Cinema in Latin America: Visions of a Continent in Transition

Com Cul 110
Copley Auditorium, CILAS

This course will look at the role of contemporary media in Latin America. We will explore the "new cinema" movement and recent developments in film, popular television and video activism. Each class will consist of a film screening, after which a discussion will take place. In addition, many films will be made available at the Undergraduate Playback Center. Students may also view films which are made in Latin America and are available at local cinemas or from video stores. Students are expected to see three films each week in addition to the class films and report on them with a short review, either via email or hard copy. The reports should be personal: how that film related to your own life or developed your perceptions. If for some reason you miss one of the class screenings, you must see the video at playback and report on it also. this does not count as one of your two weekly films.

The first hour and a half of each class will be devoted to screening and is open to the general public free of charge. After a break, the class will resume with discussion and historical background. Several guest producers will visit the class during the quarter. A few outside screenings and/or performances will also be required. There will be a geography quiz third week and a mid term fifth week. The final will be a paper on one film or aspect of the field.

Graduate students are expected to do additional reading and to attend a discussion every week that will be held at the Grove Cafe. Other students are allowed to attend, but must also do the additional reading to participate in the discussion.

Readings:

• a packet will be available at Quik Copy on Regents Road after third week
  
• New Latin American Cinema, Michael Martin, editor, Wayne University Press (Available at Groundworks and Library)

   

• Peter Smith: The Talons of the Eagle
  
• Galeano, The Open Veins of Latin America
  
• Paulo Antonio Paranagua, Mexican Cinema AFI, 1995
  
• Julianne Burton, editor, The Social Documentary in Latin America, Pittsburgh
  
• Julianne Burton, editor, Cinema and Social Change, U Texas
  
• Michael Channan, The Cuban Image, BFI/ Indiana University
  
• Rosalinda Fregoso, Bronze Screen, Minnesota
  
• Noriega and Lopez, The Ethnic Eye: Latino Media Arts, Minnesota
  
• Zuzana Pick, The New Latin American Cinema, U Texas
  
• Johnson and Stam, Brazilian Cinema, Columbia Press
  
• Tomas Gutierrez Alea, The Dialectic of Film, ICAIC

   

FIRST WEEK:

 

The History of the New Latin American Cinema Movement documentary by Michael Channan with Fernando Birri and others.

Segments from Viaje al Centro de la Selva

Segments from Corazon by Silvia Mejia...

 

SECOND WEEK:

 

Cuba: The Dialectic of Film

For the First Time the cinemobile comes to a remote mountain town in the early days of the revolution.

Death of a Bureaucrat by Tomas Gutierez Alea. A brilliant send up of government bureaucracies.

 

THIRD WEEK:

 

Cuba: The Reconstruction of History

Section from Lucia by Humberto Solas follows three women through Cuban history: each segment is filmed in the style of the period. Considered the most ambitious of Cuban films.

De Cierta Manera by Sara Gomez

 

FOURTH WEEK:

FIFTH WEEK:

 

Toscano Brothers, Memorias de Mexico silent film from before and during the Mexican Revolution

Bunuel's Mexico: Los Olvidados. Poverty, crime and urban decay, set in a Mexico in this early "Bladerunner".

 

Quiz for mid term.

 

SIXTH WEEK:

 

Mexico: Matilde Landeta: My Filmmaking, My Life, a documentary on the life of the pioneer of women's cinema in Mexico.

La Negra Angustias, by Matilde Landeta

 

SEVENTH WEEK:

 

During seventh week you should make an appointment with me to discuss your final project. The subject must be chosen by the end of sixth week.

Brazil: Hour of the Stars by Susana Amaral. A young worker from the country runs into trouble in the big city.

 

EIGHTH WEEK:

 

Hour of the Furnaces, Solanas. The epic drama from Argentina

 

NINTH WEEK:

 

Euzhan Palcy's Sugar Cane Alley is a bitter sweet story of growing up in the Caribbean.

 

TENTH WEEK:

 

Video as Social Intervention

El Salvador: Time of Daring and Television Spots by Radio Vinceremos and the FMLN.

Nicaragua: What Happened to the Toilet Paper? Aqui En Este Esquina and the Cabildo de Mujeres. These documentary videos present Nicaragua from the eyes of the Sandinista workers.

 

Course Work/Grading:

Short paragraph reports on the films screened at playback or from video store: due weekly (films in class do not count) -- 1/4

 

Third Week: Geography test -- 1/8

 

Mid Term: Test to be announced -- 1/8

 

Final: Paper (or web page or video) about one specific film or video or an aspect of the field, which contextualizes the work in terms of Latin American history, the range of Latin American film styles and the specific national setting of the film. -- 1/2

 

Films at Playback & Video Stores:

REQUIRED FILM: THE GRINGO IN MANANALAND by DeeDee Halleck (Not at Blockbuster)

 

Cuba

 

De Cierta Manera by Sara Gomez. An experimental Cuban feminist film.

