Browse Items (126 total)
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Menino 23 - Infâncias Perdidas no Brasil
The Forgotten Boys of Brazil follows the research of historian Sidney Aguilar, beginning with the discovery of bricks marked with Nazi swastikas on a farm in the countryside of São Paulo. The documentary reveals something really frightening: during the 1930s, fifty black boys were taken from an orphanage in Rio de Janeiro and led to the farm where the bricks had been found. There, the boys were identified by numbers and subjected to slave labor by a family that was part of the political, military, and economic elite of the country. This family did not hide their affinity for the Nazi ideology.
At the time, Brazil had the largest German population-with 100,000 German-born people and a community of 1 million people of German descent. 2,822 were members of the Nazi Party. Such context helped Brazil become a safe haven for Nazi war criminals after WWII when 20,000 Germans settled there. The most notorious fugitive to settle in Brazil was Dr. Josef Mengele.
Two survivors from this Brazilian tragedy, Aloísio Silva (the “boy 23”) and Argemiro Santos, as well as the family of José Alves de Almeida (known as ‘Two’), reveal their stories for the first time. (Pragda)
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El acompañante
Daniel Guerrero (interpretado por Armando Miguel) tiene sida y está interno en el sanatorio de Los Cocos al sur de La Habana. El boxeador Horacio Romero (Yotuel Romero), sancionado por dopaje, es su acompañante, quien le vigilará noche y día para evitar la propagación del virus. El acompañante, la última película del cineasta cubano Pavel Giroud, nominada para representar a Cuba en los Oscar y en los Goya, recrea las vivencias de cubanos contagiados de VIH que fueron encerrados en ese centro en los años ochenta. Las autoridades cubanas cuidaron allí a los enfermos privados de libertad y así trataron de impedir la expansión del virus. “La película termina siendo una metáfora de lo que es Cuba porque Los Cocos es como una isla de la que no puedes salir fácilmente y en la que digamos tienes cubiertas ciertas necesidades básicas”, explica Giroud en una entrevista. (El País) -
Cidade de Deus, 10 anos depois
City of God – 10 Years Later investigates the fate of the young actors who participated in the award winning film City of God, directed by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund. The documentary shows how their lives unfolded after the film’s worldwide success. The film includes the participation of the actors who portrayed Dadinho, Bené, and Li’l Zé, as well as the actress Alice Braga and musician and actor Seu Jorge. (Pragda) -
Ori Inu: In Search of Self
Ori Inu: In Search of Self is a coming-of-age story about a young immigrant woman who must choose between conforming her identity and spirituality to the cultural norms of America or revisiting her roots in the Afro-Brazilian religion called Candomble. The film stars Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins and feature the Grammy-nominated Afropean duo Les Nubians among others. (IMDB) -
Voces de resistencia
Voces de resistencia es un proyecto audiovisual del Centro de Estudios Afrodiaspóricos (CEAF) de la Universidad Icesi de Cali, financiado por la Fundación Ford, y realizado en alianza con el Centro de Ética y Democracia (CED), que busca visibilizar y fortalecer procesos organizativos de mujeres afrodescendientes. El proyecto busca divulgar, circular y fomentar el alabao como expresión musical de las comunidades afrocolombianas en el departamento del Chocó. En este sentido, la universidad quiere atender la necesidad del grupo de cantadoras y cantadores de Pogue de crear productos audiovisuales y discográficos que den cuenta de sus esfuerzos por preservar los cantos y tradiciones de su comunidad. (Film's Official Website) -
Roble de olor
In the late 1880's Cuba, a German merchant and farmer meets a freed black slave from Haiti who is herself a successful businesswoman. They fall in love despite social and racial taboos, with tragic results. (World Cat) -
Café com canela
Violeta lives in a tight-knit community in Bahia, Brazil. She is far from the only one struggling with grief and loss: there is also a grandmother entirely dependent on care, a woman desperately searching for love and a young doctor who – after 20 years – is left by his great love, a much older man. Everyone thought they lived together as father and son until the old man dies. The loss is complete and the truth comes out. Then Violeta meets the older Margarida who is grieving alone and in silence in a nearby village. Lovingly Violeta helps her out of her isolation with practical rituals: scrubbing, tidying and making coffee with cinnamon. (International Film Festival Rotterdam) -
