NCLAFF Film – El Olvido que seremos

Date: October 9, 2023
Time: 7:00PM
Address: Nelson Mandela Auditorium, Global Education Center

Dir. by Fernando Trueba. Spain/Colombia. 2022. 136 min. Spanish with English subtitles.

Based on the legendary book Oblivion: A Memoir by the Colombian writer Héctor Abad Faciolince, and directed by Academy Award® winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Époque), the film is a memoir of the life of the prominent doctor and human rights activist, Héctor Abad Gómez (Javier Cámara), a father who is concerned about both his children and children from less-favored classes. After a devastating loss in the family, Héctor gives himself to the greater cause of public health programs for the poor in Medellín, to the consternation of the city’s authorities. The film straddles two eras: Faciolince’s adolescence in Medellín in the 1970s, and his young adulthood in the ’80s up until 1987 when his father was assassinated.

Memorias de mi Padre | El Olvido que seremos. Fernando Trueba. Spain/Colombia. 2022. 136 min. Español con subtítulos en inglés.

Basada en el legendario libro El olvido que seremos del escritor colombiano Héctor Abad Faciolince, y dirigida por el director ganador del Oscar Fernando Trueba (Belle Époque), la película cuenta la vida del destacado médico y activista de derechos humanos Héctor Abad Gómez. (Javier Cámara), un padre preocupado tanto por sus hijos como por los de clases menos favorecidas. Después de una devastadora pérdida en la familia, Héctor se entrega a la causa mayor de los programas de salud pública para los pobres en Medellín ante la consternación de las autoridades de la ciudad. La película abarca dos épocas: la adolescencia de Faciolince en Medellín en la década de 1970 y su juventud en la década de 1980 hasta 1987, cuando su padre fue asesinado.

Read more

All events

NCLAFF Film – Forest Mind and *Polinizadorxs. Resistencia en la Península de Yucatán

Date: October 6, 2023
Time: 7:00PM
Address: Nelson Mandela Auditorium, Global Education Center

Dir. by Ursula Biemann, Inga Community. Colombia/Ecuador. 2021. 31 min. Spanish and Inga with English subtitles.

Drawing on scientific as well as shamanic perspectives of engaging with the world, the project takes an eco-centric worldview. To bring their shamanic science of Ayahuasca in dialog with the Western-scientific perspective, the film explores new methodologies. With modern science adopting a predominantly mechanistic take on the living world, and Indigenous peoples experiencing an animate natural territory imbued with a spiritual dimension, these distinct cosmologies were considered vastly incompatible for the longest time. The shamans insist on the existence of animate essences which are common to all life forms. DNA technology is the Western approach to understanding the all-encompassing interconnection of life. Hence the film collapses the distinction between life and its forms of audiovisual representations. Shamanic, scientific, and artistic practices have each found their own way to access the genetic message.

Shown with: POLINIZADORXS. Resistencia en la Península de Yucatán. Dir. by Lilia Torres. Mexico 2022. 74 min. Spanish and Yucatec Maya with English subtitles.

From a sentimental-thoughtful perspective, the documentary gathers the words of some inhabitants of the Yucatan Peninsula, collected at different points of the seven sections of the megaproject called Tren Maya. In dialogue with nature, the inhabitants express their relationship with the territory, the threats it currently faces and their perspective on what would happen if the “Iron Serpent” were to arrive. The testimonies, given in symbolic spaces for those who defend life, take us into an intimate universe of concerns about the devastation caused by the current development model and its amplification if the megaproject were to be implemented. Messages ready to spread through the words of these pollinators of resistance.

Polinizadorxs. Resistencia en la Península de Yucatán. Lilia Torres. Mexico 2022. 74 min. Español, Maya Yucateco Maya con subtítulos en Inglés.

Desde una perspectiva sentimental-reflexiva, el documental recoge las palabras de algunos habitantes de la Península de Yucatán, recogidas en distintos puntos de los siete tramos del megaproyecto denominado Tren Maya. En diálogo con la naturaleza, los habitantes expresan su relación con el territorio, las amenazas que enfrenta actualmente y su perspectiva sobre lo que pasaría si llegara la “Serpiente de

Hierro”. Los testimonios, brindados en espacios simbólicos para quienes defienden la vida, nos introducen en un universo íntimo de preocupaciones sobre la devastación que causa el actual modelo de desarrollo y su amplificación si el megaproyecto se implementara. Mensajes listos para difundir a través de las palabras de estos polinizadores de la resistencia.

Read more

All events

NCLAFF Film – Mal de Caña

Date: October 2, 2023
Time: 7:00PM
Address: Nelson Mandela Auditorium, Global Education Center

Dir. by Juan A. Zapata. Dominican Republic/Spain. 2021. 76 min. Spanish with English subtitles.

A documentary about the working conditions of Haitian workers in one of the largest sugar cane plantations in the world, located in the Dominican Republic and belonging to the Fanjul Family, one of the most powerful families in America. When Maria’s husband died, she was told to either leave the sugar cane plantation or to work in the only existent job: cutting and planting cane. She decided to work in exchange for a miserable wage and a rudimentary barrack she and her five children call home. With that, she was accepting a precarious life without electricity, drinkable water, and sanitary services. This is how people (four stories are told) are stuck in a contemporary plantation system, ensuring that no basic services or civil rights are provided, keeping workers in a life of misery. The vast extension of a sugar cane plantation in Dominican Republic offers this deal to thousands of Haitian workers. They are an obstacle that hinders the functioning of the great machine that is the Plantation.

