VIDEO LIBRARY
Maria Full of Grace
Cabeza de Vaca
Last Supper
Camila
I, The Worst of All
Please click on the titles to read a description of the film. Students and faculty are welcome to stop by the LALS office and sign out videos. Also, be sure to visit La Casa Latina's Video Library listings or the Penn Library VCAT Video Catalog Listings for more options. Please also note the Latin American Collection at the Van Pelt Library.
A Question of Conscience: The Murder of the Jesuit Priests in El Salvador
- The Garden of Forking Paths: Dilemmas of National Development
- Capital Sins: Authoritarianism and Democratization
- Continent on the Move: Migration and Urbanization
- Mirrors of the Heart: Race and Identity
- In Women's Hands: The Changing Roles of Women
- Miracles Are Not Enough: Continuity and Change in Religion
- Builders of Images: Latin American Cultural Identity
- Get Up, Stand Up: Problems of Sovereignty
- Fire in the Mind: Revolutions and Revolutionaries
- The Latin American and Caribbean Presence in the U.S.
Black & Gold: The Latin King and Queen Nation
Chiapas: The Fight for Land and Liberty
Circle of the Spirit: A Saga of Native Americans in the Catholic Church
Colombia's Guerilla War: A Sundered Nation
Columbus and the Age of Discovery Series 1-7:
- Columbus' World
- An Idea Takes Shape
- The Crossing
- Worlds Found and Lost
- The Columbian Exchange
- In Search of Columbus
Cuba Va: The Challenge of the Next Generation
700 Club: Auca Indians & Missionaries
David Alfaro Siqueiros: Uno de Tres Grandes
Galeano: Memory, Myth, God, Message
The Legacy of the Incas: Lost Civilizations
- La Resurrección de los Mayas
- De Tenochtitlan a la Cd. de México
- Conquista y Conversión
- La Iglesia y el Estado
- La Herencia del siglo XIX
- Revolución y Post-Revolutión
Popul Vuh: The Creation Myth of the Maya
School of the Americas: An Insider Speaks Out
Sentinels of Silence: The Ruins of Ancient Mexico
The Shoeshine President: O Presidente Engraxate
Simon Bolivar: The Great Liberator
Todos Santos Cucumatan: Report from a Guatemalan Village
Toured: The Other Side Tourism in Barbados
The Women
Viaje al Centro de la Celva: Memorial Zapatista
LALS Video Library Descriptions:
A Question of Conscience: The Murder of the Jesuit Priests in El Salvador
1990. Ziv, Ilan. Icarus/Tamouz Media, Inc. (VHS, 47 min.)
On November 16, 1989, uniformed soldiers entered the Jesuit residence in the grounds on El Salvador’s Central American University and murdered six priests, their cook and her daughter. Now, on the anniversary of the Jesuit’s martyrdom, this film tells the story behind this massacre. Juxtaposing the story of the priests, told by Jon Sobrino, their surviving colleague, and the story of their Jesuit-educated murderer, Lieutenant Espinoza, the terrible logic behind these killings is finally revealed.
Americas, 1: The Garden of Forking Paths: Dilemmas of National Development
1993. WGBH Educational Foundation and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting/The Annenberg CPB Collection. (VHS, 60 min.)
Traces the modern-era development of the nations and national economies of the Americas. Focusing on Argentina, the program follows its recent history, including the Perón years, the dictatorship of the 1970s, and the Malvinas/Falklands War.
Americas, 2: Capital Sins: Authoritarianism and Democratization
1993. WGBH Educational Foundation and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting/The Annenberg CPB Collection. (VHS, 60 min.)
Begins in the 1960's, when many of the region's economic and political systems were in disarray, and either reform or revolution seemed inevitable. The film focuses on Brazil, a nation that confronted these problems with exceptionally rich resources.
Americas, 3: Continent on the Move: Migration and Urbanization
1993. WGBH Educational Foundation and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting/The Annenberg CPB Collection. (VHS, 60 min.)
Looks at migration, one of the most important forces transforming the Americas. It is set in Mexico, where migration has moved people across borders and from rural villages to congested cities.