Cores e Botas
Joana tem um sonho comum a muitas meninas dos anos 80: ser Paquita. Sua família é bem sucedida e a apoia em seu sonho. Porém, Joana é negra, e nunca se viu uma paquita negra no programa da Xuxa. (Preta Portê Filmes) -
Afroargentinos
“Most Argentines, if you ask, will tell you: ‘In Argentina there are no black people.’” So opens AFROARGENTINES, a film which unearths the hidden history of black people in Argentina and their contributions to Argentine culture and society, from the slaves who fought in the revolutionary wars against Spain, to the contemporary struggles of black Argentines against racism and marginalization. The film uses historical documents from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, but is mostly based on interviews with black Argentines from a variety of backgrounds: intellectuals and taxi drivers, immigrants from Africa and native Afroargentines. (Third World Newsreel) -
Más allá del fútbol
Más allá del fútbol is a feature length documentary film that introduces the highland Afro-Ecuadorian communities of the Chota-Mira valley and the genre of music and dance known as la bomba. Afrochoteños, as many in the region today self-identify, are the descendants of enslaved Africans brought by Jesuits in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to labor the sugarcane fields situated along the rivers Chota and Mira in the provinces of Carchi and Imbabura. For much of the twentieth century, Afro-Ecuadorians had been marginalized to the extent that their presence within the nation has now been reduced to their athletic contributions. This film goes beyond soccer to document the rich history and culture of the Afro-Ecuadorians through a discussion of la bomba. Featuring interviews with local community members, organization leaders, and renowned bomba musicians along with segments of bomba music and dance, Más allá del fútbol presents an overview of the history and development of la bomba and addresses the genre’s significance for afrochoteños. In the process, the film’s narrative and discourse illuminates the current dynamics of race and racism currently impacting perceptions and representations of la bomba and afrochoteño identity and culture today. (YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtFEHrSGdJk) -
Vazante
Minas Gerais, 1821. Período em que a economia local era baseada na extração de diamantes entrou em colapso. Ao voltar para casa, depois de uma longa viagem, na qual conduzia uma tropa de escravos, Antônio, um patriarca português, descobre que sua mulher morreu em trabalho de parto. Sentindo-se sozinho e isolado em uma fazenda improdutiva, busca um novo casamento com Beatriz, uma menina muito jovem que frustra seu plano de ter filhos. Antônio, então, volta às expedições, negociando negros e gado. Sozinha, Beatriz encontra nos escravos sua companhia. Uma traição implode a família em uma espiral de violência, que é o prenúncio de mudanças. O filme revela algumas de nossas maiores cicatrizes: a escravidão, o casamento forçado de meninas, a mestiçagem fruto do assédio e da exploração sexual das negras, e as hierarquias de poder que pervertem até as relações entre os mais oprimidos. (Cinemateca Brasileira) -
So quando eu danço
Only When I Dance was begun as a hopeful documentary about social projects in Rio’s favelas, the aim being simply to show another side to the Brazilian image of violence and hopelessness, with kids achieving real things in their appallingly blighted neighbourhoods. Director Beadie Finzi and producer Giorgia Lo Savio could never have imagined just what they would end up filming. Having decided that capoeira was overdone as a Brazilian theme, Beadie was drawn to the idea of ballet - she’d been told about a remarkable teacher, Mariza Estrella, who runs Rio’s Centro de Dança, where she gives free lessons to kids she talent-scouts in the favelas. In her top two classes Beadie found two outstanding children: Irlan Santos da Silva, a boy set apart from all others by the intensity of his love of dance, his beautiful physique and his evidently unusual talent, and Isabela Coracy, who faced the biggest barrier possible in her dream of becoming a ballerina: she is black. Even out in the world there are few black classical ballerinas - in Brazil, there are none. (The Arts Desk.com) -
