Films

CHICOGRANDE | Mexico  |   2010 |   95 min.
English-Spanish with No subtitles
Drama | Director: Felipe Cazals

Synopsis: Following the frustrated invasion of Columbus in New Mexico, Pancho Villa retreats, only to be injured by Mexican troops in the city of Guerrero. As a pretext for the US military to journey into Mexico, a massive campaign is launched to capture Villa dead or alive. Convalescent, Villa takes refuge deep in the mountains while Chicogrande (Damián Alcázar), an anonymous Mexican Revolution hero, is given the task of finding medical assistance while preparing to give up his life in the attempt.
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Screening times:
Thursday, October 20th, 7:00 PM + PARTY
Saturday, October 22nd, 9:00 PM

Felipe Cazals, born in 1937, is one of Mexican cinema's most important and prolific directors with over 34 films to his credit. He has garnered many prestigious awards in his career including the Special Jury Prize at the Berlin Festival in 1976 for Canoa. Together with Arturo Ripstein, he is considered one of the most emblematic film directors of his generation. Chicogrande was filmed in Durango, Mexico, an iconic film location for many Hollywood westerns such as the John Wayne classic True Grit (1969). Chicogrande was the opening film at the San Sebastián Film Festival in Spain in 2010, and received 10 nominations at the Mexican Film Awards, including Best Film and Best Director.

CASA VIEJA (OLD HOUSE) | Cuba  |  2010 |  95 min.
Spanish with English subtitles
Drama | Director: Lester Hamlet

Synopsis: Upon learning that his father is on his deathbed, Esteban travels from Barcelona back to his native Cuba after an absence of fourteen years to be with his family in their time of grieving. But in his childhood home he encounters a past that has not changed: old family secrets, resentments and unresolved misunderstandings make time itself an apparent prisoner of the old house.
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Screening times:
Friday, October 21st, 5:45 PM
Sunday, October 23rd, 6:50 PM

Lester Hamlet was born in Havana, Cuba in 1971. He has worked as a film editor, writer, cinematographer and music producer. He codirected Tres veces dos (2004), which won the Silver Zenith for First Fiction Feature Film at the 28th Montreal World Film Festival. He was the film editor for La edad de la peseta, directed by Pavel Giroud (2006), which was selected in a number of international film festivals including the 5th Vancouver Latin American Film Festival, and won the Best Film Award at the Cartagena Film Festival. His forthcoming second feature film as a director, Fabula, is a Canadian co-production.

PECADOS DE MI PADRE (SINS OF MY FATHER) | Argentina/Colombia  |  2010 |  94 min.
Spanish with English subtitles
Documentary | Director: Nicolas Entel

Synopsis: This is the incredible story of Pablo Escobar, the infamous boss of Colombia's Medellin drug cartel, told for the very first time by his son, Sebastian, and his widow Maria Isabel Santos. In Nicolas Entel's film, Sebastian tells of his extraordinary childhood, growing up with a father he loved but whom he knew to be Colombia's enemy number one. He tells of times of extraordinary luxury and extravagance, and other times on the run. And Sebastian and his widow open the family vaults to share their private and long-hidden archives. But this is also the story of two of Escobar's most prominent victims, the Minister of Justice and a politician about to be elected President of Colombia, as told by their sons. They were among hundreds that Escobar had killed in the 1980s. The film follows Sebastian as he tries to break the cycle of revenge and assassination by seeking reconciliation with the sons of his father.
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Screening times:
Friday, October 21st, 7:30 PM
Monday, October 24th, 7:00 PM

Nicolas Entel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1975. He earned a BA in Film Directing from Universidad del Cine and a Master's in Broadcasting Administration from the University of Boston, USA. As of 2000, he lives between Buenos Aires and New York, where he co-founded Red Creek Productions. He is currently working on the development of his third movie, La Difunta. Pecados de mi Padre won the audience award at the Miami International Film Festival and it played at Sundance.

EL INFIERNO (HELL) | Mexico  |  2010 |  145 min.
Spanish with English subtitles
Comedy | Director: Luis Estrada

Synopsis: Benjamin Garcia (Benny) is deported from the United States. Back home and facing a bleak existence, Benny gets involved in the narcotraffic business in which, for the first time in his life, he finds himself surrounded by money, women, violence and fun. But very soon he'll discover that the criminal life does not always keep its promises. An epic black comedy about the world of the Mafia and organized crime, HELL helps us to understand what everybody is asking: What is happening in Mexico today?
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Screening times:
Friday, October 21st, 9:30 PM
Tuesday, October 25th, 7:00 PM

Luis Estrada was born in Mexico City in 1962. He studied at the University Centre of Film Studies (CUE C) and the Film Training Centre (CCC). He has ten feature films to his credit including Camino largo a Tijuana (1991), Bandidos (1991) and Ámbar (1994). El infierno concludes a trilogy of social and political satire that began with La ley de Herodes (1999), which won the Latin America Cinema Award at Sundance, followed by Un mundo maravilloso (2006). El infierno received nine awards from the Mexican Film Academy, including Best Film and Best Director, and was nominated for a Spanish Goya Award.

