News & Events

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VESTIDO DE NOVIA / HIS WEDDING DRESS

SAT Sep 19, 9:15 pm / MON Sep 21, 6:00 pm / WED Sep 23, 6:00 pm

• Drama

• Cuba, Spain, 2014, 104m

• Director: Marilyn Solaya

• Cast: Laura de la Uz, Luis Alberto García, Jorge Perugorria, Isabel Santos, Mario Guerra

In 90’s Havana, a nurse and a home builder hopelessly in love, live happily married. A circumstancial fact of her past life, will put their feelings to test and undermine the most elemental principles.

• 6th Havana Film Festival New York (HFFNY), Best Actress

• Torino Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2015, Audience Award

• Havana Film Festival 2014, Won, Best First Work, Audience Award, Best Film

• Málaga Spanish Film Festival 2015 Won, Audience Award, Best Latin American Film

Watch the Trailer: http://www.habanerofilmsales.com/portfolio/vestido-de-novia

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LLEVATE MIS AMORES/ALL OF ME

SAT Sep 19, 3:00 pm / SUN Sep 20, 3:00 pm

• Documentary

• Mexico 2014, 90m

• Director: Arturo Gonzalez Villasenor

Mexico and the United States share the greatest border between the first and the third world. That makes it a bridge for thousands of migrants who expose themselves to every danger as they travel through the country on a train called “The Beast.” That’s where they meet the Patronas, a group of Mexican women who, every day since 1995, make food and toss it to the helpless as the train rushes by. This documentary is an intimate approach, a personal diary that draws a border between the life they were given and the life they chose. In the midst of a country at war, in a world where all hope seems lost, the Patronas breathe life into a human value that seems to be fading with each day: love for one another.

•  San Francisco International Film Festival 2014

• Los Cabos International Film Festival 2014
  

Watch the trailer: http://www.llevatemisamores.com/eng/trailer.html

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2014 LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL

Organized by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)

The ART THEATER

September 19-25, 2014
126 West Church Street
Champaign, IL 61820

2014 SELECTED FILMS

• PELO MALO / BAD HAIR (Venezuela, 2013)
• O LOBO ATRAS DA PORTA / WOLF AT THE DOOR (Brazil, 2013)
• FECHA DE CADUCIDAD / EXPIRATION DATE (Mexico, 2012)
• RAMBLERAS / PROMENADE WOMEN (Uruguay, 2013)
• SE VENDE / FOR SALE (Cuba, 2013)
• GLORIAS DEL TANGO / GLORIES OF TANGO (Argentina, 2014)
• WHO'S DAYANI CRISTAL (USA, 2013)

SCHEDULE 2014 LAFF

PELO MALO / BAD HAIR

FRI Sep 19, 6:00 pm / SUN Sep 21, 7:15 pm / WED Sep 24, 6:00 pm

• Venezuela, 2013. 93m
• Director: Mariana Rondón
• Starring: Beto Benites, Samantha Castillo, Samuel Lange Zambrano

Junior is nine years old and has "bad hair." He wants to straighten his hair for his yearbook picture so he can look like a fashionable pop singer. This elicits a tidal wave of homophonic panic in his hard-working mother, who finds it increasingly difficult to tolerate Junior's fixation with his looks. The more he tries to look sharp to make his mother love him, the more she rejects him. Eventually, he is cornered, faced with a painful decision.

Awards:

• Havana Film Festival 2013, Best Film
• Montreal Festival of New Cinema 2013, Best Actor
• San Sebastian International Film Festival 2013, Concha De Oro, Best Film

Watch the trailer: http://www.pelomalofilm.com/

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O LOBO ATRAS DA PORTA / Wolf AT THE DOOR

FRI Sep 19, 8:00 pm / MON Sep 22, 8:30 pm / THU Sep 25, 5:00 pm

• Brazil, 2013. 131m
• Director: Fernando Coimbra
• Starring: Leandra Leal, Thalita Carauta, Julaino Cazarré

Brazil's A Wolf at the Door opens with a mother arriving to pick up her young daughter at school, only to learn that the girl already left with another woman. From that point on, the film takes increasingly sinister turns as it delves into the events that led to the girl's kidnapping. Director Fernando Coimbra has described the film as a modern-day variation on Medea, which provides a hint on where this story will be heading. Coimbra was also inspired by some news stories in South America that suggest why the Greek tragedy is not outdated. The film does not take audiences on an easy ride, and it's an utterly compelling and indelible drama.

Awards:

• Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival 2013, Best Film and Best Actress
• Havana Film Festival 2013, Best First Work
• Miami Film Festival 2014, Best Director

Watch the trailer: http://mspfilm.org/films-and-events/a-wolf-at-the-door/

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FECHA DE CADUCIDAD / EXPIRATION DATE

SUN Sep 21, 5:00 pm / TUE Sep 23, 7:15 pm / THU Sep 25, 9:45 pm

• Mexico, 2012. 111m
• Director: Kenya Marquez
• Starring: Damian Alcazar, Marisol Centeno, Ana Ofelia Murguia

In modern-day Guadalajara, loving mother Ramona searches for her layabout adult son. Her new neighbor Mariana seems to be the key to finding him, but she has dark secrets of her own. Then there's Genaro, an odd duck obsessed with forensics who hangs around the local coroner's office. A dark comedy of errors with a Rashomon-like structure: the tantalizing puzzle-pieces of a murder mystery are gradually revealed from three different perspectives, subverting our assumptions and preconceptions.