Rancheador
El Rancheador era un mercenario al servicio de los esclavistas para capturar a los negros esclavos en fuga y devolverlos a sus amos. Francisco Estévez no se detiene ante nada y reprime incluso a los campesinos blancos, pero su meta es Melchora, incapturable líder de los negros fugados. Esta historia está basada en el "Diario del Rancheador", obra del escritor cubano Cirilo Villaverde. (Film Affinity ES) -
Tarjeta roja
La historia de Agustín (Tin) Delgado, una de las máximas figuras de la historia del fútbol ecuatoriano, es el eje de este documental dirigido por el periodista y comunicador social Rodolfo Muñoz, que investiga a partir de su historia la existencia del racismo contra los afroecuatorianos. El punto clave del film, el que saca a la luz esa latente situación, es un escándalo disciplinario durante un partido de fútbol entre Barcelona (de Guayaquil) y Liga Universitaria de Quito, que culminó con la suspensión por un año del entonces ya veterano jugador de la Liga, quien venía de tener un excelente desempeño con la selección ecuatoriana en el Mundial de Alemania 2006. Mediante entrevistas a familiares, dirigentes y periodistas, varias recreaciones y algunas ficcionalizaciones, Muñoz narra la historia futbolística del jugador del Valle del Chota -región con alto porcentaje de población negra- para llegar a la conclusión de que los resultados futbolísticos de esa selección con alto porcentaje de afroecuatorianos en el Mundial sólo sirvió para tapar brevemente esa historia de racismo en el país, y que el posterior incidente en el clásico volvió a poner en primer plano, condenando al jugador de una manera inmerecida y excesiva. A Delgado tampoco lo habría ayudado haberse tornado más crítico con los dirigentes del fútbol del Ecuador y exigir los premios que fueron ofrecidos al equipo por su rendimiento en el Mundial y nunca pagados. Tarjeta roja -cuyo título juega con los dos modelos de expulsión, el social-racial y el estrictamente futbolístico- profundiza un tema que se repite en varios países del continente y del mundo: el complejo proceso de identificación y potencial frustración con los ídolos deportivos. Y, si además esta relación viene teñida de fuertes condimentos raciales, la situación se hace más compleja aún, ya que en ese extraño juego de amor-odio entran elementos que reflejan las debilidades de sociedades que no terminan por asumir -y, por eso mismo, no enfrentan del todo- el racismo en el que están inscriptas. (Retina Latina) -
Raíces de mi corazón
A present day AfroCuban woman [Mercedes] seeks her roots through her family history. Old photos, newspaper clippings jealously guarded by her grandmother, and her mother's stories reveal her great-grandparents' history. The historical truth raises the curtains through a love story. Reality and fantasy get mixed in, but all the elements integrated into the narration point towards the central figure, the woman, and to a moving chapter of turn of the century Cuba, when there occurred a violent repression of the AfroCubans who protested out of the frustration that fell over Cubans after the War of Independence. Thousands of descendants of Africans dedicated their lives to the struggle against Spanish colonialism in Cuba. They also fought against the slave system which kidnapped men, women, and children from the African continent and converted them into anonymous cogs of the sugar and coffee plantations. In the War of Independence (1868-78 and 1895-98), AfroCubans joined the Liberation Army (the Mambises) following the ideas of important leaders such as Jose Marti, but also inspired by the example of the Black generals of the War, such as Antonio Maceo, Quintin Banderas, and many others. Unfortunately, at the turn of the century, AfroCuban veterans felt the contempt of a Republic born distorted and completely alienated from the principles raised up by Jose Marti: "One Republic with everyone and for the good of everyone." Racism was part of official injustice. The process of cultural, economic, and political marginalization of Blacks in Cuba at thedawn of the present century is connected at a deep level with the fate of other African Americans up and down the continent. Peruvian, Uruguayan, Venezuelan, Columbian, North American, Argentinian, Brazilian, and other Blacks saw themselves deprived of their place of honor in the official history of their own countries. The protest organized by AfroCubans in 1912 was beaten back by the National Army itself and ended in a real human massacre which had its main scene in Oriente Province. This is the synopsis of the story our central figure is going to discover through her family. (AfroCubaWeb) -