Americas, 4: Mirrors of the Heart: Race and Identity
1993. WGBH Educational Foundation and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting/The Annenberg CPB Collection. (VHS, 60 min.)
Explores race and ethnicity as indicators of an individual's self-image and social standing. Members of an indigenous family in Bolivia strive for economic and social advancement while maintaining their cultural identity. People of neighboring Haiti and the Dominican Republic show contrasting attitudes toward their African roots.
Americas, 5: In Women's Hands: The Changing Roles of Women
1992. WGBH Educational Foundation and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting/The Annenberg CPB Collection. (VHS, 60 min.)
Looks at how women in the region are experimenting, by choice or necessity, with new roles that break old stereotypes about gender and family. The spotlight is on Chile, where the tumult of the last two decades has challenged women in every social class.
Americas, 6: Miracles Are Not Enough: Continuity and Change in Religion
1993. WGBH Educational Foundation and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting/The Annenberg CPB Collection. (VHS, 60 min.)
Travels to Brazil and Nicaragua to document the explosion of theological debate, social activism, and spiritual revival that is changing a region where religion has long played an important role in society and politics.
Americas, 7: Builders of Images: Latin American Cultural Identity
1993. WGBH Educational Foundation and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting/The Annenberg CPB Collection. (VHS, 60 min.)
Explores the role of the artist in societies throughout the Americas through the eyes of four diverse and influential artists: Puerto Rican writer Luis Rafael Sanchez, Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso, Mexican performer and playwright Jesusa Rodriguez, and Argentine filmmaker Fernando Solanas.
Americas, 8: Get Up, Stand Up: Problems of Sovereignty
1993. WGBH Educational Foundation and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting/The Annenberg CPB Collection. (VHS, 60 min.)
Addresses internal and external challenges to national sovereignty in the Americas. Colombia, Jamaica, and Panama are highlighted, and a wide range of threats from narco-terrorism to foreign intervention are explored.
Americas, 9: Fire in the Mind: Revolutions and Revolutionaries
1993. WGBH Educational Foundation and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting/The Annenberg CPB Collection. (VHS, 60 min.)
Looks at revolutionaries in the region today, with a special emphasis on the former guerillas in El Salvador and the current movement in Peru, and links these movements to the revolutions in Cuba and Nicaragua.
Americas, 10: The Latin American and Caribbean Presence in the U.S.
1993. WGBH Educational Foundation and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting/The Annenberg CPB Collection. (VHS, 60 min.)
Returns to the United States to profile California's Mexican population and the Latin American and Caribbean communities of Miami and New York City. This final episode poses questions about assimilation, national identity, and how these communities are changing what it means to be an American.
Art and Revolution in México
1993. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. (VHS, 51 min.)
Nowhere but in Mexico has history been painted as superbly; nowhere else have outspokenly polemical painters, like Rivera and Siqueiros, produced such great art. The art of revolution and the revolution of art seem, in this time and place, to have nurtured one another. For in Latin America, art and literature are the shared possessions of all social and educational levels. Text by Octavio Paz.
The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez
1982. Embassy Pictures. (VHS, 106 min.)
Based on a popular "corrido" depicting the actual events of June 1901. Cortez, a Mexican cowhand working the ranges around San Antonio, kills a sheriff in self defense as he's about to be arrested in a case of mistaken identity. Thus begins an 11-day manhunt as Cortez flees on horseback from Gonzales to the Mexcian border.
Battle of Canudos: Part 1, Part 2
1997. Morena Filmes. Columbia Pictures. (VHS, 165 min.)
It was biggest production ever for Brazilian films. With a budget of US$6 million, well above the normal for Brazilian productions, the film’s quality and professionalism are a visual treat.
Black & Gold: The Latin King and Queen Nation
1999. Big Noise Films. (VHS, 74 min.)
In 1994 the Latin Kings, the largest and most powerful street gang in New York, became the Latin King and Queen Nation. They claim to have abandoned their criminal past and to be following the footsteps of the Black Panthers and Young Lords. With over 3,000 members in New York, some see the nation as the most important political voice to rise from the streets in decades. The NYPD does not agree, calling it a vicious gang with a P.R. campaign. One thing is certain, the City will never be the same when the Nation goes downtown.
