Chicana

This film traces the history of Chicana and Mexican women from pre-Columbian times to the present. It covers women's roles in Aztec society, their participation in the 1810 struggle for Mexican independence, their involvement in the US labor strikes in 1872, their contributions to the 1910 Mexican revolution, and their leadership in contemporary civil rights causes.

Chile (Obstinant Memory)

In this documentary on the military takeover of the Chile, Guzmán presents various ideas and bits of information that circulated at the time.

Christmas in Mexico

This film looks at the Christmas traditions of Mexico, which feature influences from both Spanish and Native American backgrounds. It is intended primarily for younger audiences, and includes highlights of the celebrations.

Cinco de Mayo

This film is aimed at the North American secondary school audience. It effectively explains the historical context of the two most celebrated days in the modern Mexican calendar: 16th of September (Independence Day) and the 5th of May.

Cine Mambembe

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.

Columbus Didn't Discover US

This documentary features interviews with indigenous activists from North, South, and Central America who gathered at the First Continental Conference of Indigenous Peoples in July 1990.

Compadre Mendoza

This film exemplifies classic Mexican cinema while examining 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.

Couple in the Cage

This film documents the traveling performance of Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Coco Fusco, in which they exhibit themselves as caged Amerindians from an imaginary island, providing a vivid and provocative interpretation of cultural encounters.

Cuatro Mujeres, Cuatro Autores

Pablo Milanés and Silvio Rodríguez, two well-known representatives of the Latin American nueva trova (“new song movement”), interpret songs about women written by themselves or other Cuban composers (including Sindo Garay, author of “Perla Marina” and Manuel Corona, author of “Santa Cecilia”).

Cuba Va: El Retro de la Nueva Generación

This documentary takes a critical look at Cuba’s social and economic situations today, through the eyes of its youth.

A Day Without a Mexican

This “documentary” is about a day when Mexicans disappear from the United States. Reporters scour the streets looking for Hispanic people, and people who have an opinion on this occurrence.

De Cierta Manera

A revolutionary love story combining elements of fiction and documentary, this film examines the roots of machismo and the changing relationships between women and men in early 1960s Cuba.

Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol

This is a story of the social movement growing out f the poverty and misery of the dry back lands in northeast Brazil. It is a dark and allegorical sketch of the human condition in the drought- and tradition- ravaged region.

Eva Perón

A film biography about Eva Perón, the work seeks to portray the political acumen and skill of a consummate politician--"the power behind the throne"--of the populist Argentine president, Juan Perón.

Five Suns

The animator who created “Popol Vuh” has taken authentic images from ancient Maya ceramics and turned them into a retelling of the Maya creation myth.

Flight of Pedro Pan

Experience the heartache and uncertainty of the 1960s flight of more than 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban children to the United States. The children of Operation Pedro Pan share their personal stories of the sacrifice, survival, broken hearts and new beginnings through interviews and archival footage.

Frida Kahlo

This documentary depicts the life of Frida Kahlo through her own paintings and the surroundings of her home in Coyoacán, an artistic neighborhood in southern Mexico City.

Gallo de Oro

This movie is based on a story by Juan Rulfo in which a poor man is given a near-dead fighting rooster and he nurses him back to life.

Gertrudis Bocanegra

Gertrudis Bocanegra, a criolla woman who participated in the Mexican war of independence, is the central character of this film.

Historia Oficial

Set in the 1980’s, this film follows the sheltered wife of a wealthy businessman. Things go downhill when she begins to realize that her adopted daughter may have been taken from one of the families that “disappeared” during the harsh military rule of the 1970’s.

Institute for the Study of the Americas

at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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