 

The Last Supper is Alea's difficult look at slavery and power.

 

Se Permuta by Juan Carlos Tabio. An experimental Cuban feature film.

 

Strawberry and Chocolate by the late Tomas Gutierez Alea, Cuba's greatest director.

 

Enrique Colina's documentaries: socialist realism from Cuba. (Spanish)

 

Miami/Havana Estella Brava's poignant doc on the Florida/Cuba border.

 

The Last Supper by Tomas Gutierez Alea-- a look a slavery in Cuba.

 

The Greening of Cuba by Jamie Kibbens looks at ecological experiments.

 

Lucia Set in three different periods and made with three different approaches to cinema, this film is an ode to strong, revolutionary women.

 

Viva La Republica, by Santiago Alvarez. The history of Cuba, from the vantage point of the revolution.

 

Memories of Underdevelopment by Alea: the favorite Cuban film of the bourgeouis press.

 

Letter from the Park: Alea does a Garcia Marquez novel in a romantic past card haze.

 

Death of a Bureaucrat by Tomas Gutierez Alea. A satirical look at bureaucracies.

 

The Other Francisco by Sergio Giral looks at slavery in 19th century Cuba.

 

For the First Time, Cubans living in a remote community are introduced to the cinema through Charlie Chaplin.

 

Plaff a very experimental narrative that makes fun of the economic hardships in Cuba in the very structure of the film. By Juan Carlos Tabio, the co-director of Strawberries and Chocolate.

 

Portrait of Teresa by Humberto Solas. Feminism as portrayed by a man.

 

Ortiz de Zarate's Experimental Tapes. Ortiz works for the Ministry of Culture and here documents a famous artist who paints dancers (Mendive). This is not Degas.

 

Breaking the Blockade The Pastors for Peace take food and medicine to Cuba.

 

The Bruderhof Children go to Cuba. A Christian group tours the island.

 

Tapes from San Antonio de los Baños. In 1988 Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Fernando Birri founded a new school for media in a small town 50 miles from Havana. This tape includes several tapes made by students at that school.

 

Guatemala

 

La Verdad Bajo la Tierra Originally called the forensic video group, Communicarte is opening up the dialogue in this war-ravaged country.

 

Los De Eres is a ode to the indigenous peoples of Guatemala.

 

El Salvador

 

TV Spots by the FMLN. After years of war, the war is now on the television screen.

 

Letter from Morazlan a letter from a son who is in the war.

Audio Tapes from Community Radio.

 

Cambridge Sister City Project. US groups seeks friendship with El Salvador.

 

Nicaragua

 

Womens Cabildo, a TV program made during the Sandinist years in Nicaragua.

 

Que Pasa Con El Papel Higenico? A shortage of toilet paper makes life hard in blockaded Nicaragua. Made by the Agrarian Reform ministry. (MINDINRA)

 

Nicaragua, 1979. Jon Alpert's famous reports on the Today show won several emmies and ultimately got him fired from main stream TV. This one documents the victory of the Sandinistas.

 

Nieve, Telenovela from the Sandinista Interior Ministry about the drug war and the CIA from the vantage point of the Nicaraguan revolution.

 

Waiting for the Invasion by DeeDee Halleck US Citizens in Nicaragua.

 

Colombia

 

Love, Women and Flowers Jorge Silva and Marta Rodriguez look at flower workers.

 

Amapola by CRIC

Several programs by CINEP

 

The Courageous Women of Colombia by Robin Lloyd. A beseiged mayor fights for both her political life and her personal safely.

 

Journey to Colombia by Robin Lloyd. A group of women from the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom travel to Colombia to hear testimonies from victims of the so-called drug war.

 

Cruzando Fronteras by Silvia Mejia. Experimental TV from Bogata. In Spanish.

 

Golpes de Corazon by Silvia Mejia. Talking about power in political life and relationships. In Spanish

 

Mexico

 

Archibaldo de la Cruz, Bunuel's Mexico: very weird and very brilliant.

 

Matilda Landeta: documentary on the great feminist Mexican filmmaker from the 1940's recently rediscovered.

 

Simon of the Desert: an anti-nuke film by Bunuel.

 

Los Olvidados Bunuel's masterpiece set in the slums of Mexico City.

See the web page on this by Raj Mudare.

 

Frida by Paul LeDuc An eloquent portrait of the painter who had great physical suffering. Recaptures the community of artists in Mexico City of the 30's.

 

From Here, From this Side by Gloria Ribe juxtaposes stereotype images in a similar way to The Gringo in Mañanaland.

 

Maria Candelaria, by Emilio Fernandez. An exquisitely shot melodrama on the struggle of a beautiful indigenous woman. The golden age at its sappiest.