Brincando el Charco
Negron-Muntaner, Frances. Distributed by: Women Make Movies, New York, NY. (VHS, 55 min.)
In a mix of fiction, archival footage, processed interviews and soap opera drama, this film tells the story of Claudia Marin, a middle-class, light-skinned Puerto Rican photographer/videographer who is attempting to construct a sense of community in the U.S. When she receives word that her estranged father has died in Puerto Rico, Claudia experiences a flood of conflicting emotions that impel her to analyze her position both as a lesbian and as one of the 3,000,000 Puerto Ricans who call the U.S. home. As Claudia confronts her simultaneous privilege and oppression, the video becomes a meditation on class, race and sexuality.
Cabeza de Vaca
1993. Cruz, Rafael; Sánchez, Jorge; Solorzano Foppa, Julio, prod. Nicolas Echevarría, dir. New Horizons Home Video. (VHS, 1 hr, 48 min.)
In 1528, a Spanish expedition founders off the coast of Florida--600 lives lost. One survivor, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, roams across the American continent searching for his Spanish comrades. Instead he discovers the Iguase, and ancient Indian tribe. Over the next eight years, Cabeza de Vaca learns their mystical and mysterious culture, becoming a healer--and a leader. But soon this New World collides with the Old World as Spanish conquistadors seek to enslave the Indians, and Cabeza de Vaca must confront his own people and his past.
Camila
1984. Meridian Video Corporation (VHS, 105 min)
In 1840's Buenos Aires, Argentina, a beautiful young socialite named Camila falls in love with Ladislao, a Jesuit priest. After several failed attempts at fighting his own feelings, he ultimately succumbs to her. The two later escape to a far off, secluded village where they assume new identities as husband and wife and begin running a children's school. After several months of relative happiness, the couple's identity is discovered by a local priest. Under moralistic pressure from both Camila's family and the Catholic church the authorities apprehend the lovers, and imprison them for sacrilege.
Canudos Revisited
1990. (VHS, 22 min.)
In EnglishChiapas: The Fight for Land and Liberty
1994. (VHS, 27 min.)
On January 1, 1994 thousands of poorly armed indigenous men and women marched into six towns in the Chiapas region of southern Mexico. The Mexican government responded by sending 25,000 soldiers into the region and reports of human rights abuses quickly surfaced. This report visits some of those villages in the early months of the uprising, where well-organized, energetic groups of Mayan Indians, men and women, poorly equipped are ready to give their lives to defend their rights and their land.
Circle of the Spirit: A Saga of Native Americans in the Catholic Church
1990. Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference. (VHS, 60 min.)
In English. The production illustrates a saga of two Northwestern tribes of Native Americans--the Coeur d'Alene of Idaho and Lummi of Washington state. Viewers experience the traditional native dances, witness tribal members telling of the coming of the Jesuit "blackrobes" in 1837 and the tensions that have existed between acceptance of Christian beliefs and their traditional tribal spirituality. The perspective of the Church and how it relates to Native Americans today is seen through the eyes of the Archbishops Raymond Hunthausen and Thomas Murphy of Seattle. The remarks of Bishop Charles Chaput of Rapid City, one of two Native American Catholic bishops in the U.S., enables viewers to appreciate both the religious and cultural differences inherent in being both Native American and Catholic.
Colombia's Guerilla War: A Sundered Nation
1999. Films for the Humanities and Sciences (VHS, 53 min)
In colombia, government and paramilitary forces are terrorizing the populace to deprive the FARC and NLF guerillas of civil support. But far from stamping out the war, this policy has led to an escalation that threatens to destroy the country. This program combines newsreel and documentary footage of life and death in columbia's rural district cities and guerilla camps, with interviews to explore the roots and the results of the 20th century's longest guerilla war. members of bogota's institute of political studies, the red cross and the church; army officers; guerillas; politicians; and some of the 1.5 million refugees air their views on the terror and the tragedy of a nation divided.
Columbus and the Age of Discovery, 1: Columbus' World
1991. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. (VHS, 58 min.)
