Cine Las Americas Daily Schedule: Saturday
New Visions/Works in Progress: Bringing Texas to the Latino Film Map.
Hideout Upstairs Cabaret, 11 AM
A new program section at the festival, New Visions/ Works in Progress showcases films that are looking for production or completion funds, as well as case studies that represent examples of Latino or indigenous filmmaking in Texas. These projects are brought to the consideration of investors, producers, distributors, and artists with the goal of fomenting industry participation and the creation of a film market at the festival.
The Beloved Community (USA, Canada)Hideout Theatre, 11 AM
On 2004, researchers made a startling discovery in the Chippewa birth records for the city of Sarnia, an hour north of Detroit—for the past decade, girl babies had outnumbered boys 2:1. Further investigation revealed large numbers of miscarriages, reproductive cancers in young women, and neurological problems among the band’s children. The Beloved Community looks at a Great Lakes oil town facing a toxic legacy head-on. The nerve center of Canada’s petrochemical industry, Sarnia once enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the country—but now the bill has come due, in compromised environmental and community health. The city has already lost a generation of men to workplace-related cancers. Now the women are discovering a reproductive time bomb—because of their own exposure to hormone-mimicking chemicals called “endocrine disrupters,” the next generation may be at risk. How do you stay in the home you love when the price you pay may be not only your own life, but the safety of your children?
Guatemala, la tierra arraasada | Guatemala, The Devastated Land (Guatemala)Hideout Theatre, Noon
The documentary covers the recent history and the present of Guatemala; the overthrow of the revolutionary government of Arbenz in 1954 by the United States; and the organization of guerrillas. Guatemala: La tierra arrasada tries to explain the beginning of a war that lasted 36 years and broke out again at the beginning of the eighties, which became some of the most brutal massacres of Latin American history. Witnesses of the war relate how and why it happened, and how they hid themselves in the forest to escape the threat of genocide. Also they speak of the deficiency of territories, the occupation of these through agrarian reform, and of their organization to end impunity in the country.
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Rumbo a las grandes ligas | Road to Big Leagues (USA, Dominican Republic)
Hideout Theatre, 1 PMHow does the Dominican Republic, a tiny island roughly the size of Connecticut, produce baseball superstars like Pedro Martínez, Vladimir Guerrero, Albert Pujols, Rafael Furcal and David Ortiz? Have you ever wondered what their journey was like on their way to the pros? What about the thousands that try but never make it? Rumbo a las grandes ligas tells their story. It is an intimate portrayal of one of baseball’s most heralded breeding grounds, the Dominican Republic, and a close examination oftheir special brand of baseball. From the eyes of local kids playing stickball with bottle caps, to the perspective of several major league stars, this documentary shows a side of the game that few have ever seen - a much more personal side. This is a story that takes you through the poverty, pressures, and successes of people who dare to dream big.
Clemente (USA)
Regal Metropolitan #11, 2 PM
Clemente, a loving father and husband, struggles to keep his family united amid poverty and the ever-present oppression they face as immigrants in the United States. Despite his efforts, misfortune arrives when Clemente is deported, breaking up his family and launching him on a journey home that challenges his life and faith.
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Fala Mulher! | Woman Cries Out! (Brazil)
Regal Metropolitan #12, 2 PM
Fifteen women of African descent talk about their lives in contemporary São Paulo. They have different occupations: hairdressers, clerks, maids, manicurists, students. They work hard to make a living and help support their families. They are also queens in the carnival community where they incarnate gods during the Candomblé celebrations. Often portrayed in the media as mere sex symbols—the “mulata”—these women proudly celebrate their African roots and femininity through the singing and dancing of Carnival and Candomblé rituals; nurturing fantasy within reality and infusing their daily lives with creativity and optimism.
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Hartos Evos Aqui Hay: Los Cocaleros del Chapare | Plenty of Evos: The Coca Growers of Chapre (Colombia)
Hideout Theatre, 2:30 PM
On December 18, 2005, a Native American was elected president of Bolivia for the first time in history. Evo Morales Ayma was supported by 36 native groups, the social movements, academic and intellectual circles, and a massive popular backing, which allowed him to obtain 53.7 percent of the votes. The coca growers from the Tropic of Cochabamba, better known as Chapare, also played a leading role in this process. This documentary, filmed during the last presidential election in Bolivia, examines the symbolic and cultural value of the coca leaf and the importance of the coca growers labor union. The film also sheds light on contemporary social movements, traditional Indian organizations, and political participation in Bolivia.
