CARLITO'S MEDELLIN
Directed by Jean-Stephane Sauvaire, 2004

A harrowing account of life on some of the world's most dangerous streets, this hard-hitting documentary follows thirteen-year-old Carlito as he shows his decimated neighborhood to filmmaker Jean-Stephane Sauvaire. Carlito lives in Medellin, Colombia's second-largest city, where armed boys hold out against the paramilitary, gangs of criminals, and violent guerrillas. In Spanish with English or French subtitles.

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CORONATION
Directed by Silvio Caiozzi, 2000

A beautifully photographed and haunting tale of obsession and repressed desire set against the backdrop of a decaying mansion in Santiago. Glum, middle-aged bachelor Don Andres hires Estela, a 17-year old country girl, to care for his wealthy and abusive grandmother. He grows increasingly obsessed with her, blinding himself to the threats around him and his own mental breakdown. In Spanish with English subtitles.

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DIALOGUES OF THE EXILED
Directed by Raul Ruiz, 1975

Chilean-born director Raul Ruiz may be cinema’s most famous exile, with his most important work produced in France. In this semi-documentary film, patterned after Bertolt Brecht's Refugee Conversations, Ruiz explores what it means to live in exile. Shot in 1974, Dialogues of the Exiled chronicles the conversations of Chileans in Paris who resolutely hang onto their cultural identity while navigating life in another country. Ruiz offers a provocative portrait of immigrants who struggle for jobs and a decent living but don't blend into the fabric of their new country, still living as though they were in Chile. In Spanish and French with English subtitles.

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GOOD-BYE MOMO
Directed by Leonardo Ricagni, 2005

Obdulio, an 11-year-old Afro-Uruguayan boy from the streets, can neither read nor write. He lives with his grandmother and supports them both by selling newspapers. One evening, he discovers that the night watchman at the newspaper is a magical "Maestro," who introduces the boy to the power of literacy and the meaning of life. In Spanish with English subtitles.

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ILONA ARRIVES WITH THE RAIN
Directed by Sergio Cabrera, 1996

Based on the award-winning novel by Colombian author Alvaro Mutis, this rousing adventure follows three wanderers in search of fortune in 1950's Panama City. In Spanish with English subtitles.

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OEDIPUS MAYOR
Directed by Jorge Ali Triana, 1996

This violent, steamy update of Sophocles's classic tale of patricide and incest was cowritten by Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Set in modern-day Columbia, the drama revolves around a local mayor who is sent to a small town in the Andes to negotiate peace among guerrilla revolutionaries, paramilitary groups, peasants, and the Columbian army. In Spanish with English subtitles.

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ORIANA
Directed by Fina Torres, 1991

A taut, gothic, Latin American romance, winner of the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Marie returns to a rundown Venezuelan house in the jungle where she spent summers as a child. Her return ignites memories of a summer when her adolescent sexual curiosity led to a surprising encounter. "An exotic Jane Eyre set in a jungle-choked hacienda" (Seattle Weekly). With Doris Wells and Daniela Silverio. Spanish with English subtitles.

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RACE AND HISTORY IN BRAZIL:
DENYING BRAZIL and ALEIJHADINHO: PASSION, GLORY AND TORMENT
Denying Brazil directed by Joel Zito Araujo, 2000
Aleijhadinho directed by Geraldo Santos Pereira, 2001

Race and its impact on the art and history of Brazil are highlighted in this exquisite two-DVD set. The documentary Denying Brazil analyzes the issue of race in contemporary Brazilian soap operas, calling attention to the way archetypes and stereotypes influence identity in the Afro-Brazilian community. Well-known soap actors Milton Gonzalvez, Zeze Mota, and Maria Ceica offer provocative comments about their experiences. Aleijhadinho: Passion, Glory and Torment is a fictionalized drama about the life of 18thcentury sculptor Antonio Francisco Lisboa, who was known as Aleijhadinho. Born the son of a slave, Lisboa struggles with prejudice, mental illness, and disease but never stopped expressing himself through his art. In Portuguese with English subtitles.

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RODRIGO D
Directed by Victor Gaviria, 1990

A truly powerful film about growing up on the streets in the drug capital of Medelin, Colombia. Shot in quasi-documentary style, many of the young people who appeared in the film are now dead or imprisoned. In Spanish with English subtitles.

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SAUDADE DO FUTURO
Directed by Cesar Paes, 2000

The music and rhythms of Sao Paulo, Brazil, come alive in this fascinating look at the cantadores, troubadours from Brazil's poorer northern regions who set the streets of the giant city afire with their infectious sounds. In Portuguese with English subtitles.

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25 WATTS
Directed by Juan Pablo Rebella & Pablo Stoll, 2001

Twenty-four hours in the lives of three young, wayward friends are chronicled in this impressive, low-budget charmer from Uruguay. Winner of the Youth Jury Prize at the 2001 Rotterdam Film Festival. In Spanish with English subtitles.

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THE WAIT
Directed by Aldo Garay, 2002

The Wait tells the story of three intertwined lives: a mother, her daughter and their neighbor. Their dependent coexistence is driven by loneliness and a yearning for genuine affection, but the happiness they pursue cannot be obtained because of the price life exacts In Spanish with English subtitles.

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