Celebrating the

New Wave of Ibero

American Cinema
America
Hosted by (ADD HERE THE NAME OF YOUR INSTITUTION)

WHEN Dates of your Festival (Example: June 20–29, 2016)

WHERE Name of Institution
Address
City

In collaboration with (Add here the name of your presenting partners. As an example: the
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and Women’s Studies).

3 BEAUTIES (3 Bellezas)
Carlos Caridad Montero / Venezuela / 97 min / 2014 / In Spanish with English subtitles
From the country that boasts over 600 beauty pageants each year comes 3 Beauties, a
scathing satire of Venezuela’s fixation with beauty and its relation to social status. Perla is the
single mother of two competitive daughters, products of her own unfulfilled childhood
obsession to become a beauty queen, and a son who she completely ignores. As the years
pass, Perla’s unlimited efforts to achieve her dream through her “two princesses” transforms
everyone’s lives into a nightmare. Toddlers & Tiaras meets Pedro Almodóvar in this frantic,
devious comedy.

399 AMÍN ABEL HASBÚN. MEMORY OF A CRIME (339 Amín Abel Hasbún. Memoria de
un crimen)
Etzel Báez / Dominican Republic / 97 min / 2014 / In Spanish with English subtitles
Based on a real story, 339 Amín Abel Hasbún. Memory of a Crime is an intriguing account of
the murder of Amín Abel Hasbún, a brilliant student leader in the Dominican Republic
accused of kidnapping U.S. Embassy official J. Crowley. Hasbún was one of many young
leftists fighting against the government of Dr. Joaquín Balaguer, who favored a repressive
regime. Hasbun’s death shook the sensibility of the Dominican people to the point that
Balaguer had to orchestrate an investigation despite the fact that his government had been
responsible for the cold-blooded murder. With a plot that involved the CIA and the Dominican
Republic Police Force, the film does an excellent job at deconstructing the events that took
place the morning of September 24, 1970, when Amín, his wife and 2-year-old son received
the fatal visit of the police and country’s District Attorney.

7 BOXES (7 Cajas)
Juan Carlos Maneglia, Tana Schémbori / Paraguay / 105 min / 2014 / In Spanish,
Guaraní, and Korean with English subtitles
It’s Friday night in Asunción, Paraguay, and the temperature is sweltering. Víctor, a 17-year-
old wheelbarrow delivery boy, dreams of becoming famous and covets a fancy TV set in the
infamous Mercado 4. He’s offered a chance to deliver seven boxes with unknown contents in
exchange for a quick one hundred US dollars. But what sounds like an easy job soon gets
complicated. Something in the boxes is highly coveted and Víctor and his pursuers quickly
find themselves caught up in a crime they know nothing about. Reminiscent of Slumdog
Millionaire, 7 Boxes was declared of Cultural Interest by the National Secretary of Culture of
Paraguay.
A MOONLESS NIGHT (Una nocha sin luna)
Germán Tejeira / Argentina, Uruguay / 81 min / 2015 / In Spanish with English subtitles
On New Year’s Eve, three lonely characters travel to a small town in the Uruguayan
countryside. Cesar, a divorced man, arrives at the town, where he will have dinner with his
ex-wife’s new family in an attempt to win back his daughter’s love. Antonio, a small-time
magician, is trying to get to the town to perform his routine at the community center, but his
car breaks down. Stranded in the middle of the deserted road, he meets Laura, a woman
working at the toll station. Miguel, a performer, prepares to sing at the community center’s
New Year’s Eve party. By following their paths to the town, the characters have a chance to
change their destinies. Up-and-coming Uruguayan director Germán Tejeira creates a moving,
poignant, witty character study in his first feature film.

AFTER LUCIA (Después de Lucía)

Michel Franco / Mexico / 102 min / 2012 / Spanish with English subtitles
Six months after the death of his wife in a car accident, Roberto and his teenage daughter
Alejandra set off from Puerto Vallarta for a fresh start in Mexico City. Alejandra finds her feet
more easily than Roberto, but very soon she has aroused the baser instincts in her
classmates. Ashamed and unable to tell her father about the escalating bullying at school,
Alejandra’s silence ultimately takes a dreadful toll. The film is the Mexican submission for the
2013 Best Foreign-Language Academy Award.

ASIER AND I (Asier eta Biok)

Amaia Merino, Aitor Merino / Spain / 93 min / 2013 / Spanish and Basque with English
subtitles
Asier and I tells the story of the friendship between Aitor and Asier Aranguren from their time
growing up together in the conflict-affected and politicized eighties of Pamplona. Eventually,
Aitor moved to Madrid to pursue his dream of becoming an actor and Asier joined the terrorist
group ETA. Years later, Asier was arrested and interned in a French prison, where he was
detained for eight years. When Asier was released in 2010, Aitor wanted to recover his
relationship with his childhood friend and try to understand what could have led to him to join
ETA, so he went to his release in France with a camera in order to tell this story. Beyond the
story of Asier, Aitor, and the Basque conflict, the film raises universal questions: can we
justify blood crimes on the name of an ideal? Can friendship transcend ideology and political
extremism? Narrated with humor and cinematographic devises such as direct address, Asier
and I does an excellent job at keeping the spectator engaged throughout the film. The
documentary remained in Spanish theaters for an impressive four months.