Winner of the Audience Award at the Morelia Film Festival, Kenya Marquez's debut feature (after her years as director of the Guadalajara Film Festival) effortlessly blends drama, suspense, and humor to create a wry commentary on the endemic violence of contemporary Mexico. DP Javier Morón uses a shadowy, burnished color palette to masterfully convey an atmosphere of dark suspicion, and leads Ana Ofelia Murguía, Marisol Centeno, and Damiàn Alcazar turn in subtle but magnificently intense performances.

Awards:

• Huelva Latin American Film Festival 2012, Best Director
• Miami Film Festival 2012, Ibero-American Opera Prima Award

Watch the trailer: http://fechadecaducidad.com/trailer

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RAMBLERAS / PROMENADE WOMEN

SAT Sep 20, 5:00 pm / SUN Sep 21, 9:15 pm / TUE Sep 23, 9:40 pm

• Uruguay, 2013. 93m
• Director: Daniela Speranza
• Starring: Vicky Rodríguez Cartagena, Maria Elena Pérez, Adriana Aizenberg

With Montevideo's rambla, an avenue that goes along the coastline, as its stage, "Rambleras" centers on three women facing a personal crisis. Thirty something Patricia, an employee at Jacqueline's rotisserie, spends her nights alone in her apartment, staring wistfully at her cell phone, hoping for that one phone call that might change her life. Jacqueline, on the other hand, fears that her relationship with husband Juanca has reached a dead end. Meanwhile, eighty something Ofelia is still coming to terms with the death of her sister, her longtime companion; she dares not walk the rambla alone.

Watch the trailer: http://rambleras.com/videos.html

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SE VENDE / FOR SALE

SAT Sep 20, 7:15 pm / TUE Sep 23, 5:00 pm / THU Sep 25, 7:45 pm

• Cuba, 2013. 95m
• Director: Jorge Perugorria
• Starring: Daylenis Fuentes, Jorge Perugorria, Yuliet Cruz

Actor turned director Jorge Perugorria follows on the footsteps of Cuban masters Tomas Gutierrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabio with this scathing dark satire. Deeply indebted Nacar, a young lab technician, visits her mother's tomb every Sunday to talk to her. Her mother's spirit advises her to sell the family's tomb and its contents to pay the bills and keep the family afloat. With the help of painter and future flame Nilo, Nacar sets the wheels in motion as they exhume the bodies and remains of their loved ones in this story about survival in post-Special Period Cuba.

Awards:

• Havana Film Festival 2012, Best Film

Watch the trailer: http://www.sevendelapelicula.com

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GLORIAS DEL TANGO / GLORIES OF TANGO

SAT Sep 20, 9:15 pm / MON Sep 22, 6:00 pm / WED Sep 24, 8:15 pm

• Argentina, 2014. 117m
• Director: Oliver Kolker, Hernan Findling
• Starring: Hector Alterio, Gaston Pauls, Antonella Costa

Ezequiel Kaufman is a psychiatrist who works in a typical 3rd world country public hospital. Among his patients is Fermín Turdera (85) (Héctor Alterio), a patient at the hospital for more than 10 years. Mr. Fermin expresses himself exclusively using the lyrics and titles of Tango Songs, a peculiar characteristic not understood by the doctors until Ezequiel comes on the scene. A great patient/doctor relationship develops between Ezequiel and Fermín. Through their relationship, Ezequiel discovers the tango and the customs of Argentina in the 40's , when Fermín reveals his relationship with his two most intimate friends, Ciempiés and Clodomiro; and Zulma Prando his greatest love.

Not only will Ezequiel navigate across the waters of the Tango underworld with Fermín, he will also find love when he meets Fermin's granddaughter, EVA Turdera. Eva was raised by Fermín when her parents disappeared during the Military Dictatorship in the 1970's. The treatment brings Fermín to an understanding of his own past, and to settle an old debt. Ezequiel, on the other hand, will be forced to decide his own future.

Watch the trailer: http://www.gloriasdeltango.com/

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WHO'S DAYANI CRISTAL?

SAT Sep 20, 3:00 pm / SUN Sep 21, 3:00 pm

• USA, 2013. 85m
• Director: Gael Garcia Bernal & Marc Silver
• Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal

Following a team of dedicated staff from the Pima County Morgue in Arizona, director Marc Silver seeks to answer these questions and give this anonymous man an identity. As the forensic investigation unfolds, Mexican actor and activist Gael Garcia Bernal retraces this man's steps along the migrant trail in Central America. In an effort to understand what it must have felt like to make this final journey, he embeds himself among migrant travelers on their own mission to cross the border. He experiences first-hand the dangers they face and learns of their motivations, hopes and fears. As we travel north, these voices from the other side of the border wall give us a rare insight into the human stories which are so often ignored in the immigration debate.

Who Is Dayani Cristal? tells the story of a migrant who found himself in the deadly stretch of desert known as "the corridor of death" and shows how one life becomes testimony to the tragic results of the U.S. war on immigration. As the real-life drama unfolds we see this John Doe, denied an identity at his point of death, become a living and breathing human being with an important life story.

