Latin American & Iberian Film Series

Spring 2008: Urban Cinema

2008-02-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

McCook Auditorium & Cinestudio

Wednesdays @ 7 PM

Free and open to all* ~ English Subtitles ~ Guest Speakers

February 6* [Cinestudio @ 7:30, Not McCook]

El amor en los tiempos del cólera (Love in the Time of Cholera)

Dir. Mike Newell, UK, 2007, 138 min.

A single glimpse of a girl sets into motion an entire lifetime of longing and discovery, in the much loved novel by Columbian Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel García Márquez. Javier Bardem (The Sea Inside) plays the lovestruck Florentino Ariza, who embarks on a lifetime of erotic adventures while dreaming of Fermina Daza (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), even as she marries the unromantic Dr. Urbino. As the luxurious fable takes us back and forth in time from youth to old age, García Márquez’ entrancing storytelling brings the magic realism of Latin American culture alive.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0484740/

Speakers: Radost Rangelova, Leonardo Palacios

*Cinestudio:

http://www.cinestudio.org
Gen. Admission $8, Students/Seniors $7

February 13

Na Cidade Vazia (Hollow City)

Dir. Maria Joao Ganga, Angola/Portugal 2004, 90 min.

The director’s motivation for making In the Empty City was to provide a picture of an African city without awakening feelings of a patronizing sympathy or associations with the sensationalism of war. A group of children fleeing the war in Angola is taken to Luanda accompanied by a nun. When they reach the airplane, 12-year-old N'Dala decides to leave the group and to reconnoitre the city.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397557/

Speaker: Jason Azevedo

February 20

Ônibus 174 (Bus 174)

Dir. José Padilha and Felipe Lacerda, Brazil, 2002, 150 min.

On June 12th, 2000, a bus full of passengers was kidnapped in Rio de Janeiro in broad daylight. The episode was broadcast live, causing revolt among the population. The documentary is about the incident, with interviews, focusing on the kidnapper, Sandro do Nascimento, his childhood, and how unavoidably he was doomed to become a bandit. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340468/

Speaker: Prof. María Silvina Persino

February 27

My American Girls: A Dominican Story

Dir. Aaron Matthews, USA, 2001, 62 min.

In vivid verité detail, MY AMERICAN GIRLS captures the joys and struggles over a year in the lives of the Ortiz family, first generation immigrants from the Dominican Republic. From hard-working parents, who imagine retiring to their rural homeland, to fast-tracking American-born daughters, caught between their parent's values and their own, the film encompasses the contradictions of contemporary immigrant life.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0933347/

Speaker: Elena Pedraza-González

March 5

Desamores (Lost Loves)

Dir. Edmundo Rodríguez, Puerto Rico, 2004, 107 min.

This detective thriller begins with a massacre in a highly successful travel agency. The owners, a married couple, have been slaughtered along with their employees. While the police are investigating, a private eye, Isabelo, is hired. The investigation takes place in an underworld of frayed relationships and unforeseen secrets, offering an innovative portrait and a powerful indictment of the Puerto Rican elite.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430011/

Speaker: Prof. Luis Figueroa

March 12

La fonda azul (The Blue Diner)

Dir. Jan Egleson, 2001, USA, 100 min.

On her 26th birthday, Elena suffers an anomaly: she loses her ability to speak Spanish. What explains the loss of her native tongue? Does it matter within the larger challenges of finding her father, choosing between men, and reconciling with her mother? Some answers may come at the Blue Diner, where Papo, the Cuban proprietor, serves up brains and a special pepper.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241254/

Speaker: Prof. Pablo Delano

March 26

Jogo Subterrâneo (Underground Game)

Dir. Roberto Gervitz, Brazil, 2005, 109 min.

In São Paulo, the weird and romantic piano player Martin believes in serendipity and invents a game to find the woman of his dreams. He previously selects a route in the subway, and in the wagon, he chases a woman to see if her destiny is the same as his. Based on the short story by Julio Cortázar.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0431169/

Speaker: Prof. Anne Lambright

April 2

En construcción (Under Construction)

Dir. José Luis Guerín, Spain, 2001, 125 min.

From a very specific premise (a documentary on the construction of a new building in Barcelona's "barrio chino") Guerin has produced a film that is surprisingly comprehensive and universal. Shot in static shots (except for the marvellous and hopeful final tracking shot) and edited from 120 hours of footage with Guerin's characteristic precision, rhythm and visual poetry.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290591/

Speaker: Prof. Thomas Harrington

April 9

Voces inocentes (Innocent Voices)

Dir. Luis Mandoki, Mexico/USA/Puerto Rico, 2004, 120 min.

A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980's El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387914/

Speaker: Prof. Anne Gebelein

April 16

Port-au-Prince is Mine

Dir. Rigoberto López , Haiti, 2000, 57 min.

