|
ADJUSTING IN NICARAGUA: THE
IMF, WORLD BANK AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT**
Description: A documentary about the
effects of IMF and World Bank policies on the economy and society of
Nicaragua, and the efforts to counteract the negative results of such
policies through cooperative and community development efforts. Based
primarily on oral interviews with representatives from development
agencies.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1994
Length: 50
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: USA
ALPACAS: AN ANDEAN
GAMBLE**
Description: A documentary about the efforts to bring alpacas,
indigenous animals of the Andes who were sacred in Inca culture, to a
community in Northern Peru. Populations of alpacas were devastated during
the Spanish conquest. The film depicts this cooperative project, which was
initiated in the small Andean community and sponsored by the Interamerican
Foundation.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1988
Length: 28 minutes
Director:
Type:
Documentary
Country: Peru/USA/Latin America
AMERICAS**
Description: A nine-part documentary series on the history of the
Americas. Each film carries a special region, time period, or theme.
Consult our online film guide for detailed descriptions of each
film.
Language:
English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1993
Length: 60 minutes
Director:
Type: Feature Film
Country: USA/Latin
America
BENEDITA DA
SILVA**
Description: A profile of the first black woman ever to be elected
city councilor and member of the Brazilian Parliament from the favelas of
Rio de Janeiro. Bene, as she prefers to be called, has lived her entire
life in the favelas and worked for twenty-five years as a domestic servant
before beginning her public life in 1982, when she won a post as city
councilor and was elected a federal MP in 1986. She now devotes her
efforts to fighting the racism and discrimination faced by Rio's slum
dwellers, and comments from community leaders and residents show the love
and respect she has earned.
Language: Portuguese
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1991
Length: 29
minutes
Director: Eunice Gutman
Type: Documentary
Country:
Brazil
BETTY Y
PANCHO**
Description: A portrait of the 50 year marriage of Elizabeth
Catlett, the renowned African American sculptor, and the Mexican painter,
Francisco Mora. Now in their eighties, the couple share the same studio in
Cuernavaca, and exhibit their work in New York, Mexico City, London, and
Berlin. The granddaughter of North Carolina slaves, Catlett has been
presented the key to the city of New Orleans on the occasion of its
bicentennial, and won many other awards. Some of her work is included in
the Museum of Art at NC Central.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1998
Length: 57
Minutes
Director: Juan Mora Catlett
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico
BOCA DEL LOBO,
LA**
Description: 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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1989
Length:
122 minutes
Director: Francisco J. Lombardi
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Peru
BODA,
LA**
Description: 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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
2000
Length: 53
minutes
Director: Hannah Weyer
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico
BORDERLINE
CASES**
Description: Nearly 2000 maquiladoras have been built in Mexico by
companies from the US, Asia and Europe. As a result, the border became a
2000 mile long open sewer, and a vast toxic waste dump. Filmed in three
border regions, (Matamoros and Brownsville; Tijuana and San Diego; Ciudad
Juarez and El Paso), Borderline Cases reveals the complexity and magnitude
of the cleanup, and gives a sense of energy and imagination found in the
diverse mix of people of both countries, from grass-roots, governments,
academia and industry, who are re-thinking traditional notions of borders
as they engage in the search for solutions.
Language: English
Subtitles:
Year: 1997
Length: 65 minutes
Director: Lynn
Corcoran
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA
BRAZIL*
**
Description: This film is intended as an introduction to Brazil,
for people of all ages.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year:
Length: 55 minutes
Director:
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA/Latin America
BREAK OF
DAWN**
Description: 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.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1988
Length: 100 minutes
Director: Isaac
Artenstein
Type: Documentary
Country:
USA/Chicano/Latino
BURIED MIRROR,
THE**
Description: (five part series) A co-production of Spanish
television and the Smithsonian Institute, this Quincentenary series,
narrated by the well known Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes, is an
excellent historical analysis and creatively filmed story of the encounter
of two worlds in 1492 and the aftermath of this encounter. Five hours in
total, it can be shown separately or individually. The parts are titled:
"The Virgin and the Bull", "Conflict of the Gods", "The Age of Gold," "The
Price of Freedom," "Unfinished Business."
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1992
Length: 60 minutes
each
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: USA/Latin
America
BUENA VISTA SOCIAL
CLUB**
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.
Language:
Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1999
Length: 101 minutes
Director: Wim
Wenders
Type:
Documentary
Country: Cuba
CABEZA DE
VACA**
Description: 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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1991
Length:
112 minutes
Director: Nicolás Echevarría
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Mexico
CARACOLES: NEW PATHS OF
RESISTANCE**
Description: 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. The video is an open call to join the
Zapatista communities in their struggle for recognition of their autonomy
and in their fight against neo-liberal economic policies and
globalization.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 2003
Length: 42
minutes
Director: Chiapas Media Project.