Awards:

• Sundance Film Festival 2103, Cinematographic Ward
• Cork International Film Festival 2013, Audience Award

Watch the trailer: hhttp://whoisdayanicristal.com/

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2013 LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL

Organized by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)

The ART THEATER

September 20-26, 2013
126 West Church Street
Champaign, IL 61820

2013 SELECTED FILMS

• ELEFANTE BLANCO / WHITE ELEPHANT (Argentina, 2012)
• O SOM AO REDOR / NEIGHBORING SOUNDS (Brazil, 2012)
• SOFÍA Y EL TERCO / SOFIA AND THE STUBBORN (Colombia, 2012)
• EL FANTASTICO MUNDO DE JUAN OROL / THE FANTASTIC WORLD OF JUAN OROL (Mexico, 2012)
• 7 CAJAS / 7 BOXES (Paraguay, 2012)
• PIEDRA, PAPEL O TIJERAS / ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS (Venezuela, 2012)
• SOY ANDINA / I AM ANDEAN (USA, 2007)

Schedule 2013 LAFF

ELEFANTE BLANCO / WHITE ELEPHANT

FRI Sep 20, 6:00 pm / SUN Sep 22, 7:00 pm / WED Sep 25, 6:00 pm

• Argentina, 2012. 120m
• Director: Pablo Trapero
• Starring: Ricardo Darín, Jérémie Renier, Martina Gusman

In the "Villa Virgin", a shantytown in the slums of Buenos Aires, Julian (Ricardo Darín, The Secret in Their Eyes, Carancho) and Nicolas (Jérémie Renier, In Bruges, Atonement) - two priests and long-standing friends - work tirelessly to help the local people. Nicolas joins Julian in overseeing the construction of a hospital following the failure of a project he was leading in which paramilitary forces assassinated members of the community. Deeply troubled by his actions, Nicolas finds solace in Luciana (Martina Gusman, Carancho, Lion's Den), a young, attractive atheist social worker.

Awards:

• Argentinean Academy 2012, nominated for Best Film
• Cannes 12, Nominated for Un Certain Regard Award

Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT_jjd5Aakg

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O SOM AO REDOR / NEIGHBORING SOUNDS

FRI Sep 20, 8:40 pm / MON Sep 23, 8:30 pm / THU Sep 26, 5:00 pm

• Brazil, 2012, 131 m.
• Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
• Starring: Gustavo Jahn, Maeve Jinkings, Irma Brown

Life in a middle-class neighborhood in present day Recife, Brazil, takes an unexpected turn after the arrival of an independent private security firm. The presence of these men brings a sense of safety and a good deal of anxiety to a culture which runs on fear. Meanwhile, Bia, married and mother of two, must find a way to deal with the constant barking and howling of her neighbor's dog. A slice of 'Braziliana', a reflection on history, violence and noise.

Awards:

• Leida Latin American Film Festival 2013 - Won Special Jury Award and Screenplay Award
• Oslo Films from the South Festival 2012 - Won International Critics' Award
• Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival 2012 - Won Best Film and Best Screenplay
• Rotterdam International Film Festival 2012 - Won International Critics' Award
• São Paulo International Film Festival 2012- Won Best Brazilian Film

Watch the trailer: http://www.osomaoredor.com.br/

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SOFÍA Y EL TERCO / SOFIA AND THE STUBBORN

SUN Sep 22, 5:00 pm / TUE Sep 24, 9:30 pm / THU Sep 26, 9:45 pm

• Colombia, 2012. 80m
• Director: Andres Burgos
• Starring: Carmen Maura, Gustavo Angarita, Constanza Duque

Sofía and her husband live in a small village in the Colombian countryside. Their life has just been a long repetition of facts for years. They grew here, married and they know everybody in the village. He is the owner of a grocery. She makes everything in their house: she chooses his clothes in the morning, prepares breakfast, lunch and dinner, feeds the birds, cleans… And she has an old dream: she wants to go to the sea whereas she has always known mountains. But Gustavo always has good reasons to delay the trip. She leaves her morose husband and, with the curiosity of a teenager, embarks upon an adventure full of unexpected meetings and highly imaginative situations. Innovative, moving, and refreshing cinema.

Awards:

• Biarritz Film Festival 2012 - Won Public Award

Watch the trailer: http://vimeo.com/37494775

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EL FANTASTICO MUNDO DE JUAN OROL / THE FANTASTIC WORLD OF JUAN OROL

SAT Sep 21, 7:30 pm / TUE Sep 24, 5:00 pm / THU Sep 26, 7:45 pm

• Mexico, 2012. 90m
• Director: Sebastian del Amo
• Starring: Roberto Sosa, Juan Manuel Bernal, Juan Carlos Bonet

Move over Ed Wood! Mexico's half-forgotten B-movie master, "involuntary surrealist" Juan Orol, receives a pitch-perfect tribute in this irresistible love letter to a self-made man of showbiz, whose career spanned nearly sixty films. In a glorious black-and-white flashback mingling movie-tainted memories of his Galician childhood, forced exile to Cuba and arrival in Mexico, intrepid "Juanito" pursues failed careers as baseball player, boxer, bullfighter and gangster before landing in the movies - where failure kind of works for him. As Orol, Roberto Sosa exudes droll underdog charm, anchoring a fast-moving comedy where every frame is an infectious homage to a golden age of cinema, the wile of memory and the art of fantasy.

