The 4th Annual Latino & Native American Film Festival kicks off Thursday, April 24th with a reception for the public. It will also feature the showing of the film ” The Gold Broach (Broche de Oro).” Carlos Torre, a professor at Southern Connecticut State University and a fellow at Yale University, started the event four years ago as an educational tool.
“Unfortunately, too many Latino students don’t know much about where they come from, their history, their background or their culture. They don’t know that their roots are much, much deeper than they realize; this is so important to their growth.”, says Torre.
He adds that Latinos and non-Latinos alike don’t suspect that there is much more to Latinos beyond what the common media offers us.
This year the three-day festival is dedicated to late documentary photographer Frank Espada, whose collection of the Puerto Rican migration experience is housed in the Smithsonian.
Torre says the festival has other purposes as well. It not only provides an opportunity to bring together the broader New Haven community with the University community, but also brings young Latinos to the university campus; in many cases it’s the first time they visit a campus. “The festival is a great tool to have students from New Haven public schools come to a university campus, to come in contact with people who look like them.
When the festival concludes, Torre and other organizers then plan to take the films to several New Haven high and middle schools to continue to reach as many young people as they can.
For tomorrow’s opening reception, he enthusiastically invites all members of the public. The festival, he says, is educational for everyone.
The schedule for the 4th Annual Latino & Native American Film Festival:
Thursday, April 24
8:00 AM – 9:50 AM
The Word in the Woods (La Palabra En El Bosque) Jeffrey Gould 2011. Categories: Documentary
Run time: 56 min. | El Salvador | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/thewordinthewoods_jeffreygould_nefiac2013
During the early 1970s, hundreds of peasants in a remote region of El Salvador began to emulate the early Christians, working the land together and building communities based on solidarity. By the late 1970s, thousands of peasants in northern Morazan organized to resist National Guard repression, which often involved torture and executions. In the 1980s, the military engaged in scorched earth operations against their villages, inaugurating a 12-year civil war. La palabra en el bosque tells their stories, placing them in context within the light of current reality.
There Isn’t A More Diverse Place (No Hay Lugar Más Diverso) Felipe Degregori 2012. Categories: Documentary
Run time: 52 min. | Peru | Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/thereisntamorediverseplacenohaylugarmsdiverso_felipedegregori_nefiac2013
This documentary was chosen to represent Peru in the 3rd edition of Doctv Latinoamérica. It tells the story of the boat, Henry 9, one of the boats belonging to the company of that same name, that transports people and goods in the Peruvian Amazon on the route from Pucallpa to Iquitos and back. The film draws the spectator into this magical, yet very complicated world.
9:55 AM – 11:35 PM
Garifuna in Peril Rubén Reyes, Ali Allie 2012. Categories: Emerging Filmmaker Competition
Run time: 99 min. | Honduras | Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/garifunainperil_rubnreyes_nefiac2013
Ricardo, a Garifuna language teacher living in Los Angeles, wants to preserve his culture by building a language school in his home village. However, a fundraising venture with his brother Miguel soon becomes tangled up by the expansion plans of a nearby tourist resort, forcing Ricardo to fly back home and sort out the mess. Ricardo’s land troubles are mirrored in a play within a movie about Garifuna hero Joseph Satuye. Shot in Los Angeles and Honduras, “Garifuna in Peril” features a cast of first-time Honduran and Belizean actors.
11:40 PM – 1:00 PM
El Rastrojero: Utopías De La Argentina Potencia Miguel Colombo, Marcos Pastor 2006. Categories: Documentary
Run time: 75 min. | Argentina | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z83oTpx5J8
This film documents the social, economic, and political forces behind the development and production of the Rastrojero, a small diesel utility pickup truck (taxis were also developed) built by the Argentine government-owned airplane (and vehicle) manufacturer IAME (Industrias Aeronáuticas y Mecánicas del Estado) from 1952 to 1980. The Rastrojero was born as a product driven by the state company, during the epoch of stimulus to the local work force and support to domestic industry, during the presidency of General Juan Domingo Perón.
1:05 PM – 1:45 PM
Last Street (Calle Última) Marcelo Martinessi 2012. Categories: Short
Run time: 20 min. | Paraguay | Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/calleultima_marcelomartinessi_nefiac2013
Myriam is 13. This might be her last day at school. 24 hours of her life, portraying the delights and struggles of her routine, along a journey to find acceptance.
