F R E E A D M I S S I O N | P U B L I C W E L C O M E
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Director: Juan Carlos Valdivia, Bolivia, 2011
Showtime(s) and location(s):
Thursday, September 17. 5:00 p.m., Floyd Theater
Thursday, October 8, 5:00 p.m., Floyd Theater
Synopsis: La Paz’s Zona Sur neighborhood is Bolivia’s most exclusive enclave and has housed the country’s affluent elite for generations. In an adobe-tile-roofed castle, a statuesque matriarch reigns over her spoiled offspring and indigenous servants. But social change, however unwelcome, is on its way. As the mother squabbles with her self-indulgent, oversexed teenage son and clashes with her petulant daughter, her 6-year-old boy wanders the rooftops unsupervised. The scent of impending decline permeates the air, and the threat of shifting aristocratic privilege heralds a new era in a seemingly interminable class war. Bolivia’s official entry for the Academy® Awards, this searing portrait of a patrician family in flux exposes the bubble of decadence in which they exist. With outstanding cinematography, Valdivia elevates camerawork from a craft to the level of art.
From Pragda, Spanish Film Club.
Director: Álvaro Brenchner, Uruguay, 2014
Showtime(s) and location(s):
Thursday, September 17. 7:00 p.m., Floyd Theater
Sunday, October 4, 4:00 p.m., Elaine Chao Auditorium
Synopsis:
Uruguay’s official selection for Best Foreign Academy Award, Mr. Kaplan follows Jacob Kaplan’s ordinary life in Uruguay. Like many of his other Jewish friends, Jacob fled Europe for South America because of World War II. But now, turning 76, he’s become rather grumpy, fed up with his community and his family’s lack of interest in their own heritage.
One beach bar may, however, provide him with an unexpected opportunity to achieve greatness and recover his family’s respect in the community: its owner, a quiet, elderly German, raises Mr. Kaplan’s suspicion of being a runaway Nazi.
Ignoring his family’s concerns about his health, Jacob secretly recruits Contreras, a former police officer whose loyalty far exceeds his honesty, to help him investigate. Together, they will try to repeat the historic capture of Adolf Eichmann: by unmasking and kidnapping the German and secretly taking him to Israel.
Rising filmmaker Álvaro Brechner’s quixotic quest strikes plenty of comedic spark from its bone-dry humor, taking great delight in the reinvigorated ingenuity and pride of its aging protagonist. Even more potently, the film never loses sight of the existential demons that haunt those on the run from their unresolved past and, ultimately, themselves.
From Pragda, Spanish Film Club
Director: Florence Jaugey, Nicaragua, 2011
Showtime(s) and location(s):
Sunday, September 20. 4:00 p.m., Elaine Chao Auditorium
Thursday, September 24, 5:00 p.m., Elaine Chao Auditorium
Synopsis: Nicaragua’s first full-length feature in 20 years, La Yuma tells the story of a young woman who dreams of transcending her bleak life in the slums of Managua by becoming a boxer. Looking beyond the meager possibilities that seem available to her (and ignoring the advice of her gang-member friends), she finds solace and hope in her training and falls in love with a middle-class journalism student. With an extraordinary performance by Alma Blanco as Yuma, the strength, astuteness and determination of the main character reflect the feelings of a population that faces adversity and inequality. Jaugey’s film allows us the rare opportunity to get a glimpse of life in this Central American country where gender and class inequality are an everyday challenge.
From Pragda, Spanish Film Club
Director: Hussain Ahmed, US, 2015
Showtime(s) and location(s):
Wednesday, September 23 , 7:00 p.m., Elaine Chao Auditorium
Synopsis: Akram faces great challenges of being a good father to a daughter he greatly loves, but is separated from her mother, while juggling a career in the police force that would love to fire him if it wasn’t for the union. He’s ingested so much hate and mistreatment that he has become angry, hateful, and racist. He takes his childhood trauma and imposes it upon the police trusting public in Middle America. No cop will work with him until the chief finally finds an Arab police officer they can promote to detective. They come from similar places but had very different experiences in their youth. As they partner up, they find just how different they truly are. Akram creates his own laws as he feels is justified from his perverted perspective while his partner, Rashid, follows the extent of the law as he was trained.
Director: Aurora Guerrero, US, 2012
Showtime(s) and location(s):
Thursday, September 24, 7:00 p.m., Floyd Theater
Monday, September 28. 7:00 p.m., 104W Ekstrom Library
Synopsis: In a fast-paced immigrant community where dreams are often lost to economic survival, two young Chicanas contemplate life when they stir unexpected desires in each other.
Mosquita y Mari is a coming of age story that focuses on a tender friendship between two young Chicanas. Yolanda and Mari are growing up in Huntington Park, Los Angeles and have only known loyalty to one thing: family. Growing up in immigrant households, both girls are expected to prioritize the well-being of their families. Yolanda, an only child, delivers straight A's and the hope of the American Dream while Mari, the eldest, shares economic responsibilities with her undocumented family who scrambles to make ends meet.