Quilombo
Palmares is a 17th-century quilombo, a settlement of escaped slaves in northeast Brazil. In 1650, plantation slaves revolt and head for the mountains where they find others led by the aged seer, Acotirene. She anoints one who becomes Ganga Zumba, a legendary king. For years, his warriors hold off Portuguese raiders; then he agrees to leave the mountains in exchange for reservation land and peace. It's a mistake. Zumbi, a warrior whose mother was killed by Portuguese and who spent 15 years with the Whites, stays in the mountains to lead Palmares. In 1694, the Portuguese import a ruthless captain from São Paulo to lead an assault on the free Blacks. Can Zumbi keep Palmares free? (IMDB) -
Plácido
Plácido, narrates the story of the Afro-Cuban poet, Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés – “Plácido” – who was executed following the ferociously suppressed black rebellion of 1843-44 known as “Conspiración de La Escalara” (“conspiracy of the ladder”), and who subsequently became an emotive folkloric symbol of resistance. Source: Kaisary, Philip. "Black Agency and Aesthetic Innovation in Sergio Giral's 'El otro Francisco'." PALARA 23, 2019, p. 23. -
Oggun
In making the documentary "Oggun: An Eternal Present," film director Gloria Rolando skirts the edges of enchantment, enters Yoruba philosophy, and, especially, pays homage to the singer Lazaro Ros, one of the most important personalities in recent AfroCuban culture. In Oggun, Gloria relates the patakin or mythical story of Oggun, the tireless warrior who, enamored of his mother, decided as punishment to imprison himself in the mountains: only Ochun, goddess of love, succeeded in captivating him when she let fall a few drops of honey on the lips of the god of metal, war, progress, and civilization. This film of 52 minutes includes chants, dances, a "tambor" (Yoruba religious ceremony with the bata drums), and the experiences of Ros, who not only made his the beauty of the African chants, but had the opportunity to sing them in trips throughout the world. The noted "apwong" works incessantly to preserve the lore and transmit it to the younger generations. (AfroCubaWeb) -
Invisible color
This latest documentary by the Dean of Afro-Cuban Cinema Sergio Giral investigates the black Cuban exile community in South Florida, since the first wave of political refugees in the 1959 revolutionary aftermath, to today. It tracks its presence throughout the region, and highlights its contribution to Miami’s civic culture through testimonies and visual documentation. (African Diaspora International Film Festival) -
El valle de los negros
En el Valle de Azapa, un grupo de afrodescendientes se organiza para realizar el primer censo afro de la historia de Chile, buscando el reconocimiento del Estado, el cual ha invisibilizado su cultura y rasgos africanos durante más de 200 años. (Cine Chile) -
La Playa D.C.
Tomas, an Afro-Colombian teenager who fled the country’s Pacific coast pushed out by the war, faces the difficulties of growing up in Bogotá, a city of exclusion and racism. When Jairo, his younger brother disappears, Tomas plunges in the streets of the city searching for Jairo. This initiatory journey compels him to face his past and to leave aside the influence of his brothers in order to find his own identity. Tomas reveals a unique perspective of a vibrant and unstable city that, like Tomas, stands on the threshold between what once was and what might be. (https://en.unifrance.org/movie/34912/la-playa) -
O dia de Jerusa
"The Day of Jerusa" narrates the encounter between Jerusa (Lea Garcia), a resident of an old townhouse of Bixiga with the young Silvia, played by Deborah Marcal, which circulates through the traditional São Paulo neighborhood doing opinion research on soap in powder. The story emerges from observations of everyday life, to cycle through the streets of São Paulo, Brazil. (Kweli TV) -
Manos sucias
A desperate fisherman and a naive young man embark on a dangerous journey trafficking drugs up the Pacific coast of Colombia. Hidden beneath the waves, they tow a narco-torpedo filled with millions of dollars worth of cocaine. Together they must brave the war-torn region while navigating the growing tension between them. (IMDB) -
A Dios Momo