In English. This program travels to China, the Spice Islands, Cairo, Venice, Genoa, and Istanbul to explore the world of the 15th century and set the stage for Christopher Columbus' great seagoing adventure.
Columbus and the Age of Discovery, 2: An Idea Takes Shape
1991. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. (VHS, 58 min.)
In English. This program focuses on the advances in shipbuilding and navigation that made Columbus' voyages possible, examines his motivations, and chronicles his long and arduous search for patronage to fund his westward voyage to the Orient.
Columbus and the Age of Discovery, 3: The Crossing
1991. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. (VHS, 58 min.)
In English. In this program, full-scale, working replicas of the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María follow the route of Columbus' first transatlantic crossing, while excerpts from his logs and journals evoke 15th-century shipboard life.
Columbus and the Age of Discovery, 4: Worlds Found and Lost
1991. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. (VHS, 58 min.)
In English. Starting with Columbus' landfall at San Salvador, a modern sailboat and crew retrace the route of Columbus' first voyage through the Bahamas to Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, searching for the Caribbean Columbus saw, and finding the changes left in his wake.
Columbus and the Age of Discovery, 6: The Columbian Exchange
1991. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. (VHS, 58 min.)
In English. This program examines the interchange of horses, cattle, corn, potatoes, and sugar cane between the Old World and the New, and the lasting impacts of this interchange on the people of both worlds.
Columbus and the Age of Discovery, 7: In Search of Columbus
1991. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. (VHS, 58 min.)
In English. Although he helped define it, Columbus would never know the modern world. This program follows the path of the admiral's fourth and final voyage, and explores how different nations and cultures perceive Columbus 500 years after his arrival in the New World.
Confessing to Laura
1990. Directed by Jaime Osorio Gomez. (VHS, 90 minutes.)
A gut-wrenching drama from Colombia which is set during a raging civil war in the aftermath of the assassination of liberal leader Jorge Elieser Gaitain in 1948. Three people are trapped in Laura's home during a riot, setting the stage for an intense, unforgettable night. Spanish with English subtitles.
Cuba Va: The Challenge of the Next Generation
1993. Cuba Va Video Project (VHS)
A controversial look at Cuba's future from the dynamic perspective of Cuban youth. Interviews and spontaneous debates interweave with rarely seen views of Cuban youth culture.
700 Club: Auca Indians & Missionaries
1992. The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc. (VHS, 60 min.; edited version of 29 min. also available)
In English
Danzón
1991. Maria Novaro. Sony Pictures Classics. (VHS, 103 min.)
In Spanish with English subtitles. A love story about a woman who finally discovers the passion that has been missing from her life, and decides to track it through Mexico, all the while redefining her definitions of life and love.
David Alfaro Siqueiros: Uno de Tres Grandes
2000. Films for the Humanities & Sciences. (VHS, 29 min.)
In Spanish. One of the Tres Grandes of Mexican mural painting, Siquéiros was a technical innovator and social activist. This documentary traces Siqueiros' emergence as an artist dedicated to social change. Archival material, his own murals, and interviews with those who knew him reveal a man whose life and work were inexorably intertwined.
De Año en Año I (CTVE)
Available in US Format (VHS) and European (PAL), 180 min.
In Spanish
El Tango en Broadway
1934. Éxito Producciones Inc. Louis Gasnier, Dir., Alfredo Le Pera, Prod., Carlos Gardel. (VHS, 93 min.)
Una chispeante comedia musical en el ambiente de los artistas latinos inmigrantes, en Nueva York. Alberto Bazán (Carlos Gardel), crea una agencia promotora para ayudarlos, empleando el dinero de un tío millonario y avaro. De pronto el tío se aparece en Nueva York para controlar su negocio y sólo restan dos alternativas: cambiar el negocio... o cambiar al tío.
El Poder del Jefe I, II, III
1996. In Spanish. (VHS, 75 min, 95 min, and 80 min.)
The complete story of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina and his thirty year dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, in a series of three documentaries, with each documentary following the rise, career, and assassination of Trujillo.
Haiti: Killing the Dream
1992. Directed by Rudi Stern Babeth and Katharine Kean (VHS, 56 min.)
This powerful documentary traces the history of U.S. imperialism and indifference in the Caribbean and South America, portraying the poverty and violence that ravage Haiti. The film presents a stark look at the country whose nineteenth-century origins as the world's first independent black republic have been obscured by decades of harsh repression.