BAD HAIR (Pelo malo)

Mariana Rondón / Venezuela / 93 min / 2013 / Spanish with English subtitles
A nine-year-old boy’s preening obsession with straightening his hair elicits a tidal wave of
homophobic panic in his hard-working mother, in this tender but clear-eyed coming-of-age
tale. Junior is a beautiful boy, with big brown eyes, a delicate frame, and a head of luxurious
dark curls. But Junior aches to straighten those curls to acquire a whole new look befitting his
emerging fantasy image of himself as a long-haired singer. As the opportunity approaches to
have his photo taken for the new school year, that ache turns into a fiery longing. Junior’s
mother, Marta, is barely hanging on. The father of her children has died, she recently lost her
job as a security guard, and she now struggles to put a few arepas on the table for Junior and
his baby brother. Junior doesn’t even know yet what it means to be gay, but the very notion
prompts Marta to set out to “correct” Junior’s condition before it fully takes hold. This is a
story of people doing what they feel they have to, partly out of fear, but also out of love.” -
Diana Vargas, Toronto International Film Festival.

BAJARÍ: GYPSY BARCELONA

Eva Vila / Spain / 84 min / 2013 / Spanish with English subtitles
As believed by the Gypsies, Flamenco cannot be learned in a dance school or by reading
music. It is lived within the home; it is created at the bar; its artistry is perfected on the street
corner. Bajarí goes to all those places, following in the steps of its two main subjects: Karime
and Juanito. The young bailaora (flamenco dancer) Karime Amaya is working with some of
the most talented up-and-coming musicians and dancers to create a show that blends the
Gypsy Flamenco tradition with Barcelona’s Rumba tradition.Their adventures and
experiences become a journey of discovery of this living tradition and create an intimate
portrait of how flamenco’s legacy is kept alive within Barcelona’s tight-knit Gypsy community.
A must see documentary for music and dance lovers, Bajarí: Gypsy Barcelona is a private
window into the intimate world of this vibrant and living art form.

BAREFOOT IN THE KITCHEN (Con la pata quebrada)

Diego Galán / Spain / 86 min / 2014 / Spanish with English subtitles
Co-produced by Pedro Almodóvar’s production company El Deseo and veteran Spanish
producer Enrique Cerezo, this illuminating survey was put together by Diego Galán, a noted
Spanish film critic and former director of San Sebastian Film Festival. Reflecting changes in
the political sphere, Barefoot in the Kitchen chronicles how Spanish cinema has portrayed the
evolution of women from the 1930s to the present day, using film fragments from 180 movies.
Galán demonstrates how landmarks in the recent history of Spain can be directly indicated by
shifts in social mores in cinema. By the time of All About My Mother (1990), women had
turned the tables on men and on cinematic sexism, present since the early days of the
talkies. – Jaie Laplante, Miami International Film Festival.

BLACK BREAD (Pa Negre)

Agustí Villaronga / Spain / 108 min / 2011 / Catalan with English subtitles
Andreu, comes across the bodies of a father and son in the forest; leaning over the dying
boy, Andreu hears him whisper “Pitorliu”—the name of a monster supposedly haunting local
caves. But the real monsters in this brilliant adaptation of Emil Teixidor’s novel are the local
Fascists, who keep close watch on the family of Andreu and other Republican sympathizers
—and who think Andreu’s father might know more about these murders than he admits.
Reminiscent of Pan's Labyrinth and adored by audience and critics alike, Black Bread won an
unheard of number of prizes, including 9 Goya Awards. Spanish selection for the 2011
Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film.

CHICO & RITA

Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal, Tono Errando / Spain, UK / 94 min / 2012 / English
and Spanish with English subtitles
Oscar®-winning director Fernando Trueba (The Age of Beauty) and famous artist Javier
Mariscal, have teamed up to make Chico & Rita, an animated love story starring the music,
culture and people of Cuba. Chico is a dashing piano player and Rita is an enchanting and
beautiful Havana nightclub singer. When they meet, the sparks fly and they fall madly in love.
An epic romance unfolds as the pair travels the glamorous stages of 1940s/1950s Havana,
New York City, Las Vegas, Hollywood and Paris. 2012 Oscar® nomination Best Animated
Feature.
CHINESE TAKE-AWAY (Un cuento chino)
Sebastián Borensztein / Argentina, Spain / 98 min / 2012 / Spanish and Mandarin with
English subtitles
Argentina's national treasure, Ricardo Darín, plays Roberto, a gruff, anti-social loner who
lords over his tiny hardware shop in Buenos Aires with a meticulous sense of control and
routine, barely allowing for the slightest of customer foibles. After a chance encounter with
Jun, a Chinese man who has arrived in Argentina looking for his only living relative, Roberto
takes him in. Their unusual cohabitation helps Roberto bring an end to his loneliness, but not
without revealing to the impassive Jun that destiny's intersections are many and they can
even divulge the film's surreal opening sequence: a brindled cow falling from the sky.