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico
CARLOS
FUENTES**
Description: An interview with the renowned Mexican novelist for
World Monitor--a television presentation of the Christian Science
Monitor.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1988
Length: 7 minutes
Director:
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA/Latin America
CARMEN MIRANDA: BANANAS IS
MY BUSINESS**
Description: This film relates the intimate saga of the star who
captured the world's heart and imagination. It reveals the lasting image
of Latin American women she created and serves as a celebration of her
glorious talents. Using active footage, film fragments, interviews and
dramatic re-enactments, acclaimed director Helena Solberg goes behind the
scenes to convey the true life story of the "Brazilian
Bombshell."
Language: Portuguese
Subtitles: English
Year: 1994
Length: 90
minutes
Director: Helena Solberg
Type: Documentary
Country: USA/Latin
America
CHAC, THE RAIN
GOD**
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.
Language: Yucatec Maya
Subtitles: English
Year: 1974
Length: 95
minutes
Director: Rolando Klein
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico/USA
CHE GUEVARA,
ERNESTO**
Description: On October 9, 1967, Che Guevara was executed by the
Bolivian army, aided by the CIA. Che's diary, a detailed, personal account
of his futile 11-month attempt to spark a revolution in Bolivia, is the
basis of this intimate filmed portrait.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1994
Length: 94
minutes
Director: Richard Dindo
Type: Documentary
Country:
USA/Bolivia
CHIAPAS! THE FIGHT FOR LAND
AND LIBERTY**
Description: Produced by John Alpert and Maryann DeLio;
co-produced by the Disarm Educational Fund and the Ecumenical Program on
Central America and the Caribbean. Through interviews with peasants and
peasant leaders, the Catholic Church, human rights workers and victims of
Army abuses, and government officials, this documentary attempts to
portray the life of the indigenous in Chiapas and show why and how the
revolution of the Zapatista National Liberation Front in 1994 makes sense
in their lives.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1994
Length: 28 minutes
Director:
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA/Latin America
CHICANA**
Description: Made by Sylvia
Morales. Chicana traces the history of Chicana and Mexican women from
pre-Columbian times to the present. It covers women's role 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. A classic film by a leading Latina
filmmaker.
Language: English
Subtitles: English
Year: 1979
Length: 23
minutes
Director:
Type: Feature Film
Country:
USA/Chicano/Latino
CHILE: MEMORIA OBSTINADA,
(OBSTINANT MEMORY)**
Description: Film director Patricio
Guzmán returns to Chile bringing his 1975 documentary, Battle of Chile,
never shown there before. He talks with many who experienced first
hand the 1973 coup against Allende. They recognize themselves and
other comrades in the film. He also talks with Chilean youth who are
seeing for the first time a national history to which they were otherwise
oblivious.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: None
Year: 1997
Length: 58 minutes
Director: Patricio
Guzmán
Type:
Documentary
Country: Chile
CHRISTMAS IN
MEXICO*
Description: This film looks at the Christmas traditions of
Mexico, which feature influences from both Spanish and Native American
backgrounds. Intended primarily for younger audiences, with highlights of
the celebrations. Produced by the Educational Video Network
Language:
English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1992
Length: 25 minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: USA/Latin
America
CINCO DE MAYO*
**
Description: EVA film briefly introducing this important
Mexican-American holiday. On May 5, 1862 a Mexican army defeated French
invaders at Puebla. The war with France lasted until 1867, but this
important victory became a second independence day. Intended for younger
audiences.
Language: English
Subtitles:
Year:
Length:
Director:
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA
CINE MAMBEMBE (CINEMA
DISCOVERS BRAZIL)**
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.
Language: Portuguese
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1998
Length: 56
minutes
Director: Lais Bodanzky & Luiz Bolognesi
Type:
Documentary
Country: Brazil
CITIES OF THE ANCIENT
MAYAS* **
Description: A documentary by the Educational Video Network.
Intended for younger audiences.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1990
Length: 23
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: USA/Latin
America
CIUDAD Y LOS PERROS,
LA**
Description: 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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1985
Length:
138 minutes
Director: Francisco Lombardi
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Peru
COLUMBUS DIDN'T DISCOVER
US* **
Description: 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 of 1990. Native
people speak about the impact on their cultures of the Columbus legacy,
contemporary struggles over land and human rights, the importance of
reviving spiritual traditions, and the need to alert the world to
environmental crises.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1992
Length: 24 minutes
Director: Robbie
Leppzer
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA/Latin America
COMPADRE
MENDOZA**
Description: 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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1933
Length:
Director: Fernando De Fuentes
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Mexico
CONQUISTADORS**
Description: The conquest of the New
World in less than 50 years is one of history's most profound events--and
remains one of its greates adventures. British historian Michael Wood
captures the bravery, endurance, greed, cruelty, and suffering involved in
these 16th-century explorations. Wood turns his attention to the Americas
to follow four amazing tales: Cortes' dramatic conquest of the Aztecs in
Mexico; Pizarro's daring overthrow of the Incas in Peru; Orellana's
obsessive search for El Dorado and discovery of the Amazon; and Cabeza de
Vaca's pivotal crossing of the North American continent. Great
Britain/Latin America.