I, the Worst of All
1990. Film by Maria Luisa Bemberg. (VHS, 107 min.)
This highly charged adaptation of the novel by Nobel Prize-winner Octavio Paz chronicles the forbidden passion between noted 17th-century poet Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz and the local Vicereine, her Inquisition-era protectress. Assumpta Serna stars as the brilliant and beautiful poet Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz in this magnificent portrayal of 17th Century Mexico. In order to pursue her love of writing, Juana enters the convent and gains international renown. When the Inquisition comes, the local Vicereine (Dominique Sanda) becomes Juana's protectress and erotic muse, and soon begins a thrilling romance of startling passion and intensity.
Juan Peron
1993. Films for the Humanities & Sciences. (VHS, 13)
This program covers the rise and fall and rise again of Juan Perón; his death and the accession of Isabelita; the "dirty war" against opponents, with tens of thousands killed, tortured, or disappeared; the Falklands War, Raúl Alfonsín; and the continued strength of the Peronista movement.
Galeano: Memory, Myth, God, Message
1990. CEDEP, Ecuador. Ataulfo Tobar, dir. (VHS, 24 min.)
Eduardo Galeano gives a beautiful lecture about the reinterpretation of Latin American history. He reflects on the five hundred years since Columbus, offering his perspectives on memories and history, myth and reality, and God. Intercut with Galeano’s speech are images from Latin America to help provide context. In Spanish.
The Gringo in Mañanaland
Willow, NY. DeeDee Halleck. (VHS, 61 min.)
This film is a look at United States media representations of Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America. Since the turn of the century, popular media in the United States have promoted a stereotyped image of Latin America in order to justify the concept of U.S. dominance in the hemisphere.
La Boca del Lobo
1988. Gerardo Herrero, Prod.; Francisco J. Lombardi, Dir.. (VHS, 111 min.)
The Peruvian army takes control of Chuspi, a small village isolated in the Andes by the revolutionary group "Sendero Luminoso" - The Shining Path. Vitin Luna (Antonio Vega) and the other young soldiers must face an invisible, perhaps superior, force. Their unit is commanded by a brutal lieutenant who declares the entire village guilty of reason. In the face of this crisis, Vitin must choose between blind obedience and his own conscience.
La Guerra de Chiapas
1994. México: Canal 6 de julio. (VHS, 40 min.)
In Spanish. Desde enero de 1989 Canal 6 de julio ha llegado, a través del videocaset, a cerca de tres millones de personas. Su difusión y sostenimiento las hace directamente el espectador y por eso puede mostrar--con criterio independiente--información y puntos de vista que la televisión mexicana oculta. La programación de Canal 6 de julio es contrainformación: derechos humanos, conflictos sociales o electorales y los principales problemas nacionales, documentados con seriedad.
Las Madres de Playa de Mayo
1985. Susana Muñoz and Lourdes Portillo. Distributed by Women Make Movies. (VHS, 64 min.)
Documents the protests of mothers of 30,000 young people who were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by members of Argentina's former military regime. Traces the growth of this courageous organization through interviews with past and present government officials and the mothers. Also known as "Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo." Directed by Susana Munoz and Lourdes Portillo. In Spanish and French with English subtitles.
The Last Supper
1976. Cuban Cinema (VHS, 110 min.)
Photographed with a lush palette, this startlingly beautiful masterpiece is based on an incident from 18th-century Cuban history. The film is a dazzling moral tale of a pious slaveholder who decides to improve his soul and instruct his slaves in the glories of Christianity by inviting 12 of them to participate in a reenactment of the Last Supper. The supper scene, a sardonic tour-de-force, combines the blasphemous ironies of Viridiana with an ominous undercurrent of imminent political reckoning.
The Legacy of the Incas: Lost Civilizations
Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. (VHS, 43 min.)