In this magical and surreal tale set in moody Montevideo, Uruguay, a cheerful and dynamic eleven-year-old named Obdulio lives with his devoted grandmother and two sisters. He carries the self-imposed burden of being the only "man" in the family. His grandmother wants him to go to school, but he refuses proclaiming his "working man" status-he helps support his family by selling newspapers on the street. Ironically, Obdulio is illiterate and unable to read what he sells. One night, he meets a night watchman who is full of magical visions and gifts. This charismatic mentor introduces Obdulio to the beauty of words and the songs of the Murgas sung during Carnival processions. As Obdulio begins to understand the lyrics, he welcomes the challenge and eventually writes his own Murgas, which are later performed by the mysterious Carnival band. Reminiscent of Cinema Paradiso and the films of Fellini, this gem for viewers of all ages and is a celebration of life, the beauty of friendship, and the magic of knowledge. (Tribeca Film Festival) -
Nana
El largometraje Nana retrata a la nana o la niñera, esa que sin que los padres lo adviertan y reconozcan, pasa a convertirse en la persona más importante en la vida de sus hijos. Crudamente se presenta el trabajo doméstico, por lo general feminizado, desde una realidad que se suele invizibilizar. Mujeres mal pagadas, mal comidas, que dejan a sus hijos para irse a cuidar y dar amor a los hijos de otros, sin saber si los suyos comen o no. (Diario Digital RD) -
Las manos de Dios
Documental acerca de Julio ''Chocolate'' Algendones Farfán, destacado percusionista, compositor e intérprete de la música afro-peruana y del jazz. Fue considerado el gran maestro del cajón y reconocido internacionalmente. (Videoteca de Culturas) -
La raíz olvidada
La presencia de los esclavos africanos en México ha sido desconocida por la historia oficial. La raíz olvidada incursiona en este tema desconocido para la mayor parte de la población mexicana. (SIC México) -
Havanyork
El discurso rebelde y contestatario de los músicos cubanos y norteamericanos nos invita a reflexionar sobre la contracultura y las realidades paralelas que nacen en todo sistema de gobierno. Los sueños, la familia, el barrio, la ciudad, la vida, la guerra y la política son algunos de los temas que permean su música y nutren nuestra historia. Desde los barrios de La Habana y Nueva York, la cámara retrata con una visión cómplice las reflexiones que los músicos de ambas ciudades han elaborado con relación a sus raíces, a la evolución del tambor y al alma del Hip Hop. (Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia) -
Diálogo con mi abuela
Un audiovisual donde se mezcla el documental y la ficción. Una foto de los años 20 es la imagen de la evocación espiritual. El Grupo Vocal Baobab interpreta los cantos tradicionales del espiritismo cubano. La voz original de la abuela Inocencia y el conjunto de fotos familiares de la realizadora Gloria Rolando, forman parte del relato cuyo objetivo es darle valor, en la historia social de Cuba, a esos pequeños y grandes pasajes de la vida cotidiana de una familia negra. (CubaCine - Portal del ICAIC) -
Bixa Travesty
A documentary that follows Ms Linn da Quebrada, a black trans woman, performer and activist living in impoverished São Paulo. Her electrifying performances (with plenty of nudity) brazenly take on Brazil's hetero-normative machismo. (IMDB) -
Carandiru
São Paolo, 1992. A new doctor arrives in the notorious male prison of Carandiru, aiming to promote Aids education. Gradually we become aware of individuals within the crowd of convicts, as they come to the doctor's office for treatment. In flashback we learn the crimes that brought them to the prison. Dagger has killed another prisoner's father. Highness is a good-looking thief with a white wife and a black mistress. He has taken the blame for a fire set by his jealous wife. Chico is a dignified older man, waiting in vain for a visit from his grown daughter. Zico, a drug dealer, was taken in by the family of Deusdete after being abandoned by his mother. Deusdete has killed the two men who raped his sister and now shares a cell with Zico. Antonio and Miro are armed robbers brought down by the jealousy and treachery of their wives. Lady Di is a transsexual who aims to marry fellow inmate Too Bad. On visiting day the partners and children of all these characters are allowed into the prison. Zico, now addicted to crack, goes crazy and pours boiling water over Deusdete. He is killed in turn by a number of prisoners, and Highness gets Ezequiel, another addict, to take the blame. There is a football match among the convicts. Afterwards a fight breaks out which escalates into a riot. Although the prisoners give up their arms, the riot squad enter and slaughter the inmates. The final titles tell us that 111 convicts were killed and not one policeman. Documentary footage shows how the prison was finally demolished in 2002. Source: Smith, Paul Julian. Sight and Sound, vol. 14, no. 4, 2004, p. 44-45. -