Language: English
Subtitles:
Year: 2000
Length: 240
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: Great Britain/Latin
America
CORAZON
INDIO**
Description: A video series from Mirandas Anthropological Workshop
(Taller Mirandas
Antropologicas) that works towards recognition of the presence of
indigenous
towns in Mexico and their participation in the daily life of the
nation.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: None
Year: 2003
Length: 25 minutes
Director: Mirandas
Anthropological Workshop
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico
COUPLE IN THE
CAGE**
Description: This film documents the travelling 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.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1993
Length: 30
minutes
Director: Coco Fusco and Paula Eredia
Type: Documentary
Country:
USA/Chicano/Latino
CRUCEROS Y
CAMINOS**
Description: Like many communities across the Southeast, the town
of Clinton, North Carolina, has become home to a vibrant and growing
Spanish-speaking community. This diverse community of newcomers, who are
attracted to the area by jobs in the agriculture and livestock industries,
are struggling to honor their cultural and religious identities while
making new lives. This short video documentary, made by a graduate student
from UNC- Greensboro in collaboration with Clinton's Immaculate Conception
Church and local Latino leaders, consists of still and moving images of
community meetings, religious ceremonies, and cultural festivals which are
narrated by a mosaic of voices from the community.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1996
Length: 17
minutes
Director: Shane Nye
Type: Feature Film
Country:
USA/Chicano/Latino
CUBA, ISLAND OF
DREAMS**
Description: Experience a tour through mountains, beaches, and the
colorful panorama Cuba has to offer. This video provides pieces of
folklore, music, architecture, history, as it shows the major cities of
the island. Video Visits.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1996
Length: 52
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: USA/Latin
America
CUBA VA: THE CHALLENGE OF
THE NEXT GENERATION**
Description: A fast paced weaving of
sound bites and interviews that lets young Cubans speak and argue for
themselves. What they have to say or sing or rap suggests that everyone
born after the revolution has an opinion. Directors/Producers: Gail
Dolgin, Vicente Franco. USA (the filmmakers consulted with many Cubans,
and filming is entirely in Cuba, but production was done in San
Francisco),
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1993
Length: 60
minutes
Director: Gail Dolgin, Vicente Franco
Type: Documentary
Country: Cuba/USA/Latin
America
DANCE OF
HOPE**
Description: To call attention to the absence of their loved ones,
"disappeared" during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, Chilean women
perform the cueca, Chile's national dance of passion and courtship,
poignantly and without partners.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1991
Length: 100
minutes
Director: Deborah Shaffer
Type: Documentary
Country: Chile/USA/Latin
America
DAY WITHOUT A MEXICAN,
A**
Description: "A Day Without a Mexican" is a "mocumentary" a real
documentary about a false event! California is shocked. One third of its
population has disappeared and they are all Hispanics. Reporters take to
the streets to capture the immediate effects of the crisis: "The Mexicans
disappeared? That's great!" Have you been to the store...$6 for a head of
lettuce, $8 for a pound of tomatoes." The film mixes facts and fiction
with a touch of humor. Fact and fiction quickly begin to look alike,
calling into question the idea of "objectivity" and "documentary as the
truth." Fiction.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1997
Length: 30 minutes
Director: Yareli Arizmendi
& Sergio Arau
Type: Documentary
Country: Mexico
DEDOS DE LUNA*
**
Description: A bilingual unit based on Dedos De Luna by Tony
Johnston and Leonel Maciel. Through a poetic combination of words and
paintings, Dedos De Luna, tells the story of Toño and his grandfather, Don
Gregorio. They enjoy making masks together, until Don Gregorio dies after
making his last mask. Toño must come to terms with the death and decide
whether to carry on the tradition of mask making. The unit effectively
confronts issues of loss, death, and cultural values through a series of
well-organized and detailed lessons. The study of Dedos De Luna culminates
in a student fiesta of grandparents, memories, and the future. Accompanied
by a book.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1992
Length:
Director: Dana Walker &
Mario Huerta
Type: Documentary
Country: USA/Latin
America
DRUG WARS: FRONTLINE
DOCUMENTARY**
Description: Despite America's 30-year war on drugs, the use of
heroin, cocaine, and marijuana remains essentially unchanged. This
two-part documentary presents a television history of America's war on
drugs from both sides of the battlefield. The first episode examines the
impact of crack cocaine on our city streets and our criminal justice
system. The report also investigates Mexico's role in supplying drugs for
American demand. The second episode recounts the origins of the drug