Awards:

• Ariel Awards 2013, Mexico - Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design

Watch the trailer: http://catalogue.globalfilm.org/global-lens-collection/global-lens-2013/the-fantastic-world-of-juan-orol-el-fantastico-mundo-de-juan-orol.html

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7 CAJAS / 7 BOXES

SAT Sep 21, 5:00 pm / SUN Sep 22, 9:30 pm / TUE Sep 24, 7:00 pm

• Paraguay, 2012. 100m
• Director: Rosario Garcia-Montero
• Starring: Fatima Buntinx, Katerina D'Onofrio, Paul Vega

It's Friday, 40 degrees in Asunción. Víctor a 17 year old wheelbarrow leader, dreams of becoming famous, absorbed on the TV of an appliance store in the Municipal Market. Then, he loses a customer, another carter got ahead. The market's world is hostile, competitive and there are thousands like him waiting to carry things. Then he receives an unusual proposal, to carry 7 boxes of unknown content, in exchange for a torn half of a $100 bill. The other half will be given to him when he finishes the job. Víctor, who has never seen a bill of this value, has no idea how many Guaraníes (Paraguayan money) the bill is worth. But he also knows well that he doesn't have the right to ask. His need is greater than his curiosity.

With a borrowed cell phone, which the contractor uses to tell him the way to go, Víctor embarks on the journey. Crossing the eight blocks that constitute the market seemed easy but things get complicated along the way: the box is stolen from him, he loses the cell phone and the police surround the place looking for something he completely ignores. To all this, is added a group of carters who are also willing to escort the boxes for a pittance of the profits. There is something in those boxes that generate a wheelbarrow chase in the secret and gloomy corridors of the market. Without even realizing, Víctor and his pursuers will get involved in a crime of which they don't know anything: neither the cause nor the victim nor the victimizer. All of them are accomplices, because necessity forces them to run, to scream, to remain silent, or simply to pretend to be ñembotavy (Guaraní word meaning dumb).

Awards:

• Miami International Film Festival 2013 - Won Audience Award
• Palm Springs International Film Festival 2013 - Won New Voices Award
• San Sebastian International Film Festival 2012 - Won Youth Jury Award
• Goya Awards 2013 - Nominated Best Iberoamerican Film
• Toronto International Film Festival 2012 - Nominated for Discovery Awards and International Critics' Award

Watch the trailer: http://www.shorelineentertainment.com/

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PIEDRA, PAPEL O TIJERAS / ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS

SAT Sep 21, 9:40 pm / MON Sep 23, 6:00 pm / WED Sep 25, 8:30 pm

• Venezuela, 2012. 110m
• Director: Hernan Jabes
• Starring: Xavier Abreu, Alberto Alifa, Leandro Arevalo

Hector, a well-to-do commercial pilot, discovers that his wife has been unfaithful during his long absences; Christian, an informal worker who lives with his girlfriend Valentina in a working class neighborhood, promises a local criminal to safeguard a package. Desperate to pay off some outstanding debts, Christian kidnaps Hector's son, unleashing a chain of events that will prove tragic for all parties involved. "Rock, Paper, Scissors" is a powerfully intense urban drama.

Awards:

• Venezuela's official entry in 2013 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

Watch the trailer: http://www.piedrapapelotijera.com.ve/clips

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SOY ANDINA / I AM ANDEAN

SAT Sep 21, 3:15 pm / SUN Sep 22, 3:15 pm

• USA, 2007. 70m
• Director: Mitchel Teplitsky
• Starring: Cynthia Paniaguaand Nélida Silva

Two New Yorkers return to Peru to reconnect with roots and dance. Folk dancer Nélida Silva returns to her Andean birthplace to host the fiesta patronal. Modern dancer Cynthia Paniagua embarks on her won journey after meeting Neli, determined to "know the real Peru and unearth the mystery of the dances." Soy Andina is an inspirational story about Peru, dance and affirming identity in a globalized world.

Awards:

• Latin American Realities/Two River Film Festival 2008 - Best Director
• New York Hispanic Film Festival - Official Selection
• Los Angeles Latino Film Festival - Official Selection
• Chicago Latino Film Festival - Official Selection
• Santa Barbara International Film Festival - Official Selection

Watch the trailer: http://soyandina.com/clips/

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2012 LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL

Organized by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)

The ART THEATER

September 21 - 27, 2012
126 West Church Street
Champaign, IL 61820

2012 SELECTED FILMS

• CHICO Y RITA / CHICO AND RITA (Spain, Cuba 2010)
• COLOMBIAN POSTCARDS / POSTALES COLOMBIANAS (Colombia 2011)
• SIN RETORNO / NO RETURN (Argentina 2010)
• A CADEIRA DO PAI / FATHER’S CHAIR (Brazil, 2011)
• LAS MALAS INTENCIONES / THE BAD INTENTIONS (Peru, Argentina 2011)
• PARAISO FOR SALE(Panama 2011)

2012 Latin American Film Festival BROCHURE
2012 Latin American Film Festival SCHEDULE

CHICO Y RITA / CHICO AND RITA

FRI Sep 21, 6:30 pm / SUN Sep 23, 8:45 pm / THU Sep 27, 6:45 pm

• Spain, Cuba 2010, 94m
• Director: Fernando Trubea, Javier Mariscal and Tono Errando
• Original Music of Bebo Valdés

Oscar-winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque, Calle 54) and Spain’s legendary illustrator Javier Mariscal celebrate their passion for the music and culture of Cuba with an epic story of love, passion, and heartbreak.

Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and desire unite them as they chase their dreams and each other from Havana to New York to Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas. With an original soundtrack by legendary Cuban pianist and five-time Grammy®-winning composer Bebo Valdés, Chico & Rita captures a defining moment in the evolution of history and jazz, and features the music of (and animated cameos by) Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Tito Puente, Chano Pozo, and others.

Awards:

• Academy Awards, USA. Nominated for best Animated Film of the Year, 2012
• European Film Award, Best Animated Film 2010
• Gaudi Awards, Best Animated Feature, Best Music, Best Director, 2012
• Goya Awards, Best Animated Film 2012

Watch the trailer: www.chicoyrita.com

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COLOMBIAN POSTCARDS/ POSTALES COLOMBIANAS

FRI Sep 21, 8:45 pm / SUN Sep 23, 6:45 pm / TUE Sep 25, 9:00 pm

• Colombia 2011, 94m
• Director: Ricardo Coral-Dorado
• Starring: Luz Stella Luengas, Adriana Campos, Alexandra Escobar

This black comedy is about Piedad, Caridad and Fanny. Three intellectual and feminist women, middle-class independent and well positioned professionals who meet once again one night to share their experiences, memories and points of view. That night, they find themselves with three normal appearance guys but they don’t know that these men will end as their executioners because they have special instructions from a power organization they work with, to bring in new “falsos positivos (fake positive).” The misnamed “falsos positivos” were people from Colombia’s countryside and suburbs murdered by the army who made them pretending to be guerrilla militants. At this moment there are more than two thousand five hundred cases reported.

Awards:

• Latin American Film Festival, Trieste 2011 Best Script and Public’s Choice
• Official selection. New York International Latino Film Festival, 2011

Watch the trailer: http://postalescolombianas.net

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SIN RETORNO / NO RETURN

SAT Sep 22, 5:00 pm / TUE Sep 25, 6:45 pm / THU Sep 27, 8:45 pm

• Argentina, 2010, 104m
• Director: Miguel Cohan
• Starring: Leonardo Sbaraglia, Martin Slipak,and Federico Luppi

From the same producers of “The Secret in their Eyes” (Oscar Foreign Film 2011) comes this new thriller. No Return depicts the consequences of a tragic car-bicycle accident. Young Pablo is struck not once but twice - the second time fatally - while tending to his bicycle on a street in Buenos Aires. Like the spokes of the wheel on Pablo’s battered bike, the repercussions of this accident spread out in multiple directions.

Three families are affected: Hit-and-run driver Matias (Martin Slipak) and his parents; the father (Federico Luppi) of the accident victim; and entertainer Federico (Leonardo Sbaraglia), who is falsely accused of the crime. As each group deals with the fallout from the accident, which becomes a media event, No Return is compelling.

Awards:

• SEMINCI Valladolid International Film Festival 2010. Best Director, and Best Film
• Transilvania International Film Festival 2011, Best Film and Screenplay
• Fribourg International Film Festival 2011, Special Mention
• Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards 2011, Best Actor and Supporting Actor, Best Opera Prima

Watch the trailer: Sin Retorno

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A CADEIRA DO PAI / FATHER’S CHAIR

SAT Sep 22, 9:30 pm / MON Sep 24, 8:45 pm / WED Sep 26, 6:30 pm

• Brazil, 2011, 105m
• Director: Luciano Moura
• Starring: Wagner Moura, Lima Duarte, Mariana Lima, Bras Antunes

Theo (Wagner Moura, "Elite Squad") is living the good life in an upscale Brazilian neighborhood. He's a hardworking doctor, husband, and father. However, Theo has chosen his career over his family and his wife announces that she wants a divorce. Yet nothing prepares him for the day when he comes home to discover that his 15-year-old son, Pedro, has disappeared. Theo takes to the road in search of his son. In a journey that leads him throughout Brazil, Theo discovers what really matters to him. Searching for his missing son, Theo finds himself.

Awards:

• World Premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2012
• Sundance Film Festival - Nominated Grand Jury Prize 2012

Watch the trailer: http://www.shorelineentertainment.com/movies/FathersChair.html

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LAS MALAS INTENCIONES / THE BAD INTENTIONS

SAT Sep 22, 7:15 pm / MON Sep 24, 6:30 pm / WED Sep 26, 8:45 pm

• Peru, Argentina 2011, 110m
• Director: Rosario Garcia-Montero
• Starring: Fatima Buntinx, Katerina D’Onofrio, Paul Vega

In 1982 Peru, a sheltered young girl with a morbid imagination acts out her anxiety over the impending birth of a baby brother in the atmospheric, death-haunted "Bad Intentions." Willful 9-year-old asthmatic Cayetana (Fatima Buntinx) leads a privileged existence under the care of uniformed servants in a secluded modern mansion owned by her stepfather (Paul Vega) about two hours from Lima. Even so, the national turmoil of the times penetrates her consciousness through bomb threats at school, spray-painted slogans and symbols on the dusty village walls, and ominous newscasts about terrorists.

But self-involved Cayetana is preoccupied with her distant, valium-popping, pregnant mother (Katerina D'Onofrio), believing that she herself will die when her brother is born. In the meantime, she behaves in an abominable manner, even allowing a servant to be dismissed because of money she herself stole.

