Staff Picks
Passport to Cinema: Latin America
- Keith B.
- Thursday, October 10, 2019
Collection
Explore the rich diversity of Latin American culture and history through films set in the region.
Amores Perros
Published in 2001
Three different people are catapulted into dramatic and unforeseen circumstances in the wake of a terrible car crash: a young punk stumbles into the sinister underground world of dog fighting; an injured supermodel's designer pooch disappears into the apartment's floorboards; and an ex-radical turned hit man rescues a Rotweiler with a gunshot wound.
Birds of Passage
Published in 2019
The origins of the Colombian drug trade, as seen through eyes of an indigenous Wayuu family that becomes involved in the booming business of selling marijuana to American youth in the 1970s. When greed, passion and honor collide, a fratricidal war breaks out and puts their lives, culture and ancestral traditions at stake.
Black Orpheus
Published in 2010
"Against a background of the Rio carnival, a black tram driver accidentally kills his girlfriend, and after seeking her in the nether regions kills himself to be with her"--Halliwell's Film and video guide, 5th ed.
Buena Vista Social Club
Published in 2017
Traveling from the streets of Havana to the stage of Carnegie Hall, this revelatory documentary captures a forgotten generation of Cuba's brightest musical talents as they enjoy an unexpected brush with world fame.
Buena Vista Social Club
Published in 2017
Traveling from the streets of Havana to the stage of Carnegie Hall, this revelatory documentary captures a forgotten generation of Cuba₂s brightest musical talents as they enjoy an unexpected brush with world fame.
Bus 174
Published in 2004
A powerful, award-winning examination of the tragic series of events that followed a desperate bus hijacking in Rio de Janeiro in 2000 that turned deadly when a SWAT team took evasive action against the drug-addled hijacker.
Central Station
Published in 1999
When a young boy witnesses his mother's accidental death, a lonely retired school-teacher reluctantly takes the child under her wing.
La Cienaga
Published in 2015
With a radical take on narrative, disturbing yet beautiful cinematography, and a highly sophisticated use of on- and offscreen sound, Martel turns her tale of a decaying bourgeois family, whiling away the hours of one sweaty, sticky summer, into a cinematic marvel. This visceral take on class, nature, sexuality, and the ways political turmoil and social stagnation can manifest in human relationships is a drama of amazing tactility and one of the great contemporary film debuts.
City of God
Published in 2011
The world's most notorious slum, Rio de Janeiro's City of God, where combat photographers and police rarely go. The true story of a young man who grew up on these streets and whose ambition as a photographer is a window in and his only way out.
Cronos
Published in 2010
A tale about the seductiveness of the idea of immortality. Kindly antiques dealer Jesus Gris happens upon an ancient golden device, and soon finds himself possessor and victim of its sinister, addictive powers, as well as the target of a mysterious, crude American named Angel.
The Devil's Backbone
Published in 2004
"Twelve-year-old Carlos is the latest arrival to Santa Lucia School, an imposing stone building that shelters the orphans of the Republican militia and politicians during the last days of the Spanish Civil War. Carlos gradually uncovers the dark ties that bind the inhabitants of the school: hidden riches, sexual intrigue and the restless ghost of a murdered student"--Container.
Embrace of the Serpent
Published in 2016
The film centers on Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and the last survivor of his people, and the two scientists who, over the course of 40 years, build a friendship with him. The film was inspired by the real-life journals of two explorers (Theodor Koch-Grünberg and Richard Evans Schultes) who traveled through the Colombian Amazon during the last century in search of the sacred and difficult-to-find psychedelic Yakruna plant.
Embrace Of The Serpent.
Published in 2018
Through parallel story threads set 40 years apart, this absorbing odyssey follows two Western scientists who travel deep into the Amazon jungle looking for a rare plant that possesses healing powers, with enigmatic shaman Karamakate as their guide.