campaign, from the Nixon administration's drug control efforts to the
rapid rise and fall of the Colombian drug cartels. PBS documentary from
Frontline.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1999
Length: 240 minutes
Director:
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA
EISENSTEIN EN MÉXICO: EL
CÍRCULO ETERNO (EISENSTEIN IN MEXICO: THE ETERNAL
CIRCLE)**
Description: The great Soviet filmmaker, Sergei Eisenstein went to
Mexico in 1929 to shoot the film Qué vive México using surrealist and
muralist influence. The project was never finished. However this
documentary film follows the work of Eisenstein including stills of
footage, interviews with collaborators, and photographs and studies of the
project.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: None
Year: 1996/1930
Length: 90 minutes
Director: Alejandra
Islas
Type:
Documentary
Country: Mexico
EJERCICIOS RITMOS LATINOS*
**
Description: An introduction for younger audiences to some
elements of Latin music. EVA series
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
Year:
Length:
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico
EVA
PERON**
Description: A film biography about Evita Perón, the work seeks to
portray the political acumen and skill of a consummate politician--"the
power behind the throne"--of the populist Argentine, Juan Perón. The film
represents an Argentine perspective grounded in history rather than
treatments of Evita such as Andrew Lloyd Weber musical and Madonna
versions.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1996
Length: 114
minutes
Director: Juan Carlos Desanzo
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Argentina
FIVE SUNS, THE: A SACRED
HISTORY OF MEXICO**
Description: Patricia Amlin, the extraordinary animator who
created Popol Vuh has taken authentic images from ancient Maya ceramics
and turned them into a riveting retelling of the Maya creation myth. The
story tells how Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca create heaven and earth,
journey to the underworld to create humans and find sustenance for them,
and finally create the sun and the moon.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1996
Length: 58
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: USA/Latin
America
FLIGHT OF PEDRO PAN,
THE**
Description: 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.
Language: English and
Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1999
Length: 90 minutes
Director: Joe Cardona and
Mario de Varona
Type: Documentary
Country: USA
FRIDA**
Description: On her deathbed
artist Frida Kahlo 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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1984
Length: 108
minutes
Director: Paul Leduc
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico
FRIDA KAHLO: PORTRAIT OF AN
ARTIST**
Description: A documentary about Frida Kahlo's painful life and
creative process. Part of the series "Portraits of an
Artist."
Language: English
Subtitles:
Year: 1983
Length: 62
minutes
Director: Eila Hershon, Roberto Guerra, and Wibke Von
Bonin
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA
FRIDA (DIRECTED BY MARCELA
VIOLANTE)**
Description: Visually depicts the life of Frida Kahlo through her
own paintings and the surroundings of her home in Coyoacán, Mexico
City.
Language:
Spanish
Subtitles: None
Year: 1976
Length: 16 minutes
Director: Marcela
Violante
Type:
Documentary
Country: Mexico
GALLO DE ORO,
EL**
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, he soon runs out of
luck.
Language:
Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1964
Length: 105 minutes
Director: Roberto
Gavaldón
Type:
Feature Film
Country: Mexico
GERTRUDIS
BOCANEGRA**
Description: 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.
Language:
Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1991
Length: 98 minutes
Director: Ernesto
Medina
Type:
Feature Film
Country: Mexico
GREENER GRASS: CUBA,
BASEBALL, AND THE UNITED STATES**
Description: While unfolding the story
of the Cuba vs. the Baltimore Orioles games, this documentary develops a
narrative of the history of baseball as an element of Cuban national
identity, and the impact the sport has had on both the United States and
Cuban relations. Especially interesting is the story of African Americans
playing for Cuban teams, and both white and black Cubans playing in the
early American Negro Leagues when baseball was segregated in the United
States
Language: English
Subtitles: English
Year: 2000
Length: 60
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: USA
GRINGOTON
(Gringo-thon)**
Description: During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a misplaced
gringo in Mexico City helplessly watches the atrocities through Mexican
television news. Taking a tip from his local neighbors, he begins to sell
chewing gum and wash car windows in the streets...to raise money for a
guerrilla army to take out Bush. "Gringo-thon" is a personal expression of
protest of an expatriate living abroad and a meditation of the
complexities of “gringo” identity.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
2003
Length: 17
minutes
Director: Greg ‘Gringoyo’ Berger.