Awards:

• Austin International Film Festival of the Americas 2012, Jury Award Best Feature Film and Audience Award Narrative Feature
• Mar del Plata Film Festival 2011, Best Ibero-American Film
• Viña del Mar Film Festival 2011, Special Jury Award
• Gramado Film Festival 2011, Special Jury Award
• Berlin International Film Festival 2011, Nominated Crystal Bear Award

Watch the trailer: http://lasmalasintenciones.com/trailer.html

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PARAISO FOR SALE

SUN Sep 23, 5:00 pm / TUE Sep 25, 5:00 pm / THU Sep 27, 5:00 pm

• Panama, 2011, 73m
• Director: Anayansi Prado

What price would you pay for paradise? And who would you be willing to take it from? The pristine archipelago of Bocas del Toro, Panama attracts retirees and developers from the U.S. with its crystal-clear waters and its island culture. In Paraiso for Sale, filmmaker, Anayansi Prado, returns to her homeland to document the effects the fast-growing migration is having on the local community.

This engaging and revealing documentary tells the personal stories of the people who call this area home and would like to keep it that way. From an American couple who’ve invested not just in their home but in their Panamanian community to a local businessman turned political hopeful and an indigenous leader fighting for his land, the characters and stories in PARAISO FOR SALE speak to the larger global issue of communities, new and old, under siege from faceless corporations.

PARAISO FOR SALE explores issues of modern day colonialism, residential tourism, global gentrification and reverse migration, by revealing that immigration between Latin America and the US is not just a one-way street.

Awards:

• Greenville Film Festival Best Native American/Indigenous film award
• San Diego Latino International Film Festival 2012 Audience Documentary Award
• Boyle Heights Latina Film Extravaganza 2012 Best Documentary Award
• Oaxaca International Film Festival, 2011 Best Documentary Award

Watch the Trailer http://paraisoforsale.impactofilms.com/index.html

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2011 LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL

Organized by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)

The ART THEATER

September 23 - 29, 2011
126 West Church Street
Champaign, IL 61820

2011 SELECTED FILMS

• TAMBIÉN LA LLUVIA / EVEN THE RAIN
• CONTRACORRIENTE / UNDERTOW
• DIVÃ / IN THERAPY
• DOS HERMANOS / BROTHER AND SISTER
• EL TRASPATIO / BACKYARD
• MISTURA / THE POWER OF FOOD

2011 Latin American Film Festival SCHEDULE

TAMBIÉN LA LLUVIA / EVEN THE RAIN

FRI Sep 23, 6:00 pm / SUN Sep 25, 8:40 pm / THU Sep 29, 6:00 pm

• Spain, France, Mexico 2010, 103m
• Director: Iciar Bollain
• Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Luis Tosar, Karra Elejalde

También la Lluvia sets up an intriguing dialogue about Spanish imperialism through incidents taking place some 500 years apart, while examining the personal belief systems of the members of a film crew headed by director Sebastian (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his producer Costa (Luis Tosar) who arrive in Bolivia to make a revisionist film about the conquest of Latin America. Set in February and March of 2000 when real-life protests against the privatization of water rocked the nation, the film reflexively blurs the line between fiction and reality in what Variety calls "a powerful, richly layered indictment of the plight of Latin America's dispossessed." Carlos Aduviri is dynamic as a local who is cast as a 15th century native in the film, but when the make-up and loin cloth come off, he sails into action protesting his community's deprivation of water at the hands of the government.

The movie - which is dedicated to Howard Zinn - obviously has as its main purpose to show the parallels between indigenous resistance 500 years ago and today. But more than anything, it should offer incite into the roots of the wave of progressive leaders who rose to power in South America during the first decade of the 21st century.

Awards:

• Ariel Awards, Mexico 2010 - Best Latin American Film
• Berlin International Film Festival 2011 –Best Fiction Film
• Goya Awards 2011-Best Supporting Actor
• Palm Springs International Film Festival 2011- Best Director
• Spanish Music Awards 2011-Best Score
• Spanish Entry to the Oscars 2010

Watch the trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3674642969/

^ UP to 2011 Film Festival ^

CONTRACORRIENTE / UNDERTOW

SAT Sep 24, 7:00 pm / MON Sep 26, 6:00 pm / WED Sep 28, 8:15 pm

• Peru, Colombia 2009, 100m
• Director: Javier Fuentes-León
• Starring: Tatiana Astengo, Manolo Cardona, José Chacaltana

Miguel is a handsome, young and beloved fisherman in Cabo Blanco, a small fishing village in the Northern coast of Peru, where the community has deep-rooted religious traditions. Miguel is married to the beautiful Mariela, who is 7-months pregnant with their firstborn, but Miguel harbors a scandalous secret: He is having a love affair with another man, Santiago, a painter who is ostracized by the townsfolk for being agnostic and open about his sexuality.

When Santiago drowns accidentally in the ocean's strong undertow, he cannot pass peacefully to the other side. He returns after his death to ask Miguel to look for his body and bury it according to the rituals of the town. Miguel must choose between sentencing Santiago to eternal torment or doing right by him and, in turn, revealing their relationship to Mariela and the entire village. Miguel is forced to deal with the consequences of his actions and to come to terms with who he really is, even if by doing so he stands the chance of losing the people he loves the most.