Evita
Published in 2017
Long after Evita was embalmed and secretly buried under a fictitious name in Milan, the former First Lady of Argentina once again was catapulted to fame after Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musical. A few years later, Alan Parker's movie adaptation of the same would contribute the necessary ingredients to transform a historical character into a Hollywood fantasy of mythical proportions. But the complexity of the circumstances surrounding her life, her quest for glory and tragic ending deserved a more realistic approach and that is exactly what Eduardo Montes-Bradley accomplished with his outstanding portrait of the legendary woman. "Evita", the documentary, unveils the genuine and ambiguous nature of the young actress that ruled -with iron fist- the lives of millions. More than three thousand photographs, hundreds of hours of archival footage and recordings produced by the Peronist propaganda machine half a century ago, were unearthed and meticulously researched to bring this dynamic, larger-than-life protagonist back to life. "Evita", by Eduardo Montes-Bradley, spares no conflict, nor softens the sharp edges of a questionable life placing the unfeigned character back in her real dimension.
Evita
Published in 1998
True-life story of Eva Peron, who rose above childhood poverty and a scandalous past to achieve fortune and fame.
The Exterminating Angel
Published in 2009
A group of guests at a lavish dinner party in a mansion find that they are soon treated like animals as their social stature is compromised. Bonus features include interviews, documentary, and a booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Marsha Kinder.
A Fantastic Woman
Published in 2018
Marina, a waitress who moonlights as a nightclub singer, is bowled over by the death of her older boyfriend.
Frida
Published in 2002
The life of artist Frida Kahlo, from her humble upbringing to her worldwide fame and controversy that surrounded both her and her husband, Diego Rivera.
The Fugitive
Published in 2011
Based on Graham Greene's novel The Power and the Glory, the story follows a priest in Latin America pursued by a ruthless police lieutenant carrying out the dictates of an oppressive, anti-clerical government. There's another fugitive as well: an American killer on the run, and the paths of the two hunted men cross with fateful consequences. A haunting paean to the resilience of faith, The Fugitive remains a filmmaking triumph.
Guaraní
Published in 2018
In this touching drama, fisherman Atilio travels with his granddaughter Lara to Buenos Aires. His great desire is to have a grandson to transmit the Guaraní culture. When he discovers that Lara’s mother, Helena, is pregnant, he decides to go on a long journey with the aim to convince Helena to give birth in the Guarani land…. Winner of the European Vision Award at the Ventana Sur Film Festival. Nominated for the Nueva Vision Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.. “The film fascinates with a lifelike plot and beautiful cinematography…Guaraní is a heartfelt story you should certainly look at. ” – Marleen Roosna, Postimees. “A journey of self discovery and reconciliation through the scenic Paraguayan countryside.” – Leo Barraclough, Variety
The Headless Woman
Published in 2009
A bourgeois woman is driving alone on a dirt road when she becomes distracted and runs over something. In the days following this jarring incident, she becomes dazed and emotionally disconnected from the people and events in her life. She becomes obsessed with the possibility that she may have killed someone. The police confirm that there were no accidents reported in the area and everything returns to normal. That is until a gruesome discovery is made.
Japón
Published in 2019
A man travels from Mexico City to an isolated village to commit suicide; once there, however, he meets a pious elderly woman whose quiet humanity incites a reawakening of his desires.
Japón
Published in 2019
A man travels from Mexico City to an isolated village to commit suicide; once there, however, he meets a pious elderly woman whose quiet humanity incites a reawakening of his desires.
Jauja
Published in 2015
Captain Dinesen takes a job with the Argentine army and brings his fifteen-year-old daughter, Ingeborg, along. Being the only female in the area, she causes quite a stir among the men. She falls in love with a young soldier, and one night they run away together. When Dinesen realizes what happened, he decides to venture into enemy territory to find them.
Jauja
Published in 2015
Capitán Dinesen toma un trabajo con el ejército argentino y trae sus quince años de edad, hija, Ingeborg, junto. Al ser la única mujer en la zona, que provoca un gran revuelo entre los hombres. Ella se enamora de un joven soldado, y una noche que huir juntos. Cuando se da cuenta de lo que pasó Dinesen, decide aventurarse en territorio enemigo para encontrarlos.
The Liberator
Published in 2015
Bookended by a foiled attempt on Bolv̕ar's life in Bogota in 1828, it charts the story of the revolutionary leader's impassioned fight for independence from Spain and creation of a united South American nation, the great stories of love and loss in his life, the political intrigue and drama following his ascension to power and his mysterious death. Simon Bolv̕ar fought over 100 battles against the Spanish Empire in South America. He rode over 70,000 miles on horseback.
