Latin American Film Festival

Argentine documentary maker Juan Mandelbaum, returns from exile after he discovers that his former girlfriend was among the thousands murdered by the junta in the 1970’s. In a painfully personal exposé, he uncovers her story and that of a whole lost generation.

A devastating indictment of globalisation which is marginalising the indigenous peoples of Mexico, their culture destroyed or commoditised by central government. Through this documentary, which profiles the many campaigns by organisations seeking to give a voice to the voiceless, the people cry out for peaceful resistance to the racism and poverty being imposed on them. Moving and revelatory viewing.

The state terrorism in the Argentina of the mid-seventies is a still unhealed wound in the body of Argentine society. The murder of at least 20,000 people, though still unpunished, has been eloquently exposed and discussed. This feature length documentary tells of those who fled the genocide and suffered the pain of complete separation from their lives, loves and culture. The profound power of this film resides in the wider insight that, to this day, the whole of Argentinean society, culture and body politic remains impoverished by the banishment, during that time of horror, of a whole class of thinking people.

Far from being just another example of ‘poverty porn’, this beautiful documentary reveals the vivacious culture of Rio’s slum communities in the face of the prejudice and deprivation suffered by the poor. A positive representation of the decent and hardworking folk of the favelas, and a joyous celebration of the power of human creativity.

This utterly extraordinary, unflinching feature documentary provides a unique and vivid insight into the lives of young men training for Cuba’s national boxing squad, their hopes for themselves, the rigours of their lives and their unwavering patriotism. The viewer is left with the powerful impression of a masculine identity, composed of pride, skill and discipline, forged in the furnace of aspiration and ideological rigour. Essential viewing.

The complex experience of being a Latin American in the UK is explored in a kaleidoscope of words and music, evoking the sense of joy and cultural pride, tinged with the pain of separation, common to this great, diverse diaspora.

The unparalleled power of music to touch the soul amidst the alienation of city life is brilliantly delineated in this imaginatively constructed documentary which follows three young musicians, Claudio, Angélina and Estaban, making ends meet by busking on Santiago’s gigantic transport system. With little commentary, it is the pure collision of music and image which eloquently expounds the themes

Stunningly visual, compelling, multi-award winning and deeply personal documentary as Brazilian filmmaker Denise Zmekhol revisits the Amazonian peoples she had photographed fifteen years earlier. Following in the footsteps of the late activist and campaigner Chico Mendez, she discovers a terrible erosion of both the physical environment and the indigenous culture. Hard but essential viewing.

Political repression in 1970s Venezuela is seldom discussed. This stirring documentary centres on the disappearance, murder and eventual disinterment of two individual victims of Rómulo Betancourt’s ‘dirty war’ against the left. A testament to victims of impunity, across the world.

The issues of racial discrimination in Cuba and the unacknowledged debt that is owed to the African-Cuban population, are daringly explored by Habanero, Eric Corvalán, filming in a nation where race is still the ‘elephant in the room’ nobody discusses. The film addresses the difficult debate over how a revolutionary society can persevere in bringing social justice to each and every one of its members.

A humane and lyrical documentary portrait of the genial Benjamin, the only remaining pupil of the school in depopulated La Mudana in the wilds of Cordoba Province, Argentina. The beauty and peacefulness of a dying, agrarian lifestyle is evoked with enormous empathy and affection. A small perfect gem of a film.

A unique and moving oral history document of the Grand Chaco war of the 30’s against Paraguay, in the words of the few surviving indigenous agricultural workers forced to fight for Bolivia by the unbending feudal system of the time. A timely reflection on the bitter era of the haciendas, and a testament to those who have endured it.

‘I was born lacking a couple of chromosomes, but it doesn’t matter. That is what made me’. Twelve Cuban’s with dwarfism talk to the camera about sex, love, work and dignity, comprising a realistic and revealing portrait of the city of Havana, as seen from a slightly different perspective than usual! The aim of the documentary, as director Rolando Pardo says, is to reflect the reality of being a small person in Cuba, while trying to counter some of the prejudices they suffer. ‘I clearly wanted to show that they are not monsters, but normal people who live normal lives within a society that should respect them’. The interviewees range from a chiropodist who tries to bring his son up so that he can deal with the limits his height might cause him, to a mother who sleeps in her baby’s cradle, to a family man who drives a taxi-bicycle to make a living. This is the optimistic, life-affirming story of twelve anonymous people who, over the course of 72 minutes, come to life as vivid, individual characters with amazing stories to tell.