This documentary about Port-au-Prince, the capital city of the Republic of Haiti, depicts a portrait of a beleaguered city which has been the victim of overpopulation, environmental degradation, and lack of urban infrastructure. http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/africana/Haiti-on-Screen.pdf

Speaker: Prof. Leslie Desmangles

Fall 2007: Migrations

2007-09-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

Fall 2007

Special topic: MIGRATIONS... to, from, between, ...

Life Sciences Center Auditorium. Wednesdays @ 7 PM

Free and open to all ~ English Subtitles ~ Guest Speakers

Calendar:

September 5: Cosas que dejé en La Habana (Things I Left in Havana)

Dir. Imanol Uribe. Spain, 1996.

Speaker: Prof. Tom Harrington

Three Cuban sisters arrive in Madrid searching for a better situation. There they find an aunt of them who emigrated a long time ago and also a Cuban man who later tries to seduce and exploit them.

September 12: Alambrista! (The Illegal)

Dir. Robert M. Young. USA, 1977.

Speaker: Prof. Anne Gebelein

After the birth of his first child, Roberto, a young Mexican man, slips across the border into the United States. Seeking work to support his family back home, he finds only hardship and exploitation instead of opportunity.

September 19: Vientos de agua: ep.1 & 2

Dir.Juan José Campanella.Argentina/Spain, 2005

Speaker: Prof. Gustavo Remedi

This drama series by renowned director Juan José Campanella traces a Spanish man's emigration to Argentina in the 1930s, and, years later, his son's return to modern-day Spain. The two parallel stories offer an insight into the life of immigrants, with their triumphs, failures, struggles, sorrows and joys.

September 26: ¿Puedo Hablar? (May I Speak?)

Dir. Christopher Moore. USA, 2007.

Speaker: Christopher Moore

"¿Puedo Hablar? / May I Speak?", chronicles the 2006 Venezuelan presidential elections, in which Hugo Chavez was re-elected to a six-year term. The film offers its audience a snapshot portrait of a Venezuelan society at a crossroads; a re-elected president, challenged by a mounting opposition; a valuable starting block for any debate on current Venezuelan politics.

October 3: Vientos de agua: ep. 3&4

Speaker: Prof. María Silvina Persino

October 10: Fintar o Destino (Dribbling Fate), Dir. Fernando Vendrell, Portugal/Cabo Verde, 1998.

Speaker: Jason Azevedo

Life has moved too fast for Mane. His dreams have evaporated into the drought of the beaten earth of Mindelo. Now forgotten, with his past as a great football player for Mindelense, in Cape Verde, he only has the belated compassion of his friends, neighbors, and cafe companions. Rejecting the loss of his status as a hero, Mane begins training a youth team and sees himself again in Kalu, a rebellious but talented youth.

October 17: Vientos de agua: ep. 5&6

Speaker: Prof. Moisés Castillo

October 24: El Norte (The North)

Dir. Gregory Nava. USA/UK, 1983.

Speaker: Enrique Sepúlveda

Mayan Indian peasants, tired of being thought of as nothing more than "brazos fuertes" ("strong arms", i.e., manual laborers) and organizing in an effort to improve their lot in life, are discovered by the Guatemalan army. After the army destroys their village and family, a brother and sister, teenagers who just barely escaped the massacre, decide they must flee to "El Norte" ("the North", i.e., the USA). They make their way to Los Angeles, where they try to make a new life as young, uneducated, and illegal immigrants.

October 31: Vientos de agua: ep. 7&8

Speaker: Leonardo Palacios

November 7: Bolivia

Dir. Adrián Caetano. Argentina, 2001.

Speaker: Prof. Gustavo Remedi

A starkly realistic story of an illegal immigrant from Bolivia who lands a job with a greasy spoon on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, poignantly limns the world of poverty, racism and casual violence that characterize his newfound reality. Bolivia is an urgent and timely drama of life in Argentina, a nation in crisis that in the last few years has reached unprecedented poverty levels, vast unemployment, bankruptcy, and a dramatically shrinking economy.

November 14: Vientos de agua: ep. 9&10

Speaker: Prof. Tom Harrington

November 28: Vientos de agua: ep. 11&12

Speaker: Radost Rangelova

December 5: Balseros (Cuban Rafters)

Dir. Carlos Bosch. Spain, 2002.

Speaker: Prof. Luis Figueroa

In the summer of 1994, a team of public television reporters filmed and interviewed seven Cubans, and their families, beginning a few days before their risky venture of setting out to sea in homemade rafts to reach the coast of the United States. Once in the U.S., the film crew went with them to a string of cities that included Miami; the Bronx; York, Pennsylvania; Grand Isle, Nebraska; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and a host of other places to which the lives of these immigrants carried them. Seven years later, the film crew visits them again, to discover what their destiny has been in the United States.

December 12: Vientos de agua: ep. 13

Speaker: Prof. Anne Lambright

Trinity College – 300 Summit St. Hartford, CT 06106

Directions: (860) 297-2053