When Mari moves in across the street from Yolanda, they maintain their usual life routine, until an incident at school thrusts them into a friendship and into unknown territory. As their friendship grows, a yearning to explore their strange yet beautiful connection surfaces. Lost in their private world of unspoken affection, lingering gazes, and heart-felt confessions of uncertain futures, Yolanda's grades begin to slip while Mari's focus drifts away from her duties at a new job. Mounting pressures at home collide with their new-found connection, forcing them to choose between their obligations to others and staying true to themselves..
From the official site.
Director: Miguel Alvear, Ecuador, 2010
Showtime(s) and location(s):
Friday, September 25, 7:00 p.m., Muhammad Ali Center
Synopsis: Is there an audience for Latin American movies? These are some of the questions posed by an Ecuadorian filmmaker whose latest movie was a commercial flop. He embarks on a query to find answers to his questions and relief for his despair. His research leads him to a giant contraband market in the port city of Guayaquil, where pirated movies from all over the world are sold for one dollar each. Here, he discovers a number of Ecuadorian low budget movies produced by amateurs, with titles he had never heard of before: from action packed productions to evangelical melodramas.
- Written by Miguel Alvear
Director: Arturo Menénendez, El Salvador, 2014
Showtime(s) and location(s):
Sunday, September 27, 4:00 p.m., Elaine Chao Auditorium
Thursday, October 8, 7:00 p.m. , Floyd Theater
Synopsis: The first fiction film from El Salvador to be produced since 1969 and the first ever to see a worldwide release, The Crow’s Nest follows Don Cleo, a humble piñata salesman who receives an extortion letter at his doorstep. If he doesn’t pay $500, a small fortune for him, within 72 hours, he will be killed. Don Cleo quickly decides to gather the money through friends, but the harder he tries to raise the funds, the deeper into trouble he gets. If Don Cleo hopes to survive, he’ll have to face his fears and stand up to his tormentors.
With a magnificent use of deadpan humor and charm, The Crow’s Nest depicts a unique and realistic vision of El Salvador, where evangelical churches, reverence for the concept of the American Dream, the local struggling economy, and violence are everyday experiences for its most vulnerable population.
Shot on location in neighborhoods controlled by gangs, the script was based on a collection of real stories..
From Pragda, Spanish Film Club
Director: Mariana Chenillo, Mexico, 2014
Showtime(s) and location(s):
Thursday, October 1, 7:00 p.m., Floyd Theater
Friday, October 9, 7:00 p.m. , Muhammad Ali Center
Synopsis:
Childhood sweethearts Carmen and Alfredo live a life of quiet bliss in Satélite, a sleepy suburb outside of Mexico City. When Alfredo is offered a promotion, the lovebirds make the move into the bustling metropolis.
It’s a rude awakening for Carmen, who until now has not really worried about the fact that she and Alfredo are both overweight.
After overhearing gossip about their bodies at a company party, she decides that it is time to swap donuts for salads, and urges Alfredo to join her in a weight-loss program. But when only one of them actually starts to slim down, a rift emerges in their relationship.
Portrayed with undeniable charm by newcomer Daniela Rincon and well-known Andres Alameida, Paradise touches upon issues of body image, self-confidence and happiness with candor and humor. The film is executive-produced by Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal.
From Pragda, Spanish Film Club
Director: Etzel Baez, Domican Republic, 2014
Showtime(s) and location(s):
Friday, October 9. 12:00 n., 104W Ekstrom Library
Saturday, October 10. 7:00 p.m., Muhammad Ali Center
Synopsis: Based on a real story, 339 Amín Abel Hasbun. Memory of a Crime is an intriguing account of the murder of Amín Abel Hasbun, a brilliant student leader in the Dominican Republic accused of kidnapping US Embassy official J. Crowley. Hasbun was one of many young leftists fighting against the government of Dr. Joaquín Balaguer, who favored a repressive regime.
Hasbun’s death shook the sensibility of the Dominican people to the point that Balaguer had to orchestrate an investigation despite the fact that his government had been responsible for the cold-blooded murder.
With a plot that involved the CIA and the Dominican Republic Police Force, the film does an excellent job at deconstructing the events that took place the morning of September 24, 1970, when Amin, his wife and 2-year-old son received the fatal visit of the police and country’s District Attorney..
From Pragda, Spanish Film Club
Director: Cristina Mancero, Ecuador, 2014
Showtime(s) and location(s):
Saturday, October 10. 5:00 p.m. , Muhammad Ali Center
Synopsis: A woman and her activism on wheels. The combination of sports and the academy, of competition and reflexion. This is a short portrait of Angélica Ordóñez, feminist, PhD in Anthropology but, first and foremost, cyclist.
Cycles is part of Cámara Casera (in English: Home Video Camera), a non-profit project leaded by a minimum crew, whose objective is telling stories with a home video camera and very few—almost non-existent—resources. The project’s slogan is: “We do what we can with the little we have.”
-Written by Cristina Mancero.