CLANDESTINE CHILDHOOD (Infancia clandestina)

Benjamin Ávila / Argentina, Spain, Brazil / 110 min / 2012 / Spanish with English
subtitles
Argentina, 1979. After years of exile, Juan (12) and his family come back to Argentina under
fake identities. Juan's parents and his uncle Beto are members of the Montoneros
Organization, which is fighting against the Military Junta that rules the country. Because of
their political activities they are being tracked down relentlessly, and the threat of capture and
even death is constant. However, Juan's daily life is also full of warmth and humor, and he
quickly and easily integrates into his new environment. His friends at school and the girl he
has a gigantic crush on, Maria, know him as Ernesto, a name he must not forget, since his
family's survival is at stake. Juan accepts this and follows all of his parents' rules until one
day he is told that they need to move again immediately, and leave his friends and Maria
behind without an explanation. This story about militancy, undercover life, and love is the
Argentine submission for the 2013 Best Foreign-Language Academy Award.

COWS WEARING GLASSES (Las vacas con gafas)

Alex Santiago Pérez / Puerto Rico / 90 min / 2014 / Spanish with English subtitles
By one of the most talented emerging filmmakers coming out of the new wave of Puerto
Rican cinema, Cows Wearing Glasses uses a subtle sense of humor to touch upon issues of
aging. Marso, a lonely, eccentric painter and art professor, is losing his sight. As the world as
he knows it comes to an end, he is now forced to re-examine an existence filled with
professional successes, but unsatisfying personal relationships. He tries to reestablish a
relationship with his only daughter while his thoughts are filled with longing for simpler times.
The fear and uncertainty of what lies ahead have left an imprint on his psyche, and maybe
even on his morals. With an impeccable performance by Daniel Lugo as Marso, Cows
Wearing Glasses is a reflexive tale of a man facing the inevitable.

ETERNAL AMAZON (Amazonia eterna)

Belisario Franca / Brazil / 88 min / 2013 / Portuguese with English subtitles
The Amazon is a vast laboratory for sustainable experiments that are unveiling new rela-
tionships among human beings, corporations, and this natural heritage that is crucial for life
on the planet. This is where the guidelines are being drawn up for a new global economic
model: the green economy. With astonishing cinematography and soundtrack, Eternal
Amazon presents a critical analysis of how the world’s largest tropical rainforest is understood
and utilized. Exploring the Amazon’s five million square kilometers–home to 20% of the
world’s freshwater reserves–the film asks whether it is possible for humans to make
sustainable use of the rainforest, featuring nine successful projects for sustainable forest use
that directly benefits the local population and fosters good economic partnerships. Activities
such as agriculture, fisheries, animal husbandry and extraction are unraveled under the
support of experts, including economist Sergio Besserman, ecologists Bertha Becker and
Virgilio Viana, as well as testimony of Amazonians. It portrays the daily lives of the forest
people as the guardians of this great natural heritage that could last into eternity, if properly
managed.

EVEN THE RAIN (También la lluvia)

Icíar Bollaín / Spain / 104 min / 2011 / Spanish with English subtitles
Filmmaker Sebastián (Gael García Bernal) and his cynical producer Costa (Luis Tosar) arrive
in Cochabamba, Bolivia to make a film about Columbus’s voyage to the New World and the
subjugation of the indigenous population. Just as filming begins, the natives face a crisis
when the government privatizes the water company and prices skyrocket. Daily protests erupt
and the local man cast as a rebellious sixteenth century Taino chief, also becomes a leader in
the water hike protests. Spanish submission for the 2012 Best Foreign-Language Academy
Award.

EVERYBODY LEAVES (Todos se van)

Sergio Cabrera / Colombia / 107 min / 2015 / Spanish with English subtitles
Eight-year-old Nieve is the object of her parents’ custody battle. Her mother, Eva, is an artist
who believes in the revolution and disagrees with censorship or authoritarianism. She is re-
married to Dan, a Swede working on the construction of a nuclear plant. Nieve’s father
Manuel is a playwright who sacrifices his artistic career to write government propaganda in a
remote area of the country. Through her diary entries, Nieve reveals intimate details of a
turbulent family life while painting an authentic portrait of the social and political unrest in
Cuba under the rule of Castro.

FROM THE LAND TO YOUR TABLE (¿Qué culpa tiene el tomate?)