In English. This program covers the legacy of the Incas, taking viewers from a laboratory where an Inca mummy is X-rayed to provide evidence of Inca life and conditions, through a number of the impressive Inca sites in Cuzco and its neighboring areas, explaining the growth and political struggles of the Inca empire as well as Inca religious beliefs, and demonstrating the extraordinary efficacy and efficiency of the Inca system of terracing and agriculture--a system so efficient and effective that it is not only still in use, but is a model for other regions.
Linda Sara
1994. Dir. Jacobo Morales. (VHS, 107 min.)
When an affluent Puerto Rican sugar cane grower's family face an economic descent, the forbidden romance once despised by them is recalled. The film presents social customs and suggests and alliance between social classes as the now aging progressive farm laborer, previously despised to their rescue. Features an ex-Miss Universe Dayanara Torres and singer Chayanne in their debut as main actors.
Love, Women, and Flowers
1988. Marta Rodríguez. Distributed by Women Make Movies. (VHS, 58 min.)
Flowers are Colombia’s third largest export. But behind the beauty of the carnations and chrysanthemums sold in the U.S. and Europe lies a horror story of hazardous labor conditions for the 60,000 women who work in the flower industry. The use of pesticides and fungicides, some banned in the developed countries that export them, has drastic health and environmental consequences. This beautiful and powerful documentary is the final collaborative effort of Marta Rodriguez and her husband Jorge Silva. With urgency and intimacy, the filmmakers evoke the testimonies of the women workers and document their efforts to organize.
The Madonna
1991. Worchester, PA: Gateway Films, Vision Video. (VHS, 44 min.; edited versions of 36 and 28 minutes available)
In English. This video tells the story of the Mary Mother of Jesus in the Gospel and the effect of her presence in the world, ancient and modern. It shows how the four gospels gave rise to devotion to Mary in the first few centuries of Christianity and explores the development of the cult to the present day. Filmed on location in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ephesus, Lourdes, Fatima, Walsingham, Rome and at the Knock, Roscrea, and Melleray in Ireland.
Maria Full of Grace
2004. HBO Films & Fine Line Features. (VHS, 101 min.)
Maria Alvarez (Catalina Sandino Moreno), a bright, spirited 17-year-old, lives with three generations of her family in a cramped house in rural Colombia. Desperate to leave her job stripping thorns from flowers in a rose plantation, Maria accepts a lucrative offer to transport packets of heroine - which she must swallow - to the United States. The ruthless world of international drug trafficking proves to be more than Maria bargained for as she becomes entangled with both drug cartels and immigration officials. The dramatic thriller builds toward a conclusion so powerful and revealing it could only be based on a thousand true stories.
México: Los Usos del Pasado. "La resurrección de los mayas"
1993. (VHS, 132 min.)
México: Los Usos del Pasado. "De Tenochtitlan a la Cd. De México"
1993. (VHS, 125 min.)
México: Los Usos del Pasado. "Conquista y conversión"
1993. (VHS, 136 min.)
México: Los Usos del Pasado. "La Iglesia y el Estado"
1993. (VHS, 122 min.)
México: Los Usos del Pasado. "La herencia del siglo XIX"
1993. (VHS, 139 min.
México: Los Usos del Pasado. "Revolución y post-revolución"
1993. (VHS, 134 min.)
The Mission
1986. Fernando Ghia and David Puttnam, prod. Roland Joffe, dir. Burbank, CA: Warner Bros. (VHS, 134)
In English. A powerful epic about a man of the sword and a man of the cloth who unite to shield a South American Indian tribe (Guarani) from brutal subjugation by 18th-century colonial empires.
The Official Story
1985. Fox Lober Home Video (VHS, 110 min.)
Spanish with English subtitles. This film details the collapse of an affluent Argentinian family. Alicia, the wife of a successful businessman, faces the ultimate challenge when she begins to suspect that her adopted daughter may have been stolen from a family of "los desaparecidos" (the disappeared ones). Determined to find out the truth, Alicia risks everything--even at the cost of her own family.
Popul Vuh: The Creation Myth of the Maya
1989. Berkely: University of California Extension Center for Media and Independent Learning. (VHS, 57 min.)
In English. This much honored animated film employs authentic imagery from ancient Maya ceramics to create a riveting depiction of the Popul Vuh, the Maya creation myth and the foundation of most Native American religious, philosophical, and ethical beliefs. The film introduces the Maya and relates the entire tale, beginning with the creation of the world and concluding with the victory of the Hero twins over the evil lords of the Underworld.
