Latin American & Iberian Film Series
Trinity College
Fall 2003
OPEN TO ALL
English Subtitles • Guest Speakers • Information: 297- 4273 or 297- 5256
Click on links for credits, plots, and directions
Wednesdays, 7:30 PM
September 10 Intacto (Intact)
LSC (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Spain 2001, 108 min.)
September 17 Cidade de Deus (City of God)
Cinestudio (Kátia Lund & Fernando Meirelles, Brazil/ France/USA, 2002, 130 min.)
September 24 La virgen de los sicarios (Our Lady of the Assassins)
LSC (Barbet Schroeder, Colombia/ Spain/France, 2002, 98 min.)
October 1 Quilombo
LSC (Carlos Diegues, Brazil/France, 1984, 119 min.)
October 8 La ciénaga (The Swamp)
LSC (Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/France, 2001, 103 min.)
October 15 Lista de espera (The Waiting List)
LSC (Juan Carlos Tabío, Cuba/Spain/Mexico/France, 2000, 104 min.)
October 22 Chile, la memoria obstinada (The Obstinate Memory)
LSC (Patricio, Guzmán, Canada/France, 1997, 57 min.)
October 29 Pantaleón y las visitadoras (Captain Pantoja and the Special
Services) (Francisco Lombardi, Peru/Spain,
1999, 137 min.)
November 5 El bola (Pellet)
LSC (Achero Mañas, Spain, 2000, 88 min.)
November 12 Un oso rojo ( A Red Bear)
LSC (Adrián Caetano, Argentina/Spain/France, 2002, 95 min.)
November 19 Central do Brasil (Central Station)
LSC (Walter Salles, Brazil/France, 1998, 113 min.)
Prices:
Free admission for all films in Life Science Center.
Cinestudio: $6 general admission, $5 for students, educators and senior
citizens.
Organized by:
Fabiola von Hollen and Rosamaría León (Modern Languages and Literature)
Sponsored by:
The Spanish Club, Department of Modern Languages and Literature, Latin American
Studies Program, the Programa de Estudios Hispánicos en Córdoba (PRESHCO), and
Cinestudio
Wednesdays, 7:30 PM
September 10 LSC
Intacto (Intact) (Spain 2001) Directed by Juan Carlos
Fresnadillo. Thriller. 108 min
Plot: It starts with plane crash survivor, Tomás, sitting amongst the wreckage
of a downed Jumbo Jet. His fortuitous luck brings him to the attention of a
shady individual who views the good fortune of Tomás as a means to re-enact his
own personal agenda, and so he is introduced into a hidden world of individuals
who can absorb, and gamble, other people’s luck. The ultimate goal of this
supernatural gambling is to be allowed to play against Samuel, a holocaust
survivor and reputedly the luckiest man in the world. http://www.intactothemovie.com/
Speaker: Fabiola von Hollen, Dept. of Modern Languages, Trinity College
September 17 Cinestudo
Cidade de Deus (City of God) (Brazil/ France/USA, 2002)
Directed by Kátia Lund & Fernando Meirelles. Action/ Drama/ Crime/Thriller. 130
min.
Plot: Welcome to the world’s most notorious slum: Rio de Janeiro’s “City of
God”, a place where combat photographers fear to tread, where Police rarely go,
and residents are lucky if they live to the age of 20. This is the true story of
a young man who grew up on these crude streets and whose ambition as a
photographer is a window in and ultimately may be his only way out. http in the
in a ://cidadededeus.globo.com/
Speaker: Thomas Harrington, Dept. of Modern Languages, Trinity College
September 24 LSC
La virgen de los sicarios (Our Lady of the Assassins)
(Colombia/ Spain/France, 2000) Directed by Barbet Schroeder. Drama. 98 min.
Plot: This is a bracing ode to Medellín, Colombia -- a place of aching beauty
and poverty. Fernando, a fiftyish writer, has returned to the city after a
30-year absence with the stated aim of dying there. This film gives a
mesmerizing sense of reality and shock. Life and death balance on the edge of a
machete stroke. Schroeder's Medellín, a place in which the seemingly beautiful
fireworks display against the mountaintops, is really just a smoke signal
relaying the success of a recent cocaine shipment. In this world, beauty masks
the real horrors.
http://www.elcolombiano.com/proyectos/virgendelossicarios/
Speaker: Leonardo Palacios, Dept. of Modern and Classical Languages, University
of Connecticut
October 1 LSC
Quilombo (Brazil/France, 1984) Directed by Carlos Diegues.
Drama. 119 min.