Awards:

• Cartagena Film Festival 2010 - Best Film
• Miami Film Festival 2010 - Audience Award
• San Sebastián International Film Festival 2009 - Best Director
• Sundance Film Festival 2010 - Audience Award

Watch the trailer: http://www.undertowfilm.com/

^ UP to 2011 Film Festival ^

DIVÃ / IN THERAPY

SAT Sep 24, 5:00 pm / TUE Sep 27, 8:40 pm / THU Sep 29, 8:15 pm

• Brazil, 2009, 90m
• Director: José Alvarenga Jr.
• Starring: Lilia Cabral, José Mayer, Reynaldo Gianecchi

In Therapy tells the story of Mercedes, a forty-some year old woman that is dealing with the pleasures and challenges of modern life. A married and mother of two, Mercedes decides, without being quite sure why, that she'll start visiting a therapist. And what started as curiosity becomes a devastating experience leading to a series of changes to her daily life. On the psychiatrist couch Mercedes questions her marriage, professional life and her allure. Her best friend, Monica, who has been by her side throughout her life accompanies Mercedes' transformation and partakes on her new experiences and discoveries, not necessarily agreeing with all of her choices.

Awards:

• Cinema Brazil Grand Prize 2010 - Best Actress
• Miami Brazilian Film Festival 2009 - Best Film

Watch the trailer: http://maya-entertainment.com/library/therapy

^ UP to 2011 Film Festival ^

DOS HERMANOS / BROTHER AND SISTER

SAT Sep 24, 9:10 pm / MON Sep 26, 8:15 pm / WED Sep 28, 6:00 pm

• Argentina 2010, 105m
• Director: Daniel Burman
• Starring: Antonio Gasalla, Graciela Borges, Elena Lucena

They are both alone. They need each other but, at the same time, they despise each other. Siblings Marcos and Susana are unable to heal the old wounds festering within them after the death of their mother. When Susana sells their mother's flat, she deprives her brother of the home where he had cared for their mother his whole life. Marcos's need to start living again surfaces when his sister forces him to leave Buenos Aires for Uruguay.

Awards:

• Argentina Entry for the Oscars 2010

Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdVWNKdijTI

^ UP to 2011 Film Festival ^

EL TRASPATIO / BACKYARD

FRI Sep 23, 8:15 pm / SUN Sep 25, 6:00 pm / TUE Sep 27, 6:00 pm

• Mexico 2009, 122m
• Director: Carlos Carrera
• Starring: Jimmy Smits, Ana de la Reguera, Joaquin Cosio, Asur Zagada, Marco Pérez, Iván Cortes

An astonishing fictional account of the unending series of murders of young women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which began in 1996. Most of the victims are low-paid laborers who have been drawn to the town by the possibility of work at American-owned factories. In the film Mexican police officer Blanca Bravo is sent to Cuidad Juarez to investigate and comes to learn realities of these women's lives, as well as the truth about a police force and local power structure embodied by entrepreneur Mickey Santos that has ceased to care.

Awards:

• Ariel Awards Mexico 2010 - Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Direction
• Havana Film Festival 2009 - Best Screenplay, Best Editing
• Imagen Foundation Awards 2010 - Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor

Watch the trailer: http://maya-entertainment.com/library/backyard

^ UP to 2011 Film Festival ^

MISTURA / THE POWER OF FOOD

SAT Sep 24, 4:00 pm / SUN Sep 25, 4:00 pm

• Peru, 2010
• Executive Producer: Patricia Perez

In Peru, cooking and eating go beyond the kitchen.

The nation's passion for food transcends pots and pans, Peru finds in its cuisine its missing ingredient: A way to celebrate being Peruvian. A way to love, show respect and be proud.

Mistura, the gastronomic fair that happens in Lima every September, is the best example. This project is an attempt to capture a slice of the immense spectrum of experiences that are simmered in Mistura every year. A place where cooks and patrons passionately teach us not only about food but most importantly about life.

Awards:

• Best Short Foreign Documentary - Hollywood International Family Film Festival 2011
• Best Short Documentary - The Film Festival of Colorado 2011
• Audience Award - Best Short San Francisco United Film Festival
• Best Short Documentary - NYLA International Film Festival 2011

Watch the trailer: http://www.misturadoc.tv/#

^ UP to 2011 Film Festival ^

2010 LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL

Organized by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)

The ART THEATER

September 17 - 22, 2010
126 West Church Street
Champaign, IL 61820

2011 SELECTED FILMS

• QUIEN MATO LA LLAMA BLANCA? / WHO KILLED THE WHITE LLAMA?
• EL CUERNO DE LA ABUNDANCIA / HORN OF PLENTY
• LA BUENA VIDA / THE GOOD LIFE
• Ó PAÍ, Ó / THE FATHER
• EL BAÑO DEL PAPA / THE POPE'S TOILET

2010 Latin American Film Festival SCHEDULE

QUIEN MATO LA LLAMA BLANCA? / WHO KILLED THE WHITE LLAMA?

FRI Sep 17, 9:10 pm / SUN Sep 19, 5:00 pm / TUE Sep 21, 8:10 pm

• Bolivia 2006, 112m
• Director: Rodrigo Bellot
• Starring: Erika Andia, Miguel Valverde, Cacho Mendieta, Pablo Fernandez, Guery Sandoval

Jacinto and Domitila are two indigenous Bolivians and the most notorious criminals in the country. When they are paid to transport 50kg of cocaine to the Brazilian border, they embark on a journey that will take them through the jungles, mountains, deserts and cities of Bolivia on a riotous adventure that will test their relationship and make them question their future as criminals.