Portrait of Theresa
1979. ICAIC. Pastor Vega, dir. & screenplay; Ambrosio Fornet, screenplay. New Yorker Video. (VHS, 103 min.)
When Teresa, who is a mother, wife, and textile worker, spreads her wings as a political activist, her traditionally-minded huband is confused and disappointed by the changes in their marriage.
Rigoberta
1985. Dir. Rebecca Chavez. (VHS, 13 min.)
The Nobel Prize-winning Quiche Indian leader describes the tragic deaths in her family at the hands of Guatemalan authorities and the process which led to her political activism.
Rojo Amanecer
1989. Directed by Jorge Fons. (VHS, 96 min.)
October 2, 1968 in Mexico City. There's only ten days for the Olympic Games and a small student's revolt has turned into a major political turmoil. A meeting will be carry out that day in Tlatelolco (the largest housing complex in the city) and the situation is extremely tense. A typical middle-class mexican family (living in Tlatelolco) will be tragically involved in the events, when the meeting is brutally interrupted by the army and hundreds of people are killed in the square in front of their apartment building.
Romero
Ellwood E. Keiser, prod. John Duigan, dir. (VHS, 105 min.)
In English. Life of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador and his struggle in the liberation of El Salvador. "If they kill me, I shall rise in the Salvadorian people." Romero is a compelling and deeply moving look at the life of Archbishop Oscar Romeo who made the ultimate sacrifice in a passionate stand against social injustice and oppression in his country. This film chronicles the transformation of Romero from an apolitical, complacent priest to a committed leader of the Salvadoran people.
Salt of the Earth
1954. (VHS, 94 min.)
Salt of the Earth is based on a 1950 strike by zinc miners in Silver City, New Mexico. Against a backdrop of social injustice, a riveting family drama is played out by the characters of Ramon and Esperanza Quintero, a Mexican-American miner and his wife. In the course of the strike, Ramon and Esperanza find their roles reversed: an injunction against the male strikers moves the women to take over the picket line, leaving the men to domestic duties. The women evolve from men's subordinates into their allies and equals.
School of the Americas: An Insider Speaks Out
1998. Maryknoll World Productions. (VHS, 16 min.)
Joseph Blair is a retired major in the U.S. military who served in Viet Nam and was involved in aiding the contras in Nicaragua in the 80's. His last assignment was logistics instructor at the School of the Americas. After the killers of the Jesuit priests in El Salvador were some of his students and yet the U.S. government was silent about any involvement in atrocities in Central America, he became an outspoken critic of the School of the Americas that trains so many torturers right here in the U.S. In this presentation Blair gives many facts about different Latin American officer "graduates" from the school and their activities.
School of Assassins
1995. Maryknoll World Productions. (VHS, 18 min.)
Narrated by Susan Sarandon. Since it was established in 1946, the US Army School of the Americas has trained thousands of Latin American and Caribbean soldiers, among them some of the worst human rights violators in the hemisphere. Using rarely-seen footage, this program shows how officers who studied at the school are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people.
Sentinels of Silence: The Ruins of Ancient Mexico
1990. Manuel Arango, prod. Robert Amram, dir. La Jolla, CA: ALTI Publishing. (VHS, 18 min.)
Filmed almost entirely from a helicopter, this film presents spectacular views of seven of the most important archaeological sites in Mexico: Teotihuacan, Monte Alban, Mitla, Tulum, Palenque, Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Narrated by Orson Wells and featuring a symphonic music score by Mariano Moreno, the film conveys a spiritual and aesthetic impression of the lost civilizations of ancient Mexico.
The Shoeshine President: O Presidente Engraxate
2003. São Paulo, Brasil. Xu Filmes. (VHS, 15 min.)
It’s a fairy-tale story. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former shoe-shine boy with no formal education, rises to become president of Brazil.