Libertador The Liberator
Published in 2015
Bookended by a foiled attempt on Simon Bolivar's life in Bogota in 1828, the film charts the story of the revolutionary leader's impassioned fight for independence from Spain and creation of a united South American nation, the great stories of love and loss in his life, the political intrigue and drama following his ascension to power and his mysterious death.
Like Water for Chocolate
Published in 2012
Tita and Pedro are passionately in love. But their love is forbidden by an ancient family tradition. To be near Tita, Pedro marries her sister. And Tita, as the family cook, expresses her passion for Pedro through preparing delectable dishes. Now, in Tita's kitchen, ordinary spices become a recipe for passion. Her creations bring on tears of longing, heated desire, or chronic pain, while Tita and Pedro wait for the moment to fulfill their most hidden pleasures. Based on the best-selling book.
Like Water for Chocolate =
Como Agua Para Chocolate
Published in 1993
Based on the best-selling book. Unable to marry, Tita expresses her passion for her beloved Pedro through food. Ordinary spices become a recipe for passion and her creations bring on tears of longing, heated desire or chronic pain in those who eat them.
Machuca
Published in 2016
Santiago, Chile, 1973: Pedro Machuca is a poor boy of tribal descent, brought into an upper class private school during Chile's brief socialist era. Gonzalo, the well-to-do boy seated a row ahead, befriends Pedro against the bullying will of his classmates. In so doing, he discovers a raw, thrilling but wildly complicated world outside his own previously sheltered homelife. Pedro's fierce, attractive young neighbor Silvana by turns mocks Gonzalo's pampered background, only to fondly lead both boys in a number of kissing games. All around them, Chile drifts towards civil war.. The enormous rift between Gonzalo's comfortable household and Pedro's hard-scrabble life a few miles away in an illegal shantytown ultimately becomes impossible to bridge, once the bloody military coup of September 11, 1973 erupts. All three children suddenly face moral tests far beyond their young capacities..
Maria Full of Grace
Published in 2004
Maria, a poor Columbian teenager, is desperate to leave a soul-crushing job. She accepts an offer to transport packets of heroin -- which she swallows -- to the United States. The ruthless world of drug trafficking proves to be more than for which she bargained.
Memories of Underdevelopment
Published in 2018
Sergio, through his life following the departure of his wife, parents and friends in the wake of the Bay of Pigs incident. Alone in a brave new world, Sergio observes the constant threat of foreign invasion while chasing young women all over Havana before finally meeting Elena, a young virgin girl he seeks to mold into the image of his ex-wife, but at what cost to himself?
The Milk of Sorrow
Published in 2010
Fausta suffers from 'The Milk of Sorrow, ' an illness transmitted through mother's milk by women who've been raped during Peru's civil wars. Stricken with the fear that she's contracted the illness from her mother's breast milk, Fausta goes to extreme lengths to protect her own sexuality and safety. After her mother's sudden death, she finds herself compelled to embark on a frightening journey for re-awakening, freedom, and wholeness.
The Mission
Published in 1986
Academy Award winners Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons star as two men of God who, by very different means, defy the greatest military powers of the world to protect the people who seek sanctuary in The Mission. 1756. Spain and Portugal, the two great global powers, have signed a treaty dividing the entire world between the slave-trading Portuguese empire and the Spanish empire, which has outlawed slavery. Deep in the Amazon rain forest, just inside the Spanish side of the meridian dividing the two domains, lies a Christian mission run by the deeply spiritual Gabriel (Irons) and former-slave trader, soldier and murderer Rodrigo (De Niro), who seeks his own personal redemption.
The Mission
Published in 2003
An 18th century Jesuit mission in the Brazilian jungle struggles against the legalized slave trade of Portugal and political factions within the church.
Monsenor
The Last Journey of Oscar Romero.