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico/USA
GRINGO IN MAÑANALAND,
THE**
Description: This film is a montage of scenes from travelogues,
dramatic films, industrial films, newsreels, military footage, geography
textbook illustrations and political cartoons. Together they explore the
stereotyped image of Latin America in popular US media during the 20th
century.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1995
Length: 61 minutes
Director: DeeDee
Halleck
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA/Latin America
HAVANA NAGILA: THE HISTORY
OF THE JEWS IN CUBA**
Description: This documentary traces
the history and presence of the Jewish community in Cuba. It explores the
impact of the 1959 Revolution on the five percent of the original
community, the community's recent resurgence, and the international issues
that affect its future. Rich in footage of Cuba, archival material and
interviews, this film depicts an important history of Jewish immigration,
with a focus on the particular experience of Cuban Jews. Edited by Vicente
Franco and narrated by Isabel Alegría.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1995
Length: 57
minutes
Director: Laura Paul
Type: Documentary
Country: Cuba/USA/Latin
America
HELLO
HEMINGWAY**
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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1990
Length: 90
minutes
Director: Fernando Perez
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Cuba
HISTORIA OFICIAL,
LA**
Description: 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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1985
Length:
112 minutes
Director: Luis Puenzo
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Argentina
I AM
CUBA**
Description: A visually stunning film that was made between 1961
and 1964 in Cuba by the acclaimed Soviet director Mikhail Kalatozov (The
Cranes Are Flying), with a screenplay by Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Enrique
Pineda Barnet. 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 beautiful examination of the social and
economic conditions in Cuba during the Batista era.
Language: Spanish &
Russian
Subtitles: English
Year: 1964
Length: 141 minutes
Director: Mikhail
Kalatozov
Type:
Feature Film
Country: Cuba/USSR
I AM
JOAQUIN**
Description: This work by Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino
marked the emergence of film as a distinct cultural and aesthetic practice
within the Chicano Movement. In the film, Luis Valdez gives a dramatic
interpretation of Rudilfo "Corky" Gonzalez's epic poem: I Am Joaquin,
which was often distributed through mimeographed booklets to be read at
rallies. This powerful film delineates all the contradictions of the
Chicano experience over a 500-year genealogy of mestizo
resistance.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: None
Year: 1969
Length: 20 minutes
Director:
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA/Chicano/Latino
ILHA DAS
FLORES**
Description: This is an hilarious but devastating film about
values, the food chain, and the human condition. Ultimately, a Brazilian
island where pigs eat first, and the people are fed what the pigs leave
over provides an example of how arbitrarily we have arrived at the human
food chain and system of exchange that we now know.
Language:
English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1991
Length: 15 minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country:
Brazil
IN SEARCH OF THE
MAYAS**
Description: Deep in the rainforest of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula
are the lost Mayan Cities of Chichen Itzá an Palenque. Discover their
magic and learn about the Mayan culture while exploring some of the
region's most exquisite examples of pre-Hispanic American
architecture.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: None
Year:
Length: 60 minutes
Director:
Type:
Documentary
Country: Mexico
INCAS REMEMBERED*
**
Description: Explores the mysteries of an advanced civilization's
disappearance. The miracles of the Incas are presented in this engrossing
special by award winning filmmaker Luch Jarvis. Suitable for all ages, but
excellent for elementary-school students.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1986
Length: 60
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: USA/Latin
America
JULIO Y SU
ANGEL**
Description: 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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1996
Length: 98
minutes
Director: Jorge Cervera
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Mexico
JUSTICIA ESTA CON ELLA,
LA**
Description: Laws against the violence towards women and their
families. Prod: Dinamu-SNV.
Language:
Subtitles:
Year:
Length: 7
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: Ecuador
LAST REVOLUTIONARY,
THE**
Description: CBS Reports with Dan Rather presents a biography of
Fidel Castro.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year:
Length: 60 minutes
Director:
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA
LEJANIA**
Description: 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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1985
Length: 90
minutes
Director: Jesús Díaz
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Cuba
THE LIFE AND WORKS OF FRIDA
KAHLO*
Description: This Masterpiece Series provides a triple treat – a
close-up look at the lives and works of the world’s most famous artists
plus three art lessons that focus on the style of each. These
lessons reinforce the techniques and skills that the artist used and
students will experience hands-on learning
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: None
Year:
Length: 25
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: Mexico
LONG JOURNEY TO GUADALUPE,
A**
Description: The mystical story of the Virgen of Guadalupe unfolds
as Huan Francisco Urrusti identifies an explores an important cultural
aspect of Mexico. Through interviews with historians, priests,
anthropologists, and psychologists the role of religious syncretism is
analyzed in Mexican culture explaining the relationship between the
collective unconscious and the history of the country.