San Juan, La Noche Más Larga Claudia Huaiquimilla 2012. Categories: Short
Run time: 18 min. | Chile | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/SanJuanLaNocheMasLarga
It’s June 24Th and people of Lawan, a Mapuche community in southern Chile, is planning a big celebration for Saint John’s Eve. Despite this, Cheo (11), a restless and misfit kid, it’s not happy because means the return of Manquel (45), his father, to the community. He is a violent man who, when he drinks too much, vent his anger with his family, unleashing in Cheo strong desires for revenge.
Atracones Bernabé Rico 2011. Categories: Dramatic Short
Run time: 7 min. | Spain | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: https://vimeo.com/22608690
Alice is a teenager admired by all her peers. She is an excellent student and a good friend. However, she sees herself as a fat pig.
1:45 PM – 2:05 PM
The Tuner (O Afinador) Matheus Parizi, Fernando Camargo 2012. Categories: Shorts Program
Run time: 15 min. | Brazil | Language: Portuguese | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/thetuneroafinador_fernandocamargo_nefiac2013
Paulo, a young piano tuner who works in his father”s restoration workshop, wants to be a concert pianist. During a day of work, he tries to find the whereabouts of a letter from a music conservatory that he anxiously awaits.
2:10 PM – 3:05 PM
The Milk of Hope (El Seno de la Esperanza) Freddy Vargas 2012. Categories: Short
Run time: 13 min. | Dominican Republic | Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/thecenterofhopeelsenodelaesperanza_freddyvargas_nefiac2013
Cheddy Garcia plays Sonia Marmolejos, a young Dominican mother of five, who helped several orphan Haitian babies after Haiti’s 2010 earthquake in such a tender and unselfish way that it touched the hearts of everyone in the nation of the Dominican Republic and the world. Based on a true story.
3:00 PM – 4:25 PM
DESDE CUBA: NEW CINEMA 1 Various Directors 2013. Categories: Shorts Program, Young Cuban Filmmaker’s Showcase
Run time: 83 min. | Cuba | Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/desdecubanewcinema1_nefiac2012_nefiac2013
A selection of Award Winning Shorts from the Young Filmmakers Showcase Competition in Havana – 2013 – INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
4:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Positive Negative Florencia Marano 2012. Categories: Short
Run time: 15 min. | Argentina | Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/positivenegative_florenciamarano_nefiac2013
In a small town in the argentinian Pampa, two teen friends secretly escape to the countryside, to take care of something that can only be solved covertly.
Reality 2.0 / La Realidad 2.0 Victor Orozco Ramirez 2012. Categories: Short
Run time: 11 min. | Germany, Alemania, Mexico | Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/reality20_victororozcoramirez_nefiac2013
It was autumn when I arrived in Germany. I thought that in this exotic country I could distance myself a little bit from Mexico, but I was wrong. Drug traffickers managed to take me back in a ruthless way. A short animated documentary about the drug-related violence in Mexico.
Friday, April 25
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
No Autumn, No Spring (Sin Otoño, Sin Primavera) Iván Mora 2012. Categories: Emerging Filmmaker Competition
Run time: 117 min. | Ecuador | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/withoutautumnwithoutspringsinotoosinprimavera_ivnmora_nefiac2013
Lucas is in college studying for a law degree. He has developed an advanced concept on the subject of the anarchy of the imagination. Lucas dreams big, and when his ideals fall short he becomes addicted to sleeping pills, turning his life into an anarchic battleground. Paula sells pills while she collects tales of happiness from the city’s inhabitants. She is coping with the death of her father, and a medical condition. Antonia has a passion for life but her doctors have given her a few months to live; so she decides to contact ex-boyfriend Martin, now living abroad with a fiancée, to come back and grant Antonia one final, treacherous request. No Autumn, No Spring depicts modern day Guayaquil City and its invisible generation. Iván Mora Manzano’s punk ballad of rebellion, confrontation and the disenfranchised reveals the tribulations of young men and women who struggle deeply with the transition from adolescence to adulthood. — Andres Castillo
4:00 PM – 5:20 PM
Help Me To Remember (Ayúdame A Recordar) Fran Casanova 2012. Categories: Short
Run time: 17 min. | Spain | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/helpmetorememberaydamearecordar_francasanova_nefiac2013
Santi is a 10 year old boy who, after discovering that his grandfather Pelayo is deeply affected by the death of his wife and suffering from Alzheimers, finds, through fantasy and old comics, a way to help his grandfather get back the will to live.