LA EDAD DE LA PESETA (THE SILLY AGE) | Cuba  |  2006 |  90 minutes
Spanish with English subtitles
Drama | Director: Pavel Giroud

Synopsis: La Edad de la Peseta (a common Cuban phrase that refers to the period right before adolescence) is a quirky, surprising, coming-of-age film that will give lovers of Cuban cinema cause for celebration. Set in 1958 in Havana, the year that culminates the Revolution, ten-year-old Samuel has just arrived in town with his recently divorced mother. They take up residence in the house of his eccentric grandmother Violeta, and Samuel is introduced to a new, mysterious world where Samuel finds himself an adult in comparison to his child-like mother.
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Screening times:
Saturday, October 22nd, 5:00PM

LOS COLORES DE LA MONTAÑA (THE COLORS OF THE MOUNTAIN) |  Colombia |  2010 |  90 min.
Spanish with English subtitles
Drama | Director: Carlos César Arbeláez

Synopsis: Manuel, 9, has an old ball with which he plays football every day in the countryside. He dreams of becoming a great goalkeeper. His wishes seem set to come true when Ernest, his father, gives him a new ball. But an unexpected accident sends the ball flying into a minefield. Despite the danger, Manuel refuses to abandon his treasure... He convinces Julián and Poca Luz, his two friends, to rescue it with him. Amid the adventures and kids' games, the signs of armed conflict start to appear in the lives of the inhabitants of 'La Pradera'. Director Arbelàez's first feature, film won the New Director Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in 2010.
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Screening times:
Saturday, October 22nd, 7:00 PM

LOS VIAJES DEL VIENTO (THE WIND JOURNEYS) |  Colombia |  2009 |  117min.
Spanish with English subtitles
Drama, Music | Director: Ciro Guerra

Synopsis: For most of his life, Ignacio Carrillo traveled the villages of northern Colombia playing traditional songs on his accordion – a legendary instrument said to have once belonged to the devil. He eventually married and settled in a small town, leaving the nomadic life behind. But after the traumatic death of his wife, he vows never to play the accursed accordion again, and embarks on one last journey to return the instrument to its rightful owner. On the way, Ignacio is followed by Fermín, a spirited teenager determined to become his apprentice. Tired of loneliness, Ignacio accepts the young man as a pupil and together they traverse the vast Colombian terrain, discovering the musical diversity of Caribbean culture. Hardened by a life of solitude, Ignacio tries to discourage Fermín from following in his footsteps, but destiny has different plans for them.
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Screening times:
Sunday, October 23rd, 4:40 PM

Ciro Guerra was born in Rio de Oro, Colombia in 1981 and studied Film and Television at the National University of Colombia. At the age of 20, after directing four multi-award winning short films, he wrote, produced and directed La Sombra del Caminante (The Wandering Shadows), his feature directorial debut, which won awards at the San Sebastian, Toulouse, Mar del Plata, Trieste, Havana, Quito, Cartagena, Santiago and Warsaw Film Festivals. He was selected for 32 more, including Tribeca, Seoul, Pesaro, Seattle, Hamburg, Kolkata, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Guadalajara, and Troia, earning him worldwide acclaim. Los Viajes del Viento is Guerra's second feature length-film, which won best film at the Bogota and Cartagena Film Festivals, and it was the first Colombian film in eleven years in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival.

BESOURO |  Brazil |  2009 |  94 min.
Portuguese with English subtitles
Drama, Action | Director: João Daniel Tikhomiroff

Synopsis: In 1920s Brazil, former black slaves still suffer under the heel of oppressive white plantation owners who forbid them to engage in their cultural practices, such as the traditional martial art of capoeira. When the leader of the resistance movement is assassinated, his protégé Besouro must take up his mantle. Using his mastery of capoeira and the supernatural abilities given to him by ancient West African deities, Besouro becomes an untouchable mystic, freedom fighter and symbol of revolt. Based on the life of legendary capoeira master, Besouro Mangangá, this film mixes historical drama with dizzying acrobatic choreography to create a cinematic extravaganza like no other.
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Screening time:
Wednesday, October 26th, 7:00 PM

João Daniel Tikhomiroff has been a reference in the international advertising sector for more than 20 years. He has won 41 Lion prizes in the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, which makes him the second most awarded person in this most important ad festival in the world. Son of Daniel Michael Tikhomiroff, a former director of Universal Pictures' Division in Brazil, he grew up attending film screenings. He worked as assistant director in several Brazilian features as a young man, and directed his first documentary when he was 19. The successful career in advertising postponed Tikhomiroff's dream of directing his first feature film, which he recently accomplished with Besouro.