Latin American Film Night

Tuesdays at 6:30 PM in Kingston Hall 200. English subtitles.

Film screenings are part of SPAN 328/428 course, led by Dr. Jan Mennell. If you have any questions regarding the films, please email Dr. Mennell at djm4@queensu.ca

Program Winter 2013

January 22, 2013: The Devil’s Miner: (Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani, 2005) (BOLIVIA)

This film is a documentary about children working in the silver mines in Bolivia. The story follows the routine of 14-year old Basilio and his younger siblings, the work they do, the dreams they have, and the harsh realities of the mining community in contemporary Bolivia.

January 29, 2013: Even the Rain: (Icíar Bollaín, 2010) (BOLIVIA)

As a director and his crew shoot a controversial film about Christopher Columbus in Cochabamba, Bolivia, local people rise up against plans to privatize the water supply. This film is based on the so-called "Water Wars" of Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2000

February 5, 2013: Maria, Full of Grace: (Joshua Marston, 2004) (COLOMBIA)

Set against the backdrop of the Colombian flower industry, a pregnant teenager decides to become a drug mule to make some desperately needed money for her family. After swallowing 62 cocaine-filled pellets, she travels to New York, in spite of the dangers.

February 12, 2013: Señorita Extraviada: (Lourdes Portillo, 2001) (MEXICO-USA)

Since 1993, over 400 young women have been raped and murdered in Juarez, Mexico. Authorities ignore pleas for justice from the victims' families, and the crimes go unpunished. Most disturbingly, evidence of government complicity remains uninvestigated as the killings continue to this day. The film is a haunting documentary about a heinous crime wave amid the corruption of one of the world's biggest border towns

February 25, 2013: Milk of Sorrow: (Claudia Llosa, 2009) (PERU)

Fausta is suffering from a rare disease called the Milk of Sorrow, which is transmitted through the breast milk of pregnant women who were abused or raped during or soon after pregnancy. While living in constant fear and confusion due to this disease, she must face the sudden death of her mother. She chooses to take drastic measures to not follow in her mother's footsteps.

March 5, 2013: El Norte: (Gregory Nava, 1983) (USA-MEXICO)

After the army destroys their village and family, a Guatemalan 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 by truck, bus and other means through Mexico to Los Angeles, where they try to make a new life as young, uneducated, and illegal immigrants.

March 12, 2013: Bolivia (Adrian Caetano, 2001) (ARGENTINA)

A Bolivian immigrant working illegally as a cook in a small restaurant in Buenos Aires suffers abuse and discrimination from its customers.

March 19, 2013: Pixote (Hector Babenco, 1981) (BRAZIL)

The life of a boy in the streets of Sao Paulo, involved with little crimes, prostitution, etc.This is certainly the finest film ever made about street children and a great film by any criteria, rivaling the earlier masterpiece by Luis Buñuel, Los Olvidados (The Underdogs) (1950) about street children in Mexico.

March 26, 2013: City of God (Fernando Meirelles, 2002) (BRAZIL)

Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer.

April 2, 2013: Waiting List (Juan Carlos Tabio, 2000) (CUBA)

A desperate group of people wait at a rundown Cuban transit station for the next bus to arrive. The problem is, it never shows up. While a number of busses pass by the station, and others that are either full or at the end of the line stop by, it soon becomes obvious that the bus everyone was waiting for has left them high and dry. While one of the would-be passengers, Emilio, uses his downtime to win the affections of the beautiful Jacqueline, most of the rest decide that if they're stuck without anywhere to go, they might as well make the station a better place to wait, and they begin forming a plan to turn the decrepit bus terminal into a showplace that people would look forward to visiting.