The Latin American Film Series is a free preview of films and documentaries related to Latin America. The series is hosted by the Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute, The Stone Center for Latin American Studies and Las Américas Film Network. All films will be screened September 18 until October 16th, 2008 on Thursday nights at 7pm in Jones Hall 102. For more information please email: nporto@tulane.edu

To view the trailers please click here:
To print the poster (PDF files) click here.

Thursday • September 18 • 7 pm
Postales de Leningrado
(Postcards from Leningrad, 2007) Venezuela. Dir. Mariana Rondón. 90 min Costumes, hide-outs and aliases help La Niña and her cousin Teo reconstruct the life of their parents, guerrilla fighters in 1960’s Venezuela.

Thursday • September 25 • 7 pm
¿Quién Soy Yo?
(Who am I?, 2008) Argentina/Cuba. Dir. Estela Bravo. 75 min. Focusing on the search for abducted children during the military dictatorship in Argentina from 1976 to 1983, Estela Bravo spotlights 4 of the 500 children, who were given to friends of soldiers who had tortured and killed their parents. Best documentary at the 2007 Havana Film Festival.

Thursday • October 9 • 7 pm
Machuca
(2004) Chile/Spain/UK/France. Dir. Andrés Wood. 121 min.Machuca is a moving depiction of a difficult historical period — 1973 Chile, on the verge of the military coup that deposed Salvador Allende — as seen through the eyes of three pre-adolescents from different social classes.

Thursday • October 16 • 7 pm
Voces Inocentes
(2004) Mexico/USA/Puerto Rico. Dir. Luis Mandoki. 120 min. Forced by circumstances to become the “man of the house” after his father leaves to fight in the Salvadorian Civil War in the 1980s, 11 year-old Chava now faces another challenge: when he turns 12 he may be forced by the government to enlist in the army to fight against the FMLN (the Farabundo Martí front).

Thursday • October 23 • 7 pm
Habana - Arte nuevo de hacer ruinas
(Havana - The New Art of Making Ruins, 2006) Germany/Cuba. Dir. Florian Borchmeyer. 86 min. A portrait of the inhabited ruins of Havana and their strange blend of magic and demolition. The film captures the final moments of these buildings (and their poignant inhabitants) before they’re renovated– or simply collapse altogether.

Thursday • October 30 • 7 pm
Habana Blues
(2005) Spain/Cuba/France. Dir. Benito Zambrano. 100 min. Ruy and Tito have been playing together for years, waiting for a recording contract and international recognition and success. Their break comes when a Spanish music
producer arrives in Cuba. As the band come closer to realizing their dream, Ruy and the producer become romantically involved and things begin to fall apart.

Thursday • November 6 • 7 pm
The Man of Two Havanas
(2007) USA. Dir. Vivian Lesnik Weisman. 93 min. The director’s childhood was marred by bombings and death threats on her father, Max Lesnik, a former friend
of Fidel Castro. In this film, she explores her father’s involvement in the Revolution, his exile to Miami, and his eventual return to Cuba to help end the embargo.
Using top-secret audiotapes, she also delves into the fascinating history of Cuban-American relations.

Thursday • November 13 • 7 pm
Personal Belongings
(2006) Cuba. Dir. Alejandro Brugués. 95 min. Ernesto lives life in a limbo of sorts, stuck somewhere between the promise of an exit visa and the fear of rotting away in Havana. But his smooth-talking schemes to secure papers are complicated when he
crosses paths with Anita, and is faced with the only incentive to stay in Cuba—love.