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Desobeir | To Disobey (Canada)Hideout Theatre, 4 PM
They are a small minority—soldiers who dare to defy military authority and discipline; soldiers who disobey orders. These men weren’t drafted, they volunteered, because they believed in honour and in the values held by the military—until they were ordered to torture, to kill unarmed civilians, to rape or condone the rape of innocent women. These soldiers were instructed to hide the evidence of their crimes in the interest of their nations and to protect their brothers-in-arms. The price these men paid for remaining true to their convictions is more than they ever bargained for.
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International Shorts Program (Argentina, Brazil, US)Regal Metropolitan #11, 4 PM
Featuring Gé y Zeta (G and Z), Trillizas propaganda (Propaganda Triplets), Quem você mais deseja (The One You Most Desire), Terra prometida (Promised Land), Conversion, Share the Wealth and Kid (Cabrito)
Tierra Roja | Red Land (Paraguay)Regal Metropolitan #12, 4PMTierra roja portrays four indigenous families immersed in the routine of their daily lives. As they interact with the physical space of the countryside, atmospheres and impressions revive the lyricism lurking beneath the mundane. Stories full of silence project themselves onto the harmony of unique song of nature.
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¿Quién Mató A La Llamita Blanca? | Who Killed the White Llama? (Bolivia, 2007)Regal Metropolitan #11, 6 PM
Jacinto and Domitila, an indigenous Bolivian couple, are the most wanted criminals in the country. ‘El Negro’ hires them to carry 50 kilos of cocaine from El Alto, the highest city in the world, to the Brazilian border on the Amazon jungle. Disguising Domitila as a pregnant farmer, with the cocaine hidden in her false womb, their journey starts in the snowy mountains of Bolivia and leads them across the entire country, through deserts, coal-mines, valleys, cities, and rainforests. Days later, the President of Bolivia approves an immunity law that protects all US citizens who commit a crime in Bolivia. ‘El Negro’ is awarded a medal of honor for his achievements against drugs.
Diario de Naná | Nana's Diary (Brazil, 2006)Regal Metropolitan #12, 6 PM
In 2005, Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos was invited to travel to the Recôncavo Baiano region of northeastern Brazil in search of the music of the sacred and the sacred within music. Naná’s Diary is a documentary that plays with two senses of music as the percussionist meets with people who use noise to produce music. These artists give regularity, stability, and consistency to noise, transforming it into melody. These noises are the messengers between nature and culture through the path of music. Naná also dives into the religious music of the Recôncavo and brings to the surface the power it has to reconnect us with the primordial.
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Arcana (Chile)Regal Metropolitan #12, 7:15 PM
This film concerns the last working year of the old prison of Valparaiso in Chile, which closed in April 1999. It is an homage to the prison and to the men who lived there during its 150-year history. The film tells the story not through visible reality, but through the most subjective experience of seeing and feeling the prison from the inside.
Quase dois irmãos | Almost Brothers (Brazil, 2005)
Regal Metropolitan #11, 8 PM
Quase dois irmaos is about the relationships between the middle class and the slums of Rio de Janeiro, as shown by two persons that are almost brothers: Miguel and Jorge during the 1950’s, 1970’s and today, marked by Brazilian popular music and by the political history of the country. The film was written by Lucia Murat and Paul Lins (City of God) and Nana Vasconcelos composed the music. Shot in Rio de Janeiro and Ilha Grande.
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Hotel Gondolin (Argentina)Regal Metropolitan #12, 9 PM
The Gondolin Hotel is home to thirty transvestites and one transsexual; men who work as prostitutes in order to survive in a society that excludes them. This documentary portrays the everyday lives of the hotel’s residents and their increasing difficulties with neighbors and the local authorities. The film also takes on the issue of street prostitution and the importance of freedom in regard to gender identity.
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