Alejo Hoijman, Marcos Loayza, Josué Méndez, Carolina Navas, Paola Vieira, Alejandra
Szeplaki, Jorge Coira / Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Spain /
107 min / 2009 / Spanish, Portuguese, Galician, Aymara with English Subtitles
What do you get when you take seven directors from seven different countries with seven
different cultures and points of view? From the Land to Your Table is the first documentary of
its kind in that it shows the perspectives of seven majorly talented filmmakers and directors
from all over Latin America as they capture the conditions and cultural diversity of popular
produce markets in their individual countries.

GOD’S SLAVE (Esclavo de dios)

Joel Novoa / Uruguay, Venezuela, Argentina / 90 min / 2013 / Spanish with English
subtitles
Based on the actual events of a 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires, God’s Slave follows Ahmed,
trained since childhood as an Islamic terrorist now assigned to execute a suicide bomb at a
synagogue; and David, the cold-blooded Israeli special agent who will stop at nothing to
prevent the attack. But neither man is defined solely by their extremist views. Ahmed, posing
as a doctor, lives happily with his wife and young son; though David’s marriage is on the
rocks, he remains devoted to his wife and daughter. With time running out before the attack,
David zeros in on Ahmed as a suspect, his investigation culminating in violent, if unexpected,
consequences. Despite the fact that 20 years have passed after the attack, God’s
Slave couldn’t be more current with news of the “death” of Alberto Nisman, the Argentine
federal prosecutor who had been investigating the case for ten years. Four days prior, he had
accused the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, of covering up and
protecting the perpetrators of the bombing in exchange for Iranian oil.

GUARANÍ
Luis Zorraquín / Argentina, Paraguay / 85 min / 2015 / In Guaraní and Spanish with
English subtitles
A heartfelt story, Guaraní follows fisherman Atilio as he travels with his granddaughter Iara to
Buenos Aires. His great desire is to have a grandson to transmit the Guaraní culture. When
he discovers that Iara’s mother, Helena, is pregnant, he decides to go on a long journey and
cross borders, with the aim to convince Helena to give birth in the Guaraní land…Directed by
talent to watch Luis Zorraquín, Guaraní features an outstanding script. Part road movie and
part coming-of-age drama, the film portrays two generations of Paraguayans whose views of
the world seem centuries apart. The long journey will make Atilio and Iara understand the real
meaning of traditions and family bonds.

HERE AND THERE (Aquí y allá)

Antonio Méndez Esparza / USA, Spain, Mexico / 110 min / 2012 / Spanish with English
subtitles
Antonio Méndez Esparza's directorial debut radiantly captures the complex homecoming of a
loving father. In an unexpected take on the traditional immigrant story, Pedro returns home to
a small mountain village in Guerrero, Mexico, after years of working in New York. He finds his
daughters older and more distant than he imagined; His wife still has the same smile. The
villagers think this year’s crop will be bountiful and there is work in a growing city nearby. But
the locals are wise to a life of insecurity, and their thoughts are often of family members or
opportunities far away, north of the border.

I AM FROM CHILE
Gonzalo Díaz Ugarte / Chile / 108 min / 2013 / Spanish with English subtitles
A coming of age story, I Am From Chile draws from the director’s personal experiences to tell
a different kind of immigration story. I Am from Chile is the story of Salvador, who moves to
London from Chile to study English and travel around Europe at his parents’ expense. He
stays with his aunt María (acclaimed Chilean actress Paulina García of Gloria, Illiterate), who
makes a rather decent living renting the rooms of her house to other immigrants. But when a
financial crisis back home leaves Salvador with no resources of his own, he has no other
choice but to make ends meet with the help of María and his roommates (including a Russian
drug dealer and his Japanese girlfriend), taking on a series of short-term, and at times,
dangerous jobs. Difficult and challenging situations will force Salvador out of his protected
bourgeois reality and into the real world.

I THOUGHT IT WAS A PARTY (Pensé que iba a haber fiesta)

Victoria Galardi / Argentina, Spain / 84 min / 2014 / Spanish with English subtitles
Divorced and living with her teenage daughter, Lucía asks her close friend Ana to house-sit
and look after her daughter while she goes away with her new partner. Ana spends her days
lazing by the pool, afflicted by a deep loneliness until Ricki, Lucía’s ex-husband comes to pick
up his daughter and an affair that will have profound implications on her friendship with Lucía
begins. Ana and Ricki throw themselves into an intense romance that lasts until the day Lucía
comes back… An honest and poignant commentary on friendship, I Thought it was a Party is
also a film about the search for love, loneliness, fear, guilt, and the world of women.