Published in 2015
In El Salvador in the late Seventies, one man was the voice of the poor, the disenfranchised, and the Disappeared - all struggling under the corrupt Salvadoran government. Appointed Archbishop in early 1977, Monseñor Óscar Romero worked tirelessly and in constant personal peril until the day he was assassinated in March 1980. Romero broke off ties with the military and aligned himself with the poor, delivering messages of hope in weekly sermons which became national events. Encouraging direct action against oppression, Romero's speaking impacted political events in El Salvador that still have meaning to this day. With rare recordings and film footage from Romero's own collection and a wide range of interviews from those whose lives were changed by Archbishop Romero, including church activists, human rights lawyers, former guerrilla fighters and politicians, Monseñor: The Last Journey of Óscar Romero is a timely portrait of one individual's quest to speak truth to the rich and powerful forces which dominated his government. "An astonishing compilation." - Alma Guillermoprieto, The New York Review of Books. "It's hard enough to make any film with faith. Making a film about faith is an almost impossible challenge. But Ana Carrigan and Juliet Weber have achieved the impossible with their wonderful film about Oscar Romero. Here is a film about spiritual trial and political resolution that doesn't preach or insist, that stays way clear of indignation and heat in favor of balance, truth and a finely shaded portrait of a man of great courage. Like Bishop Romero himself, the film seems modest until it opens its heart and subtly raises its voice, when it achieves a deep, lasting impact that itself is an act of conscience, and faith." - Jay Cocks, Film Critic & Academy Award-winning Screenwriter.
The Motorcycle Diaries
Published in 2005
An inspirational adventure, based on the true story of Ernesto Guevara and Alberto Granado, whose thrilling and dangerous road trip across Latin America becomes a life-changing journey of self-discovery.
Neruda
Published in 2018
Directed by the award-winning filmmaker Pablo Larrain ("Jackie"), this Golden Globe-nominated film features international star Gael García Bernal as a policeman chasing Pablo Neruda, perhaps the most important poet of the 20th century and a hugely influential political figure.. Blending visual grandeur and literary wit, NERUDA is a beguiling reinvention of the 'standard' cinematic biography. Playfully confounding expectations at every turn, the film offers a startling rumination on the split between the person and persona, the man and the artist.. Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language. Winner of Best Actor and the Cine Latino Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.. "Sweeping, poignant, bizarre, funny and unique." - Nicholas Barber, Newsweek
Nine Queens
Published in 2002
Two small-time grifters team up to pull off a big-time score involving a set of valuable counterfeit stamps known as the Nine Queens.
No
Published in 2013
An ad executive comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile's 1988 referendum.
Nostalgia for the Light
Published in 2011
Director Patricio Guzman travels to Chile's Atacama Desert where astronomers examine distant galaxies, archaeologists uncover traces of ancient civilizations, and women dig for the remains of disappeared relatives.
Nostalgia for the Light
Published in 2011
Director Patricio Guzman travels to the driest place on earth, Chile's Atacama Desert, where astronomers examine distant galaxies, archaeologists uncover traces of ancient civilizations, and women dig for the remains of disappeared relatives.
Roses in December
Published in 2017
On December 2, 1980 lay missioner Jean Donovan and three American nuns were brutally murdered by members of El Salvador’s security force. This "sensitive, marvelously constructed film"(Catholic New York) chronicles Jean’s life, from her affluent childhood in Connecticut, to her decision to volunteer with the Maryknolls in El Salvador, to her tragic death. An award-winning classic for the ages, Roses in December is both an eloquent memorial to the commitment of this courageous young woman and a powerful indictment of U.S. foreign policy in Central America.
The Salt of the Earth
Published in 2015
For the last 40 years, the photographer Sebastiô Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed some of the major events of our recent history; international conflicts, starvation and exodus.
Salvador
Published in 2001
In 1980, Richard Boyle, a veteran war photographer whose career needs a boost, heads for El Salvador to cover the civil war there. He forms an uneasy alliance with both guerrillas in the countryside who want him to get pictures out to the US press, and the right-wing military, who want him to bring them photographs of the rebels. After the murder of Archbishop Romero, the rape and murder of an American nurse and three nuns, and the death of a fellow journalist, Boyle attempts to escape El Salvador with his Salvadorean girlfriend Maria and her family.
The Secret in Their Eyes
Published in 2010
Recently retired criminal court investigator Benjam?in decides to write a novel based on a twenty-five-year-old unresolved rape and murder case which still haunts him. Sharing his plans with Irene, the beautiful judge and former colleague, Benjam?in's initial involvement with the case is shown through flashbacks as he sets out to identify the murderer. But Benjam?in's search for the truth will put him at the center of a judicial nightmare, as the mystery of the heinous crime continues to unfold in the present, testing the limits of a man seeking justice and personal fulfillment at last.