Language:
Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1996
Length: 96 minutes
Director: Juan Francisco
Urrusti
Type:
Documentary
Country: Mexico
LOW'N'SLOW: THE ART OF LOW
RIDING**
Description: Filmed in San Jose, CA, this work by Rick Tejada
Flores documents the art and culture of the low riders, and includes an
animated title sequence by Chicano artist Rupert Garcia and music by Jorge
Santana.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1987
Length: 30 minutes
Director: Rick Tejada
Flores
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA/Chicano/Latino
MACARIO**
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. Macario's fame spreads
around the country, and he soon has a flourishing business until a local
doctor decides to call in the Inquisition.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1958
Length: 91
minutes
Director: Robert Gavaldón
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Mexico
MADRES DE LA PLAZA DE MAYO,
LAS**
Description: This Academy award-nominated documentary about the
Argentinean mothers' movement to demand to know the fate of 30,000
"disappeared" sons and daughters is extraordinary. As well as giving an
understanding of Argentinean history in the 70's and 80's, it shows the
empowerment of women in a society where they are expected to be
silent.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1985
Length: 64
minutes
Director: Susana Muñoz and Lourdes Portillo
Type:
Documentary
Country: Argentina
MARIA LLENA DE
GRACIA**
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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 2003
Length: 25
minutes
Director: Joshua Marston.
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Colombia
MAYAN VOICES: AMERICAN
LIVES**
Description: Set in Indiantown, Florida, a small, agricultural
town 30 miles west of West Palm Beach, this film illustrates the
challenges of a totally alien environment, exploring issues of identity,
cultural integration, migration, and social change. It also demonstrated
the impact 5,000 new immigrants with a foreign language and culture is
having on the still predominantly white community.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1994
Length: 56
minutes
Director: Olivia Carrescia
Type: Documentary
Country:
USA/Chicano/Latino
MEMORIAS DE UN
MEXICANO**
Description: The pioneer film maker Salvador Toscano portrayed the
key events and figures of the Mexican Revolution from 1904 to 1924.
Capturing the flavor and reality of war-torn Mexico, the film presents the
political and military upheaval that shaped present day Mexico using
exclusive, authentic footage. It also describes the women's role in Mexico
during this period.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1992
Length: 50
minutes
Director: Salvador Toscano
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico
MEXICAN PREHISPANIC
CULTURES* **
Description: This film takes a look at the cultural wealth of
prehispanic Mexico: the civilizations of the Toltecs, the Aztecs, the
Mayas, and their legacies are explored. Intended for younger audiences. An
Educational Video Network film.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1989
Length: 26
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: USA/Latin
America
MEXICO FOR
CHILDREN*
Description: Children’s three volume set about the culture,
geography and history of Mexico.
Volume 1- The Culture of
Mexico
This
volume focuses on the rich cultural heritage of Mexico and how it affects
the daily lives of its citizens. Students will find that Mexico’s
indigenous people and Spanish rule have influenced the ceremonial dress,
folktales, foods and holidays of Mexico. Explored topics include the
music of Tejano bands, the artwork of Diego Rivera and Talavera pottery
from Puebla.
Volume 2- The Geography of Mexico
This volume focuses on how Mexico’s
geography has shaped its history, society and culture. Travel
through a variety of land formations and regions from the desert in Sonora
to the lush rainforests of Chiapas, and see how location and climate have
impacted the settlement patterns and lifestyles of Mexicans. Learn
about the major industries like silver mining and tourism, and appreciate
the exceptionality and diversity of the Gulf Coast region’s animal and
plant life.
Volume 3- The History of Mexico
This volume focuses on the obstacles
that Mexico has overcome throughout history to become an independent,
self-governing nation. Explore history topics from the time of the
Olmec through the time of independence fights as well as other more
contemporary events. Understand the Father Hidalgo and Benito
Juarez, and see why freedom has been so important to this proud
nation.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 2004
Length: 24 minutes each
Director: Schlessinger
Media
Type:
Documentary
Country: Mexico
MIAMI-HAVANA**
Description: This documentary depicts
the story of the two Cuban worlds of Miami and Havana, and the social,
cultural, and political processes that have created this divide since
1959. It provides many touching moments that portray the difficulties of
this fragmentation, as well as the ideological struggles in both
communities. An excellent point of departure for considering the Cuban
Revolution, migration, and communities of exile. Produced by the Institute
for Policy Studies, USA
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1993
Length: 52
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: Cuba
MISSING**
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.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1982
Length: 122
minutes
Director: Costa Gavras
Type: Feature Film
Country: USA/Latin
America
MUERTE DE UN
BUROCRATA**
Description: 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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1966
Length: 87
minutes
Director: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Cuba
MUSIC OF THE
MAYA**
Description: Produced by Samuel Franco, director of the Casa
K'OJM, a private non-profit educational research center in Antigua,
Guatemala dedicated to the preservation of Maya culture through music this
video shows us live footage of music during daily life and special
ceremonies throughout Guatemala, particularly in the Highlands. Narrated
by Samuel Franco.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1991
Length: 25 minutes
Director:
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA/Latin America
MY FILMMAKING, MY
LIFE**
Description: An intriguing documentary on the life of the renowned
and vibrant filmmaker. Landeta is seen in her 70's remembering her
productive years. Includes interview with filmmaker Marcela Fernandez
Violante.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1990
Length: 30
minutes
Director: Patricia Díaz
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico
NATIVES: IMMIGRANT BASHING
ON THE BORDER**
Description: This film depicts the disturbing increase in racism,
violence and intolerance along the US-Mexican border in recent years.