Cidade de Deus
Basada en hechos reales, describe el mundo del crimen organizado en Cidade de Deus, un suburbio de Río de Janeiro, desde finales de los sesenta hasta principios de los ochenta, época durante la cual el tráfico de drogas y la violencia impusieron su ley en las favelas. A finales de los sesenta, Buscapé, un niño de 11 años tímido y sensible, observa a los niños duros de su barrio, sus robos, sus peleas, sus enfrentamientos diarios con la policía. Pero él sabe muy bien lo que quiere ser si consigue sobrevivir: fotógrafo. Dadinho, un niño de su edad que se traslada al barrio, sueña con ser el criminal más peligroso de Río de Janeiro y empieza su aprendizaje haciendo recados para los delincuentes locales. Admira a Cabeleira y su pandilla, que se dedican a atracar los camiones del gas. Un día Cabeleira le da a Dadinho la oportunidad de cometer su primer asesinato. (Film Affinity) -
La Soledad
La Soledad is a dilapidated villa located in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Caracas. It used to be the home of director Jorge Thielen Armand’s great-grandparents, but when the owners passed away fifteen years ago, the property was unofficially inherited by their lifelong maid, Rosina, now 72, who remained to care for the house and raise her grandson, José, now 27, Jorge’s childhood friend. José works as a handyman, dreaming of a better life for his six-year-old daughter Adrializ, amidst Venezuela’s economic crisis. Waiting in long queues for food and the medicine Rosina so desperately needs is part of José’s routine. When he learns that the legal inheritors of the house plan to sell the estate, José struggles to try to find a solution that will keep his family away from the crime-ridden slums. Yet the house holds a secret that could save them all: a treasure that is rumored to be buried in its walls. Set in the beautiful derelict eponymous mansion and played by the real inhabitants, LA SOLEDAD (THE SOLITUDE) poetically depicts Venezuela’s socio-economic crisis through José’s struggle to save his family from homelessness. (Festival Scope) -
Ventos de Agosto
Mascaro’s film shows a place in the process of disappearing; in this case, due to climate change. It centers on two main characters: Shirley (Dandara de Morais) and her boyfriend, Jeison (Geová Manoel dos Santos). Shirley used to live in a big city but moved back to the village to care for her aging grandmother. She works as a truck driver at a coconut farm where Jeison is a coconut picker. Shirley wants to be a tattoo artist and Jeison spends his free time practicing underwater fishing. The everyday life of the characters is disrupted by the arrival of a meteorologist (or a wind researcher, as the final credits describe him—played by the director himself) who arrives in the village to study the sounds of the winds. An accident befalls the researcher and Jeison fnds him drowned at sea. As his body is never claimed, Jeison becomes determined to notify the authorities, despite the difficulties he encounters in the process. Source: Cunha, Mariana. "Bodies in Landscape: The Scientist's Presence in Viajo Porque Preciso, Volto Porque Te Amo, and Ventos de Agosto." Space and Subjectivity in Contemporary Brazilian Cinema, edited by Antônio Márcio da Silva and Mariana Cunha, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, p. 85. -
Ôrí
While giving an overall look at the documented history of BLACK MOVEMENTS in Brazil (during the 70s and 80s), ORI tells the story of a woman, Beatriz Nascimento, activist and historian, who searches for her identity through research into the history of the "QUILOMBOS" as warrior establishments and focuses of cultural resistance, from 15th-century Africa to Brazil in the 20th century. (Culture Unplugged - watch complete film here) -
A negação do Brasil
A documentary film about the taboos, stereotypes, and struggles of Black actors in Brazilian television "soaps." Based on his own memories and on a sturdy body of research evidence, the director analyzes race relations in Brazilian soap operas, calling attention to their likely influence on Black people's identity-forming processes. (Kanopy) -
¿Dónde está Sara Gómez?