Every Time I Remember, I Forget Laura González 2012. Categories: Short
Run time: 14 min. | Uruguay, Spain | Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/everytimeirememberiforgetit_lauragonzlez_nefiac2013
María is an elderly spanish woman suffering from Alzheimer’s who keeps returning to her childhood during the Spanish Civil War. Rosa is a young colombian girl who has lived through war. When she becomes María’s caretaker, a special relationship develops.
Carlos Mercedes Arensberg 2012. Categories: Dramatic Short
Run time: 6 min. | USA | subtitled
No Trailer Available
In this short I pay tribute to my brother Carlos. The first love of my life and my muse. In a world of irresponsible parents like crazy and sometimes cruel children – my older brother Carlos – protected me, inspired and showed a life full of magic, art, humor, culture and intelligence. Carlos was assaulted several times just for being homosexual – died of AIDS at age 35 and a big piece of my heart went with him. The rest of me will forever be, indulably, influenced by him. In the video I investigate the Carlos exisiting inside of me. A little lost, a little lonely, a little different …… but eternally searching. Exploring
Friends for Change (Amigos por el Cambio) Kai Torre 2014. Categories: Young Filmmakers / Dramatic Short
Run time: 14 min. | Colombia / Puerto Rico | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9NELGP6cgM&list=UUs5ltp7OiiW5KDKK0QiFwOQ
A group of 7th grade students is asked, by their Principal, to develop a school newspaper so that they can represent their school in the “Best School Newspaper” contest. They undertake the task, reluctently, because the boys and the girlsfind it difficult to work with each other. Soon, however, they learn the value of cooperation and teamwork.
Adivina Quién Viene A Comer Mañana Pepe Jordana 2014. Categories: Dramatic Short
Run time: 14 min. | Spain | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: https://vimeo.com/35515981
A beautiful young veterinarian, only daughter of a humble shepherd, returns home to a remote village in Galicia to announce her upcoming wedding to a renowned neurologist. She wants to organize a meal the next day to let everyone know. However, her father, moved equally by jealousy and ignorance (he confuses neurology with black magic) decides to stop the wedding, with the help of several neighbors.
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
The Gold Broach (Broche de Oro) Raul Marchand 2012. Categories: Film
Run time: 90 min. | Puerto Rico | Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/brochedeoro_raulmarchand_nefiac2013
A delightful comedy about three elderly friends who “escape” from a retirement home for a week end at the beach where a grandson is participating in a surfing competition. The film was a huge box office success in Puerto Rico
Sunday, April 27
Angels & Dust (Angeles y Polvo) Hector Herrerra 2014. Categories: Documentary
Run time: 78 min. | Panama / Spain| Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://www.javafilms.fr/spip.php?article1429
A mesmerising, hallucinogenic journey through the gangs and drug culture of modern Panama.
When music producer, Paco and his wife, Kene, are arrested at the airport with plates of cocaine strapped to their bodies, his brother, Mauricio, is dragged into a dangerous underworld. Desperate to do something, Mauricio leaves his home in Barcelona behind and – with the help of illegal taxi driver, Fat – settles into a new life in Panama.As the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly, Mauricio tries to secure protection in prison for Paco and Kene and win custody of their two year old daughter, seized at the airport by social services. Paco soon comes under the wing of violent killer, Matón, and even starts producing music from prison. But life on the streets is even more dangerous. Every day, more and more people are killed in wars between rival gangs. Journalists like William Sala spend their days going from one crime scene to another. Guided by Fat’s friends, former gang members Julito and Lolo, Mauricio witnesses first-hand the realities of ghetto life
The Great Fallacy (La Gran Falacia) Paco Vazquez 2013. Categories: Documentary
Run time: 86 min. | Puerto Rico | Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0rY-8fEC0w
The Great Fallacy is a documentary about the political, economic, and social situation of Puerto Rico. Based on current circumstances of the Island and using history as the foundation for the film, this documentary reveals how politicians manipulate the system so big corporations can maintain control. The Great Fallacy also promotes solutions for the people to force changes to the system through themselves and not through the government.