Simon Bolivar: The Great Liberator
1993. Films for the Humanities & Sciences. (VHS, 58 min.)
This portrait of the aristocratic revolutionary shows the man and the forces that shaped the Latin America of his day; the program details how and why Spain lost her colonies, and the historic trends and men responsible for the outcome.
Subcomandante Marcos
1994. México. (VHS, 60 min.)
In Spanish. Interviews with Subcomandante Marcos in the mountains of Chiapas.
Todos Santos Cucumatan: Report from a Guatemalan Village
1982. New York: First Run/Icarus Films. (VHS, 41 min.)
This film provides an intimate look at everyday life in Todos Santos, a village in Guatemala's highlands, before the violence of the 1980's. As Todosanteros go about their daily routines, they disscuss the increasing importance of cash to this once self-sustained farming community. The annual harvest is reaped, the elaborate Fiesta of Todos Santos is celebrated, the workers migrate out of the mountain village in search of work on the lowland cotton plantations. An insightful documentary, it omniously illustrates social changes in the lives of Guatemalan Indians that would lead to the political upheaval of the 1980's.
To Render a Life
1992. Directed by Ross Spears. (VHS, 88 min.)
Ross Spears' documentary is as much about the difficulties inherent in doing documentary work as it is a document of a poor Virginia family. The film is a follow-up to James Agee and Walker Evans' influential and groundbreaking documentary, `Let Us Now Praise Famous Men'. That illustrated book, both loved and hated by practitioners in the field because of its precision and excesses, engenders the essential intellectual questions examined in `To Render a Life'. Namely, how do you make a represented life more than words on a page or images on celluloid? How do you creatively treat actuality? These are the tough questions that Spears' film deals with, and he approaches his answers in ways that are neither spectacular nor sentimental. Instead, we are shown footage of daily life of two members of Glass family that acknowledges the presence of the documentarian.
Toured: The Other Side of Tourism in Barbados
1992. By Julie Pritchard Wright. (VHS, 38 min.)
The Toured: The Other Side of Tourism in Barbados touches on issues of stereotypes, cultural objectifications, colonialism, tradition and authenticity, but fails to be more than a tourist's view of the toured. The film, directed by graduate student Julie Pritchard Wright at USC's Center for Visual Anthropology, takes its audience literally on a sightseeing tour of the people working in the tourist industry in Barbados.
Vamonos con Pancho Villa
1936. Directed by Fernando de Fuentes. (VHS, 92 min.)
Mexican Revolution is on its way when six brave peasants, known as "Los Leones de San Pablo", decide to join Pancho Villa's army and bring the Revolution to their poor village. After some battles and little gain, the original group is reduced to disenchanted Tiburcio Maya (Frausto) and young Becerrillo (Vallarino). When Becerrillo is infected by the plague, Villa orders Tiburcio to kill him and burn the corpse. After doing his duty, Tiburcio defeats Villa's army and returns home. Villa goes after him and try to recruit him back but Tiburcio refuses. After that, Villa shoots Tiburcio, his little daughter and his wife, taking their son to the Revolution.
Viaje al Centro de la Celva: Memorial Zapatista
1994. Directed by Epigmenio Ibarra. (VHS, 95 min.)
Documentary film of the formation and activities of the EZLN, a band of Mexican guerrilla insurrectionists called Zapatistas, who occupied the Chiapas region of Southeast Mexico in January, 1994. This film chronicles the first moments of the peasant uprising through the Convencion Nacional Democratica sponsored by the EZLN in August 6-9, 1994 and held in a freshly made clearing hewn out of the jungle and attended by over 6,000 delegates from all over Mexico.
Video in the Villages
1989. Directed by Vincent Carelli. (VHS, 10 min.)
An overview of the Video In The Villages Project, this documentary shows how four different Amazonian native groups (Nambiquara, Gavião, Tikina, and Kaiapó) have embraced video and incorporated it in the service of their projects for political and ethnic affirmation.
Viva Zapata
1952. Directed by Elia Kazan. (VHS, 115 min.)
The story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of president Porfirio Diaz in the early 20th century.
Without Fear of Being Happy
1994. Directed by Maria Luisa Mendonca. (VHS, 33 min.)
Combining original interviews and archival footage, this documentary discusses the history of the Workers’ Party (PT) in Brazil.