Plot: In Brazil, the word quilombo refers to a community of free men, and it
carries with it an echo of the original Quilombo dos Palmares, or Palm Nation,
which was founded in the early 17th century by runaway slaves in the forests of
northeastern Brazil. "Quilombo" is about the century-long rise and fall of
Palmares, but it is not simply a historical epic. Carlos Diegues, like many
South American storytellers, moves easily between dream and reality, between
fact and myth. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0091816/
Speaker: Rosamaría León, Dept. of Modern Languages, Trinity College
October 8 LCS
La ciénaga (The Swamp) (Argentina/France, 2001)
Directed by Lucrecia Martel. Comedy/Drama. 103 min.
Plot: Two large families spend a torpid summer together in a faded resort town
in Northwest Argentina. The swimming pool is filthy, broken glass litters the
deck, sullen teenagers abound, and the lush vegetation surrounding the house
looks as though it's about to make its move. Soon the crowded, rough-and-tumble
domestic situation strains everyone's nerves; repressed family mysteries are
exposed and the tensions laid bare by the long, hot summer threaten to erupt
into violence.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0240419/maindetails
Speaker: María Silvina Persino, Dept. of Modern Languages, Trinity College
October 15 LSC
Lista de espera (The Waiting List)
(Cuba/Spain/Mexico/France, 2000) Directed by Juan Carlos Tabío. Comedy. 104 min.
Plot: A very diverse group of Cubans find themselves stuck at a remote bus
station after the very old bus they ride breaks down. The party official leaves
on foot. The remaining passengers gradually grow so close together that when
they can finally leave, they don't want to. The film is a snapshot of life in
modern Cuba, using the crumbling bus station as the chief setting and metaphor
for this whimsical tale.
http://www.cineismo.com/criticas/lista-de-espera.htm
Speaker: Stacey Alba Skar, Dept. of Modern Languages, Trinity College
October 22 LSC
Chile, la memoria obstinada (The Obstinate Memory)
(Canada/France, 1997) Directed by Patricio Guzmán. Documentary. 57 min.
Plot: After decades of fascist rule in Chile, Patricio Guzman returns to his
country to screen his documentary, Battle of Chile, which until the time of the
filming was banned by authorities. His audience, a new generation of Chileans
who remember little of the revolution and ensuing coup reflect on their
experience of watching the film after so many years of suppression. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0140894/maindetails
Speaker: Sarah Ward, Trinity College
October 29 LSC
Pantaleón y las visitadoras (Captain Pantoja and the
Special Services) (Peru/Spain, 1999) Directed by Francisco Lombardi.
Comedy/Drama. 137 min.
Plot: Captain Pantaleón Pantoja, a very serious and efficient officer, reports
for duty for his next assignment in the Peruvian jungle, dutifully bringing his
wife along. He's surprised when he's ordered to act as a kind of military pimp,
and organize a sailing "visitor" service that supplies prostitutes to army
encampments. In the home front things get complicated though; his wife dislikes
his long hours and the secrecy surrounding his work, and he, despite being a
dedicated husband, falls to temptation.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0190611/
Speaker: Anne Lambright, Dept. of Modern Languages, Trinity College
November 5 LSC
El bola (Pellet) (Spain, 2000) Directed by Achero Mañas .
Drama. 88 min.
Plot: They call Pablo "El Bola" or "Pellet," after the large ball bearing he
carries with him as a good luck charm, but the charm doesn't seem to be working.
Pablo lives in an abusive home. When he finally finds a sympathetic friend,
Alfredo, and is accepted by his new friend's family, Pablo's father, Mariano,
does everything he can to keep Pablo away from them, because he considers them
deviants. Achero Mañas’ El Bola is a gritty and well-acted ensemble drama that
encompasses a potent metaphor for a country still dealing with its recent
fascist past. http://www.zinema.com/pelicula/2000/elbola.htm
Speaker: Moisés Castillo, Dept. of Modern Languages, Trinity College
November 12 LSC
Un oso rojo ( A Red Bear)(Argentina/Spain/France, 2002)
Directed by Adrián Caetano. Drama. 95 min.
Plot: On his release from prison, the Bear has two goals: to re-establish
relations with his ex-wife Natalia and their daughter Alicia and to collect
money he is owed by gang boss Turco. But Natalia has married a loser with a
gambling habit and Turco will only pay if the Bear agrees to do one last job...
http://www.litastantic.com.ar/unosorojo/index2.htm
Speaker: Gustavo Remedi, Dept. of Modern Languages, Trinity College
November 19 LSC
Central do Brasil (Central Station) (Brazil/France, 1998)
Directed by Walter Salles. Drama. 113 min.
Plot: This unusual story gets going with the hard-edged poignancy of reality. In
the crowded central train station of Rio de Janeiro people move with an
impersonal frenzy. Amidst the pushing crowds, a woman sits at a writing table
and a line of people pay her to write letters to their dear ones. The world of
this film unfolds with immediacy and elegance. http://www.centraldobrasil.com.br/front.htm
Speaker: TBA