Sara Gomez was a 'searcher.' My first encounter with her was watching her only fiction film and it blew my mind. She was the first Afro-Cuban woman filmmaker to have shot a fiction film and, more than thirty years later, the film (as well as her documentaries) remains so vibrant, so contemporary, and so touching. She searched new territories, brought people together from opposite worlds, and created new landscapes. And she died like a drama character, in the early seventies at age thirty-one, leaving behind a couple of brilliant films, two husbands, and three children; the ones who knew her, regret her departure. She left no apparent trail in the new filmmakers generation, but it’s as if her ghost is still around, sometimes in the most unexpected places. This film tells three love stories: 1) of Sara and her husband Germinal (who was also one of the finest Latin-American sound people), 2) of Sara and her family, and 3) of Sara and cinema, which she expanded so that Afro-Cuban culture is adequately represented. (Culture Unplugged - watch complete film here) -
Coraje
Coraje is about the last few months in the life of María Elena Moyano, who was killed at the age of 33 by the Peruvian revolutionary movement Sendero Luminoso. María Elena was the founder and leader of the so-called Women's Federation of Villa El Salvador, a slum district that had been built in the desert on the outskirts of Lima and was run by the inhabitants themselves. This community won several prizes abroad, such as the Spanish 'Principe de Asturias' and the 'Messenger City of Peace'. Two months before the brutal attack, María has spoken out against the campaign of hatred and violence of Sendero Luminoso and even though she was called 'Mama Coraje' by the local press, that condemned her to death.The film is narrated by a female Spanish doctor who remembers María's last months. We see the difficult conditions in which the vital and charismatic María did her work: the economic crisis, the hunger in the Villa, the bureaucratic opposition and increasing terror of the Senderos. But Coraje is above all a lively and intimate portrait of a fascinating woman who is not portrayed as a inviolable heroine, but as an ordinary woman with two children and a husband who is characterised by doubts and despair as well as courage. (International Film Festival Rotterdam) -
El otro Francisco
Based on the novel Francisco by Anselmo Suárez y Romero, "The Other Francisco" is a socio-economic analysis of slavery and class struggle through the retelling of the original novel. The film contrasts the romantic conceptions of plantation life found in Suárez Romero's novel with a realistic expose of the actual historical conditions of slavery throughout the Americas. It offers a critical analysis of the novel, showing how the author's social background led to his use of particular dramatic structures to convey his liberal, humanitarian viewpoint. (IMDB) -
Tango Negro: les Racines Africaines du Tango
Tango Negro explora la expresión africana en el tango y la contribución de las culturas africanas al tango. El tango era una reflexión de la vida de los esclavos llevados a Sudamérica – Argentina y Uruguay entre otros países – desde África Central en su mayoría, sobre todo desde el antiguo reino de Congo. La película revela hasta qué punto la música africana dejó sus huellas en el tango, mezclando la música en directo con entrevistas a amantes e historiadores del tango en Latinoamérica y en Europa, el famoso pianista argentino Carlos Cáceres entre ellos. (Film Affinity ES) -
Ganga Zumba
Near the end of the 16th century, slaves working in northeastern Brazilian sugar cane mills conspire to escape to Quilombo dos Palmares, a haven for fugitive black slaves. Among the group is young Ganga Zumba (Antonio Pitanga), who rises to become head of the first revolutionary republic in the Americas. (Film at Lincoln Center) -
Xica da Silva
In the 18th century, in Minas Gerais, the Portuguese mined diamonds and gold. João Fernandes de Oliveira arrives from Lisbon with the Crown's exclusive contract for mining diamonds. He quickly asserts control, letting the intendant and other authorities know that he's onto their corruption. Xica, a slave of the local sergeant-major and possessed of phenomenal sex drive and tricks that cause men to howl with pleasure, quickly captures João. He denies her no extravagance; miners die for his greed. Eventually Lisbon hears of João's excesses and sends an inspector. José, a political radical, provides Xica refuge; her unrelenting sexual tingle is Brazil's spirit. (IMDB) -
La última cena