Natives examines the concerns of some of the individuals involved in San
Diego's anti-immigrant movement. Relying principally on a cinema vérité
style and avoiding explanatory narration, the film seeks to critique the
nativist position by contrasting their professed love for their country
with their racist and anti-democratic attitudes.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1995
Length: 25
minutes
Director: Jesse Lerner and Scott Sterling
Type: Documentary
Country: USA/Latin
America
NEW AUDIENCES FOR MEXICAN
MUSIC**
Description: A three-part documentary. Part I describes the
phenomenon of banda dance music sweeping the Unites States and Mexico.
Part II provides a history of mariachi music and its fusions with
country-western and other styles, while Part III profiles Tejano
music.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1995
Length: 30 minutes
Director:
Type: Feature
Film
Country:
USA/Mexico
NIÑOS DE
ZAPATA**
Description: Children of Zapata looks at the Zapatista National
Liberation Army's struggle to attain justice for the Maya Indians of
Chiapas. These last remaining descendants of the proud ancient Mayas have
been ruthlessly marginalized by the Mexican government. Their land is the
least arable, they live in grinding poverty, they are jailed and tortured
for asserting their rights. The film highlights their struggle during the
revolt of January 1994 staged by the Zapatista guerrillas. Includes
footage of the controversial "Red Bishop" of Chiapas, Samuel Ruiz; the
elusive subcommandante Marcos, leader of the Zapatista and Armado
Avandanio of El Tiempo, the Independent Mexican newspaper.
Language:
Spanish
Subtitles: None
Year: 1995
Length: 24 minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico/Canada
NO NOS
TIENTES**
Description: This film, narrated by Edward James Olmos, presents a
forceful analysis of the possibilities for radical change through
Guatemalan student protest. Shot in urban ghettos, rural villages and
jungle encampments, this documentary reveals the immediate and personal
struggle of a cross-section of the country's population during the forty
years of civil war. Recommended for undergraduates and high school
students.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1994
Length: 50 minutes
Director:
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA/Latin America
NORTE,
EL**
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.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1983
Length:
139 minutes
Director: Gregory Nava
Type: Feature Film
Country:
USA
OAXACA**
Description: The video
collection that takes you on a trip to Oaxaca to see the sites of the
immensely beautiful country of Mexico.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: None
Year:
Length: 60
minutes
Director: Harry Möller
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico
ODO YA! LIFE WITH
AIDS**
Description: A poetic documentary exploration of efforts by
members of the Afro-Brazilian communities in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro,
and Salvador, Bahia, Brazil to combat the spread of AIDS by drawing from
their own cultural and religious traditions.
Language: Portuguese
Subtitles:
English
Year:
1997
Length: 60
minutes
Director: Tânia Cipriano
Type: Documentary
Country:
Brazil
OFRENDA, LA: THE DAYS OF
THE DEAD I, II* **
Description: Made by Lourdes Portillo and Susana Muñoz. The very
young, the old, and the deceased are all represented in this personal and
affectionate filmmaker's relationship to the history, and present-day
celebrations of the Day of the Dead.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1989
Length: 50
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country:
USA/Chicano/Latino
LOS
OLVIDADOS**
Description: This epic Buñuel film looks at the life of young
people growing up in the slums of Mexico. In many big cities, behind the
large buildings are areas of complete misery. Children are malnourished,
there are no schools, sanitation is not up to par and delinquents
abound.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 1950
Length: 90
minutes
Director: Luis Buñuel
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Mexico
ON THE CASE OF ROSALIE
EVANS**
Description: A historical discussion among North American and
Mexican historians about the diary and life of Rosalie Evans, a
disgruntled North American property owner who lost her land during the
Mexican Revolution
Language: Spanish
Subtitles:
English
Year: 2004
Length: 60 minutes
Director: Luis Buñuel
Type:
Documentary
Country: Mexico/USA
PANAMA
DECEPTION**
Description: Banned in Panama and labeled "subversive" in the
United States, The Panama Deception gives an account of the events of 1989
when 26,000 U.S. government troops invaded the country searching for one
man, Manuel Noriega. Made by a group of independent filmmakers, the film
documents the atrocities that the official story omits.