Silent Light
Published in 2009
In a Mennonite community in Mexico, a man betrays his family by having an affair with another woman, which changes the course of events with both his wife and his mistress.
Silent Light.
Published in 2014
Silent light tells the story of Johan, a married man who against the laws of his faith and traditional beliefs, falls in love with another woman, thus facing an internal dilemma, whether to betray his wife, the woman he once loved and disrupt the apparent stability of the community or sacrifice his true love and future happiness. Sublimely shot, entirely on location in the Mexican Mennonite community near Chihuahua, silent Light opens with what is arguably the single most remarkable shot of the year; dawn breaking over the rural landscape, Reygadas's control of image and sound reconfirm his position as one of cinema's most distinctive auteurs.
State of Siege
Published in 2015
Costa-Gavras puts the United States' involvement in South American politics under the microscope in this arresting thriller. An urban guerilla group, outraged at the counterinsurgency and torture training clandestinely organized by the CIA in their country (unnamed in the film), abducts a U.S. official to bargain for the release of political prisoners; soon the kidnapping becomes a media sensation, leading to violence.
El Topo
Published in 2014
Classic Americana and avant-garde European cinema sensibilities meet Zen Buddhism and the Bible as a master gunfighter and comic mystic must defeat his four sharp-shooting rivals on an increasingly bizarre path to allegorical self-enlightenment and surreal resurrection.
Tropicália.
Published in 2018
In this colorful documentary, director Marcelo Machado takes the audience on a sensory tour into the history of one of Brazil's most iconic cultural movements, Tropicalism. In an affectionate panorama, built up from a miscellany of references, interviews, material dug from archives, images and, of course, music, the viewer travels through the fertile, controversial and violent years of the late 60's that created a movement and musical style that would remain beloved for years to come.
When Two Worlds Collide.
Published in 2017
In this tense and immersive tour de force, audiences are taken directly into the line of fire between powerful, opposing Peruvian leaders who will stop at nothing to keep their respective goals intact. On the one side is President Alan Garcia, who, eager to enter the world stage, begins aggressively extracting oil, minerals, and gas from untouched indigenous Amazonian land. He is quickly met with fierce opposition from indigenous leader Alberto Pizango, whose impassioned speeches against Garcia's destructive actions prove a powerful rallying cry to throngs of his supporters. When Garcia continues to ignore their pleas, a tense war of words erupts into deadly violence.
Wild Tales
Published in 2015
Vulnerable in the face of a reality that shifts and suddenly turns unpredictable, the characters cross the thin line that divides civilization and barbarism. A lover's betrayal, a return to the repressed past and the violence woven into everyday encounters drive the characters to madness as they cede to the undeniable pleasure of losing control.
Wild Tales
Published in 2015
Vulnerable in the face of a reality that shifts and suddenly turns unpredictable, the characters cross the thin line that divides civilization and barbarism. A lover's betrayal, a return to the repressed past and the violence woven into everyday encounters drive the characters to madness as they cede to the undeniable pleasure of losing control.
Y Tu Mamá También
Published in 2014
A pair of horny Mexico City teenagers from different classes who, after their girlfriend's jet off to Italy for the summer, are bewitched by a gorgeous older Spanish woman they meet at a wedding. When she agrees to accompany them on a trip to a faraway beach, the three forms an increasingly intense and sensual alliance that ultimately strips them both physically and emotionally bare.
Zama
Published in 2018
Zama, an officer of the Spanish Crown born in South America, waits for a letter from the King granting him a transfer from the town in which he is stagnating, to a better place. His situation is delicate. He must ensure that nothing overshadows his transfer. He is forced to accept submissively every task entrusted to him by successive Governors who come and go as he stays behind. The years go by and the letter from the King never arrives.
Zama
Published in 2018
"Zama, an officer of the Spanish Crown born in South America, waits for a letter from the King granting him a transfer from the town [in Asunción, Paraguay] in which he is stagnating, to a better place. His situation is delicate. He must ensure that nothing overshadows his transfer. He is forced to accept submissively every task entrusted to him by successive Governors who come and go as he stays behind. The years go by and the letter from the King never arrives. When Zama notices everything is lost, he joins a party of soldiers that go after a dangerous bandit."--Container.