Noho Hewa (The Truth about Hawai’i) A. Keala Kelly 2013. Categories: Documentary
Run time: 70 min. | Hawai’i | Language: English |
Click Here for Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r69D97_tH5k
In the Hawaiian language, hewa means wrong and noho means to occupy. This documentary is a contemporary look at Hawaiian people, politics and resistance in the face of their systematic erasure under U.S. laws, economy, militarism, and real estate speculation. It is a raw, unscripted story that makes critical links between seemingly unrelated industries, and is told from the perspective of Hawaiians.
Noho Hewa is the first feature length film produced by Hawaiian journalist and filmmaker Anne Keala Kelly, who directed, shot and edited the film over the course of six years. In 2008 Noho Hewa won the Hawaii International Film Festivals Award For Best Documentary.
6:15 PM – 6:45 PM CONVERSATION on / CONVERSATORIO sobre The Great Fallacy & Noho Hewa
6:45 PM – 8:50 PM
Cinco de Mayo: The battle of Puebla Rafa Lara 2013. Categories: Film
Run time: 125 min. | Mexico | Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/cincodemayothebattleofpuebla_rafalara_nefiac2013
On May 5th, 1862, General Ignacio Zaragoza’s inexperienced army defeated Napoleon III’s invading French forces; yet, very little is known or remembered about the events that led to that historic and bloody battle. Featuring an all-star Mexican cast (Angelica Aragon, Kuno Becker, Mario Zaragoza) and hundreds of extras, and based on rigorous research, this exciting multi-million dollar war epic tells the story of this much celebrated event from the points of view of politicians, generals, soldiers, wives and even two young lovers who meet on the battlefield.
8:55 PM – 9:30 PM
Yasuní Nicolás Entel 2013. Categories: Documentary, Short
Run time: 31 min. | Ecuador | Language: Spanish | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/yasun_nicolsentel_nefiac2013
YASUNI explores the role of the oil industry in the lives of two native communities in the Amazon, and establishes a sharp contrast between those that have been touched by the oil companies, and those that have not.
9:30 PM – 9:50 PM
Song to my sad sister (Canção Para Minha Irmã) Pedro Severien 2012. Categories: Short
Run time: 18 min. | Brasil | subtitled
Click Here for Trailer: http://nefiac.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/songtomysadsister_pedroseverin_nefiac2013
Tiago is an inmate in a semi-open regime. It’s been some time since he last returned to his hometown. On a visit to his sister, he finds a very different landscape from the one kept in his memory. Something has also changed in the interior landscape of the people who live there.
About Frank Espada
Born in Utuado, Puerto Rico, in 1930, Frank Espada is best known for his masterwork, “The Puerto Rican Diaspora,” a brilliant, insightful photographic project that took him on a journey for decades (from the Virgin Islands to Hawai’I and more than 40 Puerto Rican communities in between) chronicling the lives of Puerto Ricans: the good; the bad; the joy; the heartbreak. He, straightforwardly, confronted the grim realities of a people who, involuntarily, left their country looking to improve their lot. As Pablo Guzman (a former member of the Young Lords Party) puts it, Frank “led with his soul”.
In 1939, Frank moved to New York with his family into conditions common for most Puerto Rican migrants: “We were quite poor, always struggling to make ends meet, living in apartments with no hot water or refrigerators, with no heat in the winter and rats in the hallways. I was never going to be a Boy Scout, for the uniform cost $14. My first bed was a necessity of my marriage, for which I bought my first suit.”
Along the way, Frank took on many roles: Athlete, Bodeguero (store keeper), Anti-poverty Activist, Public Official, Electrical Contractor, Community Organizer, and late in life, teacher, which “resulted in eighteen of the best years of my life”. Throughout, he maintained the inner spirit that identified him as a gifted artist. The general public came to appreciate Frank’s work, when his photographs became part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian; the Library of Congress acquired an 83-print portfolio; and Duke University acquired his archives. In 2006, his collection was published as The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Themes in the Survival of a People
For more information, visit the festival website: https://www.southernct.edu/latinofilm.html