The film showed a pious sugar plantation owner in Cuba who holds a large banquet and attempts to teach his slaves about religion and the necessity of suffering for eternal happiness. While the slaves believe that they are being shown kindness, they are merely being placated, and the landowner does not give them the following day off of work as he promised to do, leading to a slave revolt. This film also makes anti-religious commentary through the actions of the count and the hypocritical ideologies that he preaches. Source: Sundt, Catherine. “Religion and Power: The Appropriation of Da Vinci’s the Last Supper in Viridiana and L’Ultima Cena.” Romance Notes, vol. 49, no. 1, Jan. 2009, p. 72. -
Cocote
Alberto is returning home from Santo Domingo for the funeral of his father, killed by a local loan shark who is untouchable thanks to his police-force position. The son arrives to find that his old man has already been put in the ground. He is expected to stay on, however, for the nine nights of novena, or rezos de los nueve dias, a prospect that disturbs him, though it’s not immediately clear why. In time we gather that there is a gulf between Alberto’s faith and his family’s – while both evoke the name of Jesus, the similarities don’t go much further. With his pressed white shirts, humble comportment and Bible tucked at his side, Alberto is the very picture of the clean-living evangelical, dismissing talk of a curse on his father as so much “nonsense”. But back home they practise their own indigenous strain of Christianity, one heavily streaked with Catholic pomp and influences from West Africa, known as Los Misterios. At the centre of Cocote is this push-pull between Alberto’s Christianity, of the pacific and turn-the-other-cheek variety, and the more fervid, half-pagan beliefs of his extended family, particularly his adoptive sister Karina (Judith Rodríguez), in whose minds the crime that has been committed demands repayment in blood. Source: Pinkerton, Nick. "Cocote." Sight and Sound, vol. 28, no. 8, 2018, p. 54-55. -
Tú y yo
The Mrs., an old widow, and Aridia, a young maid, live together in a house filled with orchids in the center of Santo Domingo. Aridia cleans, the Mrs. gardens, and when work is slow, they can share some gossip. But sometimes, the atmosphere gets too tense: the Mrs. wakes up grumpy, she blames Aridia and when Aridia tries to defend herself, the Mrs. has to remind her "where her place is"; in time, they end up not talking to each other. But the hours pass by, the soap appears on TV, something happens in the neighborhood, and, out of nowhere, the Mrs. and Aridia come close again, ending the day sharing some laughs. The film is an excuse to watch their relationship closely, to perceive what happens when the border seems to diffuse itself in a place where difference of social class and race remain deep in the culture. (Cinema Tropical) -
La negrada
La Negrada is the first Mexican feature film about the Afro-Mexican community, filmed entirely with people from different towns around the Costa Chica in Oaxaca. Neri, a fisherman, splits his time between two women: his wife Juanita with whom he has a daughter and his lover Magdalena, mother of three additional children. Things are about to change for Neri as Juanita falls gravely ill and Magdalena prepares to take her place. Shot entirely on the beautiful beaches of Corralera in Oaxaca and featuring a cast of non-professional actors from the nearby communities, La Negrada explores the social mores of and the discrimination faced by Mexico’s unacknowledged black community. Sources: Pan African Film Festival & Cinema Tropical -
La isla rota
Guy, un niño haitiano que huye de la pobreza, presenció el asesinato de sus padres mientras cruzaba la frontera dominicana. Años más tarde, se enfrenta a los asesinos, enredados en una vorágine de venganza, amor, odio racial y un futuro incierto. (Parada RD) -
Yuli
Yuli relata la vida de Carlos Acosta, leyenda de la danza y primer bailarín negro cubano en interpretar algunos de los papeles más famosos del ballet, originalmente escritos para blancos, en compañías como el Houston Ballet o el Royal Ballet de Londres, donde ha sido primer bailarín durante más de quince años. El filme abarca desde su dura infancia hasta su madurez, etapa protagonizada por él mismo, quien, pese al éxito y al reconocimiento internacional, nunca olvidó sus orígenes. Inspirada en No Way Home, autobiografía de Carlos Acosta. (CubaCine - Portal del ICAIC) -
Miriam miente
El tranquilo mundo de una familia pequeñoburguesa comienza a desmoronarse a partir del momento en que Miriam (Dulce Rodríguez), de 14 años, conoce a su novio de Internet. Mientras sus amigas preparan con entusiasmo la tradicional fiesta de los quince años, Miriam no sabe cómo explicar a su familia que su novio es negro. (Parada RD) -
Raza
This documentary attempts to tackle the racial problems in Cuba today, through the voices of researchers, officials, musicians, artists and the general public. (DVD container)