 

Shredded Hope The Mexican elections after the Zapatista revolution.

 

The Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in Chiapas by Sol Landau. Zapatistas.

 

Viaje al Centro de la Selva (Journey to the Center of the Jungle) made by a group of Mexican supporters of the Zapatistas. One of the first looks at Sub Commandante Marcos and the movement in Chiapas. (Spanish)

 

A Cry for Freedom and Democracy by CheChé Martinez looks at the first few days after the Zapatista up-rising, and at the supression of that movement by the PRI government.

 

Canal 6 de Julio. This lively collective brings on-going news reports to Mexico's citizens through street corner sales and offerings in book stores and magazine racks. This episode is about the Aguas Blancas Massacre. It includes a clandestine section shot of the army doing its dirty work: Mexico's own version of the Rodney King tape.(Spanish)

 

Puente a la Esperanza (Bridge to Hope). This is a recent interview with Marcos. (Spanish)

 

Sin Fronteras A look at the tense conditions at the border. Made by CheChé Martinez and Colin Jessop.

 

Brazil

 

TV Maxambomba: an experiment in "street TV".

 

Bye Bye Brazil a group of hippie types journey into the interior, past devastation both human and ecological.

 

TV Viva is a group in the North who put on street TV and now work in their regional TV center.

 

Black Orpheus by Marcel Carne is a delerious look at carnival.

 

Hour of the Stars: a poignant story of a country girl adrift in the big city.

 

How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman by Nelson Pereira dos Santos. A sardonic look at the conquest and a send up of the "canabalistic" aesthetic. One of the most important films made in Latin America and the subject of endless debate.

 

Pixote Youth of the urban decay battle in a detention center.

 

Subway to the Stars by Carlos Diegues. A young couple adrift in urban decay.

 

Xica by Carlos Diegues. A beautiful slave charms her masters.

 

Quilombo by Carlos Diegues. A recreation of the famous slave revolt in Palmares. Brazil does Amistad. Or rather did it, many many years ago.

 

Video Letters by Suzanna Amaral and young producers in Sao Paulo and NY.

 

Axe and other black Brazilian videos. Cultural renaissance and media critique in Brazil.

 

Haiti

 

Bitter Cane by DeeDee Halleck, Ken Ives, Pennee Bender and Ben Dupuy. the history of Haiti with vignettes from the semi feudal coffee and sugar industries. Interviews with Haitian/American business men form a critique of the assembly plants of the present.

 

Killing the Dream by Crowing Rooster looks at the difficult times in recent Haiti, where the dreams for a better life under Aristide are bitterly crushed by the harsh realities.

 

Haiti/Cuba musical journey by a Haitian singer to a Cuban/Haitian community.

 

Haiti: Coup de Grace? by Crowing Rooster. Politics and the coup.

 

Mickey Mouse goes to Haiti by Crowing Rooster. Disney sweat shops.

 

The Unpeople of Haiti by Crowing Rooster. The hope and promises of the Aristide government are dismantled in the face of the IMF.

 

Jamaica

 

The Harder They Come is the film that brought reggae music into the mainstream.

 

Chile

 

The Battle of Chile by Patricio Guzman The epic documentary on the fall of the Allende government.

 

Argentina

 

The Official Story by Luis Puego looks at the contradictions between the personal and the political in the family of an army officer who adopts the daughter of a disappeared woman.

 

The Funny, Dirty Little War. A humorous look at military dictatorship by Hector Olivera.

 

Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, by Lourdes Portillo

 

Bolivia

 

Blood of the Condor by Jorge Sanjines. An epic battle between a peasant village and the Peace Corps.

 

Bolivian Radio by Karen Ranucci. Miners in a mountain town use radio for communication and empowerment.

 

Radio Novelas. A group of Canadian indigenous people travel to Bolivia to share their radio experiences with a group of Quechua producers.

 

Luis Beltran Tunes into Bolivian Miners' Radio. A Paper Tiger TV show.

 

Panama

 

Am Tule Marbi a look at the Kuna Indians and their struggle for autonomy.

 

Ambe Bina Soge The first Kuna music video.

 

Dominican Republic

 

TV Machepa TV on the streets (unpaved) of the Dominican Republic.

 

Fiesta Electoral. Demonstration elections in DR.

 

Chicano Films

 

Chicano Park by Marilyn Mulford looks at the historical background of this San Diego institution and the scene of current battles between the city and the community of Logan Heights.

 

Guillermo Peña's brilliant performance art was a key ingredient in the Border Arts Workshops early years.

 

Latin America in General

 

La Esperanza Incierta a TV documentary about South America made for UK. It looks at Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina.

 

Que Todos Se Levantan Made by Europeans in collaboration with producers in Guatemala in answer to the Quincentennial celebrations.