ILLITERATE (Las analfabetas)

Moisés Sepúlveda / Chile / 73 min / 2013 / Spanish with English subtitles
Ximena is an illiterate woman in her fifties, who has learned to live on her own in order to
keep her illiteracy as a secret. Jackeline, is a young unemployed elementary school teacher,
who tries to convince Ximena to take reading classes. Persuading her proves to be an almost
impossible task, until one day, Jackeline finds something Ximena has been keeping as her
only treasure since she was a child: a letter Ximena’s father left when he abandoned her
many years before. Thus, the two women embark on a learning journey where they discover
that there are many ways of being illiterate, and that not knowing how to read is just one of
them.

IXCANUL, VOLCANO (Ixcanul, Volcán)

Jayro Bustamante / France, Guatemala / 62 min / 2015 / In Maya and Spanish with
English subtitles
Maria, a 17-year-old Mayan girl, lives and works with her parents on a coffee plantation in the
foothills of an active volcano in Guatemala. An arranged marriage awaits her: her parents
have promised her to Ignacio, the plantation overseer. But Maria doesn’t sit back and accept
her destiny. Pepe, a young coffee cutter who plans to migrate to the USA becomes her
possible way out. Maria seduces Pepe in order to run away with him, but after promises and
clandestine meetings, Pepe takes off, leaving her pregnant, alone and in disgrace. There’s no
time to lose for Maria’s mother, who thinks abortion is the only solution.

LA YUMA
Florence Jaugey / Nicaragua / 91 min / 2011 / Spanish with English subtitles
Nicaragua’s first full-length feature in 20 years, La Yuma tells the story of a young woman
who dreams of transcending her bleak life in the slums of Managua by becoming a boxer.
Looking beyond the meager possibilities that seem available to her (and ignoring the advice
of her gang-member friends), she finds solace and hope in her training and falls in love with a
middle-class journalism student.

MR. KAPLAN
Álvaro Brechner / Uruguay, Spain, Germany / 98 min / 2014 / Spanish with English
subtitles
Uruguay’s official selection for Best Foreign Academy Award, Mr. Kaplan follows Jacob
Kaplan’s ordinary life in Uruguay. Like many of his other Jewish friends, Jacob fled Europe for
South America because of World War II. But now, turning 76, he’s become rather grumpy, fed
up with his community and his family’s lack of interest in their own heritage. One beach bar
may, however, provide him with an unexpected opportunity to achieve greatness and recover
his family’s respect in the community: its owner, a quiet, elderly German, raises Mr. Kaplan’s
suspicion of being a runaway Nazi. Ignoring his family’s concerns about his health, Jacob
secretly recruits Contreras, a former police officer whose loyalty far exceeds his honesty, to
help him investigate. Together, they will try to repeat the historic capture of Adolf Eichmann:
by unmasking and kidnapping the German and secretly taking him to Israel. Rising filmmaker
Álvaro Brechner’s quixotic quest strikes plenty of comedic spark from its bone-dry humor,
taking great delight in the reinvigorated ingenuity and pride of its aging protagonist.

NN (NN, Sin identidad)

Héctor Gálvez / Peru / 99 Min / 2014 / Spanish with English subtitles
A group of forensic anthropologists digs up the corpses of eight people who disappeared
without a trace 20 years ago during a violent political period in Peru. Among them, they find a
ninth unidentified corpse. The only thing that can lead to the identity of the man is the vague
photo of a smiling girl found in his shirt’s pocket. Fidel, a thoughtful investigator fascinated by
the case, struggles to maintain a scientific approach to his work when a lonely widow shows
up convinced this NN (Non Nomine) is her disappeared husband. Should he conduct a
thorough investigation that may leave the widow’s plea unanswered or grant her the closure
she has been searching for decades?

OPEN CAGE (Los bañistas)

Max Zunino / Mexico / 83 min / 2014 / Spanish with English subtitles
Open Cage takes a subtle and ultimately hopeful look into one of society’s mayor issues: the
abandonment to its youth and senior populations. Among those affected when the economy
collapses are rebel teenager Flavia and her elderly and grumpy neighbor Martín. Outside the
building there is a camp of protesters among whom human values still govern coexistence.
However, its members have a serious problem: they need a shower. Flavia, Martín, and their
neighbors down the street will learn to relate to each other, not only to survive the crisis, but
to rediscover the meaning of their lives. Juan Carlos Colombo as Martín and Sofía Espinosa
as Flavia, carry the film with incredible chemistry. With Open Cage, Max Zunino proposes an
optimistic solution to a conflict that may appear hard to solve, but that may be lessened by
calling on small individual changes that allow us to get along better with others.