Setting out from El Alto, the highest city in the world, they disguise themselves as a farming couple expecting a baby, with the cocaine hidden in Domitilas false pregnant belly. Both a celebration and a parody of Bolivian customs, countryside and culture, 'Who Killed The White Llama?' is a boisterous comedy with a more serious message at its heart: When it comes to poverty, nothing is sacred.

Despite the continuing criminal, political and economic scandals that plague the country, the racial divides and the drug-trafficking, the media story that really sweeps the nation concerns the accidental killing of a baby white llama.

Awards:

• Miami Underground 2007 - Best Film Award
• Isla de Palma 2007 - Best Actress Award

Watch the trailer: http://www.ondamaxfilms.com/uploaded/who_killed/White_Llama_H.mov

^ UP to 2010 Film Festival ^

EL CUERNO DE LA ABUNDANCIA / HORN OF PLENTY

SAT Sep 18, 7:25 pm / MON Sep 20, 8:00 pm / TUE Sep 21, 6:00 pm

• Cuba, Spain, 2008, 107m
• Director: Juan Carlos Tabío
• Starring: Jorge Perugorría, Laura de la Uz, Mirta Ibarra, Vladimir Cruz

According to a newspaper article, more than 25,000 Cubans maintain they are the heirs to an unclaimed multi-million dollar fortune held in the coffers of a British bank and all those with the family name of Castiñeiras will receive a juicy inheritance. All the people with that family name begin proceedings to get their part, but as one can imagine, many obstacles arise along the way.

Awards:

• Cartagena Film Festival 2009 - Special Jury Prize
• Havana Film Festival 2008 - Best Screenplayer
• Lima Latin American Film Festival 2009 - Audience Award
• Mar del Plata Film Festival 2009 - Best Film

Watch the trailer: http://www.latidofilms.com/proyectos.catalogo.do?genero=-1&ano=-1&director=&titulo=horn+of+plenty

^ UP to 2010 Film Festival ^

LA BUENA VIDA / THE GOOD LIFE

SAT Sep 18, 9:35 pm / MON Sep 20, 6:00 pm / WED Sep 22, 9:20 pm

• Chile, Spain, 2008, 90m
• Director: Andrés Wood
• Starring: Aline Kupenhein, Manuela Martelli, Eduardo Pacheco

From the same director as Machuca, Andrés Wood offers a glimpse into the aspirations and disappointments of a handful of ordinary people from Santiago de Chile. Teresa is a social worker who counsels prostitutes about the importance of practicing safe sex with their clients.

Her teenage daughter Paula is pregnant but is afraid to tell her mother, and her husband regularly sees a prostitute. Elsewhere, a young man fails the audition to the philharmonic and instead he joins the military and ends up playing clarinet in a marching band. A woman who needs to buy a car applies for a loan and falls in love with a manager from the bank. And a traumatic event forces a hairdresser to look at his past, present and future.

Awards:

• Goya Awards 2009 - Best Latin American Film
• Biarritz Film Festival 2009 - Best Actor, Best Actress
• Huelva Latin American Film Festival 2009 - Best Film

Watch the trailer: http://www.latidofilms.com/proyectos.catalogo.do?genero=-1&ano=-1&director=&titulo=the+good+life

^ UP to 2010 Film Festival ^

Ó PAÍ, Ó / THE FATHER

SAT Sep 18, 5:00 pm / SUN Sep 19, 9:35 pm / WED Sep 22, 5:00 pm

• Brazil 2007, 98m
• Director: Monique Gardenberg
• Starring: Lazaro Ramos, Dira Paes, Boca

This hilarious tale of creativity, resourcefulness and survival travels through the colorful streets of Pelourinho, a small town in the historic district of Salvador, on the last day of Carnival. The tenement houses teem with riotous conversation, romance and lust. Residents conspire against each other as they mix Orishas and Jesus, preparing for a celebration that they hope will erase their fears, worries and dark secrets -- at least momentarily. Featuring lyrical, soulful rhythms in a fabulous soundtrack by Davi Moraes and Caetano Veloso.

Awards:

• Nominated - Cinema Brazil Grand Prize 2008

Watch the trailer: http://www.latidofilms.com/proyectos.catalogo.do?genero=-1&ano=-1&director=&titulo=o+pai+o#

^ UP to 2010 Film Festival ^

EL BAÑO DEL PAPA / THE POPE'S TOILET

FRI Sep 17, 7:00 pm / SUN Sep 19, 7:25 pm / WED Sep 22, 7:10 pm

• Uruguay 2007, 97m
• Director: Cesar Charlonem and Enrique Ferinandez
• Starring: Cesar Troncoso, Virginia Mendez and Mario Silva

In Melo, a poor Uruguyan country village near the Brazilian border, several men earn their living from contraband, mostly transported on bicycles. One of them, Beto, is getting too old for heavy freights but hopes to a earn a motorbike. The idea is to build and charge money for the use of a proper lavatory at the occasion of the first-ever papal visit to Uruguay, as the Pope is expected to pass through Melo where he may be cheered by hordes of Catholic Brazilians.

Awards:

• São Paulo International Film Festival 2007 - International Jury Award
• Huelva Latin American Film Festival 2007 - Best Screenplay
• San Sebastian International Film Festival 2007 - Best Film
• Gramado Film Festival 200 8- Audience Award

Watch the trailer: http://www.montevideo.com.uy/notvideos_45935_1.htm

^ UP to 2010 Film Festival ^