XXI Latin American Film Festival 2007
November 1 – 14
24 Screenings at 6 campuses in Triangle & Triad
Free Admission * Public Invited
UNC – CH Contact: Duke Contact:
Sharon S. Mújica Tamera Marko
Outreach Director Outreach Coordinator
Phone: (919) 962-2414 Phone: (919) 681-3982
Email: Email:
http://www.duke.edu/web/carolinadukeconsortium/filmfestival/filmfestival.htm
This year we will celebrate the Twenty-First Latin American Film Festival. Admission is free. The festival is open to the public. The festival will include 24 screenings at six campuses in the Triangle and Triad: Duke University, University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Central University, Durham Tech Community College, Guilford College. All films are shown in their original language with English subtitles.
For two decades we have shared with our audiences both classics and new releases from the different genres of a rich and prolific Latin American cinema production. Since 1986, when only three films were shown, the Festival grew to encompass 16 campuses in the Triangle, Triad and Charlotte with up to 35 screenings. Our audiences have been exposed to a wide range of critical and responsible narratives of the region. In response to the demographic changes in North Carolina, we have also screened multiple films and speakers on issues such as migration, globalization and new political landscapes in the Americas.
This festival opens on Thursday November 1, at 6:00 p.m. with a Day of the Dead reception. Since pre-Columbian times, every November 1 and 2, Mexican people prepare themselves to receive their departed loved ones. They clean and decorate the graves, they set lavish tables or altars with offerings to the visiting dead. The reception will include a Day of the Dead altar exhibit, and traditional refreshments. At 7:00 p.m. we will screen the documentary Day of the Dead in Janitzio (Mexico, 1998). We will also screen 2006 film Eréndira Ikikunari (Mexico), which features a woman, Eréndira, who stands up to 16th- century conquistadores to defend her people.
Other festival highlights include several directors and filmmakers coming to talk with audiences before and after the screenings of their films. Guita Schyfter, renowned documentary filmmaker, born in Costa Rica and who moved to Mexico at the age of 18, will come to discuss two of her films. At NC State, November 4, at 7:00 p.m. she will discuss Las caras de la luna/The faces of the moon (Mexico, 2001), a film which features an all-female jury at a Mexico City film festival that brings together women from different nationalities and generations- united, in fact, only by the cinema. At Duke University, November 5 at 7:00 p.m. she will discuss her new film Laberintos de la memoria/Labyrinths of memory (Mexico, 2007). This documentary explores the cultural origins of two women- one a descendent of the Maya and the other with roots in Judaism.
In addition, the following performances and filmmaker discussions will contribute to a dynamic festival. Filmmakers Esther Luna DeLozier & Simone Telles Keith will introduce their film Gaiteando (Venezuela, 2007) on November 4 at 3:45 p.m at NC State. On November 11, at 1:30 p.m. Rodrigo Garcia Lopes will introduce the 2006 film based on his character invention Satori Uso (Brazil) at UNC - CH. John Kirk will introduce and lead discussion of the 2006 film ¡Salud! (Cuba) at UNC-CH on November 11, 3:30 p.m. The 2006 film La Vida No Es Fácil / Life Is Not Easy (U.S.) will be shown at Durham Tech on November 12, 7:00 p.m. and followed by a discussion lead by filmmaker Maurice Martínez. A special performance of batucada (Brazilian drumming) will precede the screening of Favela Rising (Brazil, 2005) on November 13, at 7:00 p.m at NC State. Rodrigo Dorfman will lead discussion of his 2007 film Los Sueños de Angélica / Angélica’s Dreams (U.S.) at UNC-CH on November 14, 7:00 p.m.
This year’s festival also includes matinee screenings at four of the six campuses. The November 4 matinee hosted at Duke at 2:00 p.m. is a Children’s Day matinee, showing three films focusing on children. Other matinees are either a combination of short films or a single full-length film. The films mentioned are only a sampling of the many new and exciting films to be presented this year. For more information on the matinee screenings, and a full listing for evening showings, consult our website: http://duke.edu/web/carolinadukeconsortium/filmfestival/filmfestival.htm.
This event was made possible through funds provided by the US Department of Education and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Film Festival Committee would also like to thank the following sponsors: The UNC-CH Institute of Latin American Studies; the Duke Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies; the Duke Program in Film and Video; the Witherspoon Student Center at NC State; and the Departments of Foreign Languages at NC State, NC Central, Durham Tech and Guilford College. Also, many thanks to those who work in the Outreach Offices at UNC-CH and Duke University.