OPERATION E (Operación E)
Miguel Courtois Paternina / Spain, France, Colombia / 108 min / 2012 / Spanish with
English subtitles
A controversial film in Colombia due to the real event on which it is based (the kidnapping of
Clara Rojas and Ingrid Betancourt), Operation E was at risk of being banned but was finally
released in the country after a politicized trial. Crisanto is a poor cocaine farmer who lives
with his family in the Guaviare jungle, a region ruled by the Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). A group of guerrilla fighters give them a moribund
baby and tell them to take care of him. The doctors heal the baby, but, believing he’s been
abandoned and abused, they take it away. Two years later, the guerrilla asks urgently for the
child as he is at the center of an exchange of hostages, negotiated between the presidents of
Colombia and Venezuela that is bringing both countries to the brink war. This international
political crisis has significant media impact and is widely reported across the globe. They give
him three days to find the boy or he and his family will be killed… This is a political thriller that
shows what happens away from the cameras and microphones, a contrasting view of the
official version.

PARADISE (Paraíso)
Mariana Chenillo / Mexico / 105 min / 2013 / Spanish with English subtitles
It’s a rude awakening for Carmen, who until now has not really worried about the fact
that she and Alfredo are both overweight. After overhearing gossip about their bodies
at a company party, she decides that it is time to swap donuts for salads, and urges
Alfredo to join her in a weight-loss program. But when only one of them actually
starts to slim down, a rift emerges in their relationship. Portrayed with undeniable
charm by newcomer Daniela Rincon and well-known Andres
Alameida, Paradise touches upon issues of body image, self-confidence and
happiness with candor and humor. The film is executive-produced by Diego
Luna and Gael García Bernal.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT (Zona sur)

Juan Carlos Valdivia / Bolivia / 108 min / 2011 / Spanish with English subtitles
11:00 PM
La Paz’s Zona Sur neighborhood is Bolivia’s most exclusive enclave and has housed the
country’s affluent elite for generations. Here, in an adobe-tile-roofed castle, a statuesque
matriarch reigns over her spoiled offspring and indigenous servants. Social change, however
unwelcome, is on its way. As the mother squabbles with her self-indulgent, oversexed
teenage son and clashes with her petulant daughter, her 6-year-old boy wanders the rooftops
unsupervised. The scent of impending decline permeates the air, and the threat of aristocratic
privileges quickly changing hands heralds a new era in a seemingly interminable class war.
Bolivia’s official entry for the Academy® Awards foreign-language film race, this searing
portrait of a patrician family in flux eloquently chronicles their final days during a time of
intense social change and cogently exposes the bubble of decadence in which they exist.

THE BOSS, ANATOMY OF A CRIME (El patrón, radiografía de un crimen)

Sebastián Schindel / Argentina, Venezuela / 98 Min / 2014 / In Spanish with English
subtitles
Based on a true story, The Boss, Anatomy of a Murder is a neo-realistic portrait of the
inhumane work environment, and the power imbalances existing between worker and
employer. The multiple award-winning film tells the unsettling story of Hermógenes, a humble
illiterate farmhand who arrives in Buenos Aires in search of a job. Having been filled with self-
deprecation and feelings of uselessness ever since he was stamped “not apt” on his military
papers because of his limp, Hermógenes doesn’t expect much. So when Don Latuada puts
him in charge of one of his butcher shops he is extremely grateful. In exchange, he forces
him to disguise and sell rotten meat while subjecting him, by means of pressure and
extortion, to a modern day slavery situation.

THE CLUB (El club)

Pablo Larraín / Chile / 97 Min / 2015 / In Spanish with English subtitles
The Club is acclaimed director Pablo Larraín’s taut, blackly comic commentary on individual
responsibility, organized religion and the combustible combination of the two. In a secluded
house in a small seaside town live four unrelated men and the woman who tends to the
house and their needs. All former priests, they have been sent to this quiet exile to purge the
sins of their pasts, the separation from their communities the worst form of punishment by the
Church. They keep to a strict daily schedule devoid of all temptation and spontaneity, each
moment a deliberate effort to atone for their wrongdoings. Their fragile stability is disrupted by
the arrival of an emissary from the Vatican who seeks to understand the effects of their
isolation, and a newly disgraced housemate. Both bring with them the outside world from
which the men have long been removed, and the secrets they had thought deeply buried.

THE COUNTRY OF FEAR (El país del miedo)

Francisco Espada / Spain / 102 min / 2015 / In Spanish with English subtitles
A festival favorite, The Country of Fear is a must see for high school and college level
students. The film touches upon one of the most talk about behavioral issues happening on
campus these days. Carlos, Sara, and their preteen son Pablo, live a peaceful middle-class
life until Sara begins to notice things disappearing in the house. She blames the Moroccan
maid and eventually fires her. But the stealing doesn’t stop; Pablo is the culprit. Fearful,
Carlos decides to follow Pablo to school where he discovers that a 13-year-old classmate,
Marta, is bullying and extorting Pablo. But resolving the affair isn’t that easy and he becomes
Marta’s victim as well. Carlos’s inability to defend himself or his son, pushes him to a series of
anguished situations that would lead him to make the wrong decisions.