Mal de caña. Juan A. Zapata, Dominican Republic/Spain, 2021, 76 min. Español, Creole Haitiano con subtítulos en Inglés.

Un documental sobre las condiciones laborales de los trabajadores haitianos en una de las plantaciones de caña de azúcar más grandes del mundo, ubicada en República Dominicana y perteneciente a la Familia Fanjul, una de las familias más poderosas de América. Cuando el marido de María murió, le dijeron que dejara la plantación de caña de azúcar o que trabajara en el único trabajo existente: cortar y sembrar caña.

Decidió trabajar a cambio de un salario miserable y un cuartel rudimentario al que ella y sus cinco hijos llaman hogar. Con ello aceptaba una vida precaria sin electricidad, agua potable y servicios sanitarios. Así es como la gente (se cuentan cuatro historias) está atrapada en un sistema de plantaciones contemporáneo, asegurando que no se proporcionen servicios básicos ni derechos civiles, manteniendo a la gente en una vida de miseria. La vasta extensión de una plantación de caña de azúcar en República Dominicana ofrece este trato a miles de trabajadores haitianos. Son un obstáculo que dificulta el funcionamiento de la gran máquina que es la Plantación.

Read more

All events

Southern Skies | Cielos del Sur

Date: September 30, 2023
Time: 9:00 am
Address: 250 E Franklin St | UNC Chapel Hill Chapel Hill NC 27514

The Institute for the Study of the Americas and the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center present Southern Skies: Stories from Latin America.

Humans have looked at the night sky for thousands of years to understand the world around us. Take a journey in our Dome to see Latin American skies and listen to stories from indigenous Inca and Maya communities. Presentation will be in both Spanish and English languages.

Tickets are now available here.
————————————————————————————————–
El Instituto de Estudios de las Américas y el Planetario y Centro de Ciencias Morehead presentan: Cielos Del Sur: Historias de América Latina.

Los seres humanos han mirado el cielo nocturno durante miles de años para comprender el mundo que nos rodea. Te invitamos a nuestra cúpula del planetario para ver los cielos de América Latina y escuchar historias de las comunidades indígenas Inka y Maya. En español e inglés.

Boletos están disponibles aquí.

Read more

Latin(x) American Trans-Oceanic Studies Working Group: Concluding Conversation and Reception

Date: May 5, 2023

Details TBA.

All events

A Talk with Professor Vanessa Pérez Rosario

Date: April 14, 2023

Address: Virtual

Save the date for this talk with Vanessa Pérez Rosario, Professor at the City University of New York.

…

This talk is a part of the Latin(x) American Trans-Oceanic Studies Working Group.

All events

The Latin(x) American Trans-Oceanic Studies Working Group: Symposium on Atlantic Latinidades

Speaker: Various

Date: February 24, 2023 – February 25, 2023
Time: 2/24, 9:00am – 2/25, 5:00pm
Address: John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke University

This symposium is designed to break down disciplinary barriers in Atlantic studies. As a way of addressing disciplinary gaps, “Atlantic Latinidades” brings together scholars in the comparative fields of African, Latin American and Latinx studies that have decentered established frameworks and shifted epistemological centers.

The conference will culminate in a book launch for Quesada’s new work: The African Heritage of Latinx and Caribbean Literature (Cambridge University Press 2022).

Invited speakers: Tahia Abdel Nasser, Magalí Armillas-Tiseyra, Sophie Esch, Anne Garland Mahler, David Kazanjian, Lanie Millar, Ato Quayson, Richard T. Rodríguez, María Josefina Saldaña-Portillo, Fatoumata Seck, Joseph Slaughter and Ariana Vigil.

…

This event is co-sponsored by the Duke Department of Romance Studies, Duke Global, Duke Africa Initiative, Duke Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Duke English, UNC Latina/o Studies Program, and the UNC Department of Women’s and Gender Studies.

More information for this event can be found via the “Read More” button below.

Read more

All events

Why the Apparent Reversal? Explaining why Chilean Voters Rejected a New Progressive Constitution

Speaker: Claudio Fuentes

Date: March 8, 2023
Time: 12:10 – 1:25
Address: Hamilton Hall, Room 335

In September 2022, 62% of Chileans rejected a constitutional proposal that incorporated socio-cultural and economic rights new to Chile. This result seems surprising since the proposal emerged from a Constitutional Assembly formed after prolonged social protests in 2019 and in light of the 2021 election of the leftist Gabriel Boric. While Chilean society seemed to be following a progressive path, this vote outcome went in the opposite direction. Three factors may help to explain this: the composition of the Constituent Assembly that strongly affected the themes addressed by the Convention; certain processes and rules of the constituent process that inhibited compromise; and features of the polarized debate regarding the constitutional draft in the months leading up to the plebiscite.

…

Claudio Fuentes is the Federico Gil Visiting Professor in Latin American Politics. He is currently a professor of political science at Diego Portales University (UDP for its acronym in Spanish) in Chile, where he has also served as Chair of the UDP School of Political Science and Director of its Social Science Research Institute. He has published extensively on issues of the police and democracy (the topic of his award-winning dissertation which was subsequently published), the military and politics, indigenous rights, political behavior, and most recently constitutionalism and democracy.

Register to attend by clicking the “Read More” button below!
…

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science and the Institute for the Study of the Americas at UNC-Chapel Hill