Language:
English
Subtitles: None
Year: 1992
Length: 91 minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: USA/Latin
America
PASADO VERDE
1850-1915**
Description: The story of the Henequen plant and its practical
uses, including fiber for clothing. The documentary begins with the
incidental discovery of the Henequen and moves forward in time to the
development of factories for mass production of fiber.
Language:
Spanish
Subtitles: None
Year:
Length: 30 minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country:
Mexico
POPOL VUH*
**
Description: The Popol Vuh, the religious book of the Maya, is the
oldest existing poem in an American Indian language. It stands as an
extraordinary monument to the accomplishments of the Maya and their
ethical, spiritual, and philosophical beliefs. This animated version
begins with the account of the gods' several creations and destructions of
the world, tracing the cosmological beginnings to the awakening of the
Maya civilization.
Language: Spanish and English
Subtitles: None
Year:
Length: 58 minutes
Director: Patricia
Amlin
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA
PROYECTO VIDEOASTAS
INDIGENAS DE LA FRONTERA SUR**
Description: Compilation of the film
work of various indigenous filmmakers from southern border of
Mexico. It includes 5 short documentaries in the following
order:
1. “Te
xa wuil a va:” Que tengas el poder de mirarte a ti mismo. Linda
Lothe, Cecilia Monroy Cuevas y roberto Chankin Ortega. Mexico, 2000.
10 minutes.
Spanish
2. K’in santo ta sotz’oleb. Dia de muertos en la tierra de los
murcielagos. Pedro Daniel Lopez Lopez. Mexico, 2002. 33
minutes. Tzotzil with Spanish subtitles.
3. Squ’inal Ixim. Fiesta del
Maiz: El Tercer Encuentro del Maiz Maya-Zoque. Jose Angel Lopez
Dominguez and Roberto Alejandro Corzo Leon. Mexico, 2002. 16
minutes. Spanish
4. Mas de mil años despues..... Pablo Chankin Najbor,
Axel kohler and Tim Trench. Mexico, 2001. 19 minutes.
Lacandon Mayan with Spanish subtitles.
5. La tierra es de quien la
trabaja. “Keremetik” busca autnomia. Pedro Daniel Lopez Lopez
and Jose Miguel Hernandez. Mexico, 2002. 10 minutes.
Spanish.
Language: Varios indigenous languages and spanish
Subtitles:
Spanish
Year:
Length:
Director:
Type: Documenatary
Country: Mexico
QUE VIVA
MEXICO!**
Description: 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.
Language: Russian
Subtitles: English
Year: 1979
Length: 85
minutes
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Type: Feature Film
Country:
Mexico/Russia/U.S.
QUINCEAÑERA, LA*
**
Description: This two-part video depicts a young Mexican-American
woman's fifteenth birthday celebration. Set in Dallas, Texas and Reynosa,
Mexico, the first part consists of a discussion of the preparations,
planning, and logistics that have to be considered in planning this
important social event. The second part observes the actual ceremony
through various stages after the preparations are completed for the mass,
the party, and the dance that traditionally follow.
Language: English and
Spanish
Subtitles: None
Year:
Length: Part 1: 18 minutes, Part 2: 20 minutes
Director:
Type:
Documentary
Country: USA/Latin America
LA REVOLUCIÓN NO SERA
TELEVISADA (THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE
TELEVISED)**
Description: This daring documentary about political muscle and
media manipulation captures the short-lived overthrow of Venezuelan
president Hugo Chavez. Two independent filmmakers were present in April
2002, when the president’s powerful political enemies forcibly removed him
from office, and when 48 hours later he remarkably returned to power amid
cheering aides.
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Year: 2003
Length: 74
minutes
Director: Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’Briain
Type:
Documentary
Country: Venezuela
RITES OF THE DAY OF THE
DEAD**
Description: Every November the Mexican people clean and decorate
the graves of their loved ones, set beautiful tables or altars in which
they place offerings so the visiting dead enjoy them. Experience these and
other ancestral rituals of the Day of the Dead.
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Year:
Length: 20
minutes
Director:
Type: Documentary
Country: Mexico
RIVERA: PORTRAIT OF AN
ARTIST**
Description: "An artist must be the conscience of his age." In
this way Diego Rivera, a leader of the Mexican mural renaissance movement
of the 1920's and 1030's expressed the philosophy behind his work; in
particular the spectacular series of murals he created for public
buildings in the US and Mexico. The program explores Rivera's evolution as
an artist, his use of the fresco technique, and his politics, creating a
fascinating portrait of one of the geniuses of the 20th
century.
|