THE CROW’S NEST (Malacrianza)

Arturo Menéndez / El Salvador / 70 min / 2013 / Spanish with English subtitles
4:00 PM
The first fiction film from El Salvador to be produced since 1969 and the first ever to see a
worldwide release, The Crow’s Nest follows Don Cleo, a humble piñata salesman who
receives an extortion letter at his doorstep. If he doesn’t pay $500, a small fortune for him,
within 72 hours, he will be killed. Don Cleo quickly decides to gather the money
through friends, but the harder he tries to raise the funds, the deeper into trouble he gets. If
Don Cleo hopes to survive, he’ll have to face his fears and stand up to his tormentors. With a
magnificent use of deadpan humor and charm, The Crow’s Nest depicts a unique and
realistic vision of El Salvador, where evangelical churches, reverence for the concept of the
American Dream, the local struggling economy, and violence are everyday experiences for its
most vulnerable population. Shot on location in neighborhoods controlled by gangs, the script
was based on a collection of real stories.

THE FACILITATOR (El facilitador)

Victor Arregui / Ecuador, Chile, USA / 83 min / 2014 / Spanish with English subtitles
11:00 AM
When Miguel, a successful businessman finds out about his illness, he asks his estranged
daughter Elena to come back to Ecuador. She complies, but keeps a cold and distant
relationship with him, opting for spending most of her time with friends, between drugs and
alcohol. After a close call with the law, Miguel sends her to spend some time with her
grandfather at the family’s estate. In this nostalgic house that bring up so many memories
and nightmares, Elena meets her childhood friend Galo, who now promotes water access
rights for the indigenous community. She is compelled by their way of life and gets involved
with the political organization of the community. When the nightmares intensify, Elena starts
digging behind the reports of the car accident that supposedly killed her mother. She will
gradually understand that among family secrets, crimes, corruption, and dark perversions
commitment and beauty can emerge. A political thriller about human rights, The Facilitator is
one of the most successful films to come out from Ecuador in the last few years.

THE LIBERATOR (El libertador)

Alberto Arvelo / Venezuela, Spain / 119 min / 2014 / Spanish with English subtitles
Rising Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramírez stars in this biopic of one of Latin America’s
greatest figures. Simón Bolívar fought over 100 battles against the Spanish Empire in South
America. He rode over 70,000 miles on horseback. His military campaigns covered twice the
territory of those of Alexander the Great. But his army never conquered – it liberated. The
most expensive Latin American film ever produced, The Liberator is a riveting portrayal of
the man who led Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Peru, and Ecuador toward independence.
The Liberator was shortlisted with other eight titles for the Best Foreign Academy Award and
was the favorite Venezuelan film at the local box office. The film was seen by 697,000
spectators in Venezuela.

THE RETURN (El regreso)

Hernán Jiménez / Costa Rica / 95 min / 2011 / Spanish with English subtitles
The Return is the story of a delightful and life-changing journey back to Costa Rica. After
living 10 years in New York, 30 year-old Antonio returns to San José where he is forced to
deal with the realities he ran away from. He is welcomed by his intense sister, Amanda--
whose husband recently abandoned her--and their young son Inti--who is apprehensive
about Antonio’s presence. When things take an unexpected turn, Antonio is forced to remain
home far longer than he had anticipated.

THE SECOND MOTHER (Que horas ela volta?)

Anna Muylaert / Brazil / 112 Min / 2015 / In In Portuguese with English subtitles
Val (stunning performed by Regina Casé) is perfectly content to take care of every one of her
wealthy employers’ needs, from cooking and cleaning to being a surrogate mother to their
teenage son, who she has raised since he was a toddler. But when Val’s estranged daughter
Jessica suddenly shows up, the unspoken but intrinsic class barriers that exist within the
home are thrown into disarray. Jessica is smart, confident, and ambitious, and refuses to
accept the upstairs/downstairs dynamic, testing relationships and loyalties and forcing
everyone to reconsider what family really means.

THE TRAVEL AGENT (Pequeñas mentiras piadosas)

Niccolò Bruna / Spain, Italy / 87 Min / 2015/ In Spanish with English subtitles
From her tiny office overlooking the U.S. Interests Section, 58-year old Lourdes counsels
thousands of Cubans seeking a U.S. travel visa. She coaches them on answering tricky
questions, fine-tuning their stories so they have a better chance of succeeding. Despite
helping others to travel, she has never been able to visit her own mother, son, brothers,
grandsons, and nephews in Florida. After a long wait, Lourdes’ time has finally come: her
interview is set. Her dream to visit her dying mother, who emigrated during the sixties, has
never been so close. Will she be able to travel and finally overturn her destiny of forced
separation.

TRUE SMILE (La sonrisa verdadera)

Juan Rayos / Spain / 82 Min / 2015 / In Spanish with English subtitles
A heart-warming story of self-improvement, True Smile follows the extraordinary 1,300
kilometers journey Sergio, a blind autistic young man, undertakes with his brother. Over 30
days, Sergio and Juan Manuel traverse desert and high mountains by tandem bike, starting in
Cuenca in central Spain and finishing in one of the most remote villages in Morocco’s Atlas
Mountains. The candid documentary provides a magnificent glimpse into Sergio’s
impenetrable world; so similar to the desert he travels to on his trip. What underlines this
story is Sergio’s amazing ability to challenge his limitations and the infinite love of his brother
and companion. Sergio’s motivation and strength to undertake this amazing adventure comes
from his wish to see his friend Mati again at her home in Morocco.

WHO IS DAYANI CRISTAL? (¿Quién es Dayani Cristal?)

Marc Silver / Mexico, USA / 85 min / 2014 / English and Spanish with English subtitles
Deep in the sun-blistered Sonora desert beneath a cicada tree, Arizona border police
discover a decomposing male body. Lifting a tattered T-shirt they expose a tattoo that reads
“Dayani Cristal.” Who is this person? What brought him here? How did he die? And who—or
what—is Dayani Cristal? Following a team of dedicated forensic anthropologists 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. 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. Winner
of the Sundance 2013 Cinematography award and nominated in the World Documentary
Competition, Who Is Dayani Cristal? shows how one life becomes testimony to the tragic
results of the U.S. war on immigration.

WILAYA
Pedro Pérez Rosado / Spain / 97 min / 2012 / Spanish and Arabic with English subtitles
Born into a Sahrawi refugee camp before being sent to live with foster parents in Spain,
Fatimetu returns to her Saharan birthplace following the death of her mother and, despite
having been absent for sixteen years, finds herself expected to resume family duties. With
unprecedented access to the Sahrawi community, who are still waiting for status under
international law, Wilaya is Pedro Pérez Rosado’s poetic evocation of being caught between
two worlds.

WITH MY HEART IN YAMBO (Con mi corazon en Yambo)

María Fernanda Restrepo / Ecuador / 137 min / 2012 / Spanish with English subtitles
In 1988, when director Fernanda Restrepo was only 10 years old, her life changed in the
cruelest of ways: her two brothers—then 14 and 17—vanished without a trace. Only later did
the family learn that the boys had been illegally detained, tortured, and murdered by the
Ecuadorean police. Now, decades later, with her brothers’ remains still missing, Restrepo
embarks on the painful journey of recounting her family’s story. In the process, she comes
face to face with the suspects, and documents yet one more search in Lake Yambo, where
the boys’ bodies were dumped. “Giving up is the only way to lose a battle,” says Restrepo’s
father, still asking for clues and protesting in Quito’s Presidential Palace Square every
Wednesday against the lack of answers.

WRINKLES (Arrugas)
Ignacio Ferreras / Spain / 89 min / 2014 / Spanish with English subtitles
Former bank manager Emilio is dispatched to a retirement home by his family. His new
roommate is a wily, wheeler-dealer named Miguel, who cheerfully swindles small amounts of
cash from the more befuddled residents, but is also full of handy insider tips that are crucial to
survival. We are introduced to daily pill regimens, electric gates, and an eccentric cast of
characters who rebel against institutional authority, while doing everything in their power to
avoid being assigned to the dreaded assisted living wing–from which there is no return. The
hand-drawn animation style allows the film to move freely between the reality-bound daily
lives of the ‘inmates’ and their more colorful dementia-induced fantasies, leaving plenty of
room for both tears and laughter and pulling no punches in its critique of society’s attitude
towards the elderly. Based on Paco Roca’s Award-winning graphic novel, Wrinkles illustrates
the visual beauty and tender emotion that can be created by traditional animation, as it
tackles a universal subject matter with humor and acerbic wit.

YVY MARAEY: LAND WITHOUT EVIL (Yvy Maraey: Tierra sin mal)
Juan Carlos Valdivia / Bolivia / 105 min / 2014 / Spanish and Guaraní with English
Subtitles
A Bolivian filmmaker and a Guaraní indian travel together through the forests of South
Eastern Bolivia with the intention of making a film about the Guarani People. The starting
point is a 1911 film by Swedish explorer Erland Nordenskiöld. But today’s reality turns out to
be much more intense than the nostalgia for a lost world. In Yvy Maraey, the white man (the
director) and the Indian create and interpret their own characters, walking the thin line
between documentary, fiction, and performance. Far from observing another culture, we are
watched and questioned about our identity in a country undergoing enormous social, political,
and historical change as it struggles to create an intercultural society. Yvy Maraey is a quest
for the knowledge within, seen through the eyes of the other. The learning comes from
listening, which is another form of seeing. The film combines reality with an epic tale of a
heroic indigenous nation.

The Spanish Film Club series was made possible with the support of Pragda, The Ministry of Education,
Culture and Sports of Spain, and SPAIN arts & culture.

SUPPORTED BY