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Showing posts with label documentary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label documentary. Show all posts

UNA BUENA CARTELERA LATINA EN EL DOCNYC FESTIVAL + HIGHLIGHTS

Posted by LATINO EVENTS Y TESPIS MAGAZINE on Saturday, November 15, 2014 , under , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | comments (0)



Este año en particular, la presencia de temas latinos es fuerte en el festival DOC NYC. La chispa del emprendimiento prende en Costa Rica y en Sud América en contra del machismo, la lejanía, la falta de infraestructura y capital. No hay incentivo de progreso en muchos lugares de América Latina, pero en un rincón de Costa Rica, la directora  Lesley Chilcott nos muestra cómo un grupo de mujeres triunfa, crece y genera cambio en A SMALL SECTION OF THE WORLD. 


El papel de las mujeres en el desarrollo de América Latina cambiará el rostro del continente como también lo refleja Pamela Yates en otro de sus fantásticos trabajos documentales, DISRUPTION (foto) y las promesas del micro-crédito o la semilla del emprendimiento.
Otra cambio que se presenta en el festival es el climático. La periferia y la centralidad se nos revela en el corto SANTA CRUZ DEL ISLOTE de Luke Lorentzen. Vivir en un islote a 50 millas de Cartagena puede parecer paradisíaco, y a lo mejor lo es. Pero Santa Cruz está casi a nivel del mar y no se le ve que tiene muchas posibilidades de crecer. Países conformados por islas están en peligro de desaparecer bajo las aguas. Qué le espera a Santa Cruz? Tomarán ellos mismos cartas en el asunto?. Porque más allá de todo  se impone esta inercia que cuelga sobre el islote, donde no se ve iniciativa, plan de futuro. Prenderá allí también la mecha del emprendimiento ?.
Banksy llegó a NYC y causó revuelo. Y en Banksy Does New York vemos su residencia de 30 días en la ciudad y las reaciones que causó: Qué es arte y qué significa ser artista; la política y el capital en el arte y la protesta a través del arte son todos temas que me vinieron a la cabeza viendo este doc sobre el controversial artista. Controversiales y efectivas son también las campañas y las protestas de The Yes Men Are Revolting. La creatividad y el riesgo tomado en sus 'antics' para poder dejarse oír en medio del bullicio generalizado han hecho imposible que organizaciones, intereses y gobiernos tiren bajo el tapete y se desentiendan de asuntos tan cruciales como el cambio climático. Más allá de las risas (que hay muchas) los Yes Men inspiran a buscar métodos nuevos y efectivos para hacer de la protesta un agente efectivo de cambio. 
Estos son solo algunos de los temas que pude sopesar de los tantos presentes en el festival. Como pueden ver debajo, las entradas latinas exploran temas que van desde las pandillas en las calles de Nueva York en los '70 en RUBBLE KINGS hasta la icónica fotografía de Sebastian Salgado, pasando por la vida después de prisión en COMING HOME; la lucha por salarios y condiciones de trabajo justos en THE HAND THAT FEEDS; y la lucha por la vida misma en MARMATO, un pueblo minero de Colombia. Y mucho más para explorar en DOC NYC que se realiza en NYC hasta el 20 de Noviembre.

Acá los filmes de interés o director latino:

1_ COMING HOME, Dir. Viko Nikci

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE - At the age of 25, Angel Cordero, an innocent man, was arrested and convicted of attempted murder following a stabbing in the Bronx. Viko Nikci follows him as he is released from prison after thirteen years into a new world of smartphones and social media. Readjusting to life on the outside, Angel has two goals: confronting the man who actually committed the crime for which he was punished, and repairing his relationship with the daughter he was forced to leave behind.

7:00 PM, Sat. Nov. 15, 2014 - IFC Center
12:30 PM, Thu. Nov. 20, 2014 - IFC Center
Expected to attend: Viko Nikci, film subject Angel Cordero


2_ DISRUPTION, Dir. Pamela Yates

NYC PREMIERE - Recognizing the persistence of income inequality in South America, a group of activist economists join together to offer an alternative path to eliminating poverty: encouraging the poor to open savings accounts and thereby become active agents within the existing economic system. Fundación Capital partners with impoverished women to put their plan for financial inclusion into action, beginning pilot programs in Colombia, Peru and Brazil, and demonstrating the power of women to lead potentially continent-wide social change.

2:30 PM, Sat. Nov. 15, 2014 - IFC Center
5:00 PM, Tue. Nov. 18, 2014 - IFC Center
Expected to attend: Pamela Yates, producer Paco de Onis


3_ THE HAND THAT FEEDS, Dir. Rachel Lears & Robin Blotnick

NYC PREMIERE - An Upper East Side Hot & Crusty bakery serves as the unlikely setting for an old-fashioned David vs. Goliath story in Rachel Lears and Robin Blotnick's rousing film. After years of exploitation, Mahoma López, an unassuming sandwich maker, leads his fellow service workers as they demand better working conditions and wages. Risking their livelihood—and, for some, deportation—they take to the streets to plead their case to their regular customers, partnering with impassioned young Occupy activists in a hard-fought battle to prove the power of labor organizing.

2:30 PM, Sun. Nov. 16, 2014 - IFC Center
Expected to attend: Robin Blotnick, Rachel Lears, film subjects Mahoma Lopez and family

4_ MARMATO, Dir. Mark Grieco

NYC PREMIERE - Exploring the intersection of economic development, environmental impact and globalization, Mark Grieco's film is an intimate and richly observed portrait of Marmato, a rural mining town threatened with destruction. At the center of a new global gold rush, the Colombian government has imperiled Marmato by selling its mines to a Canadian company. With plans in place to displace 8,000 inhabitants, level their mountain home and transform it into an open pit to extract the estimated $20 billion in gold buried within, can the community survive?

2:45 PM, Tue. Nov. 18, 2014 - IFC Center
5:15 PM, Wed. Nov. 19, 2014 - IFC Center
Expected to attend: Mark Grieco


5_ RUBBLE KINGS, Dir. Shan Nicholson

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE - Confronting a bankrupt, decaying city and the dashed hopes of the civil rights generation, African-American and Latino teenagers violently took over the streets of 1970s New York. The South Bronx became a war zone ruled by gangs like the Savage Skulls and the Ghetto Brothers. Hypnotic archival footage and present-day interviews with former gang members reveal how peace was brokered at the peak of the bloodshed in a most unlikely manner, laying the foundation for what ultimately became hip-hop culture.
Screening with Fraser Munden & Neil Rathbone's THE CHAPERONE. An action-packed, animated retelling of what happened when a drunken motorcycle gang invaded a 1970s school dance.

9:15 PM, Sun. Nov. 16, 2014 - SVA Theatre
Expected to attend: Shan Nicholson, film subjects Benji Melendez, Lloyd Murphy, Jee Sanchez, Rolly Rodriguez and D.S.R.


6_ THE SALT OF THE EARTH, Dir. Wim Wenders & Juliano Ribeiro Salgado

Brazilian Sebastião Salgado has created some of the most indelible photographs of our time. His black- and-white images bring an artful composition to chronicling humanity's "salt of the earth" in multiyear projects such as "Workers," "Migrations" and "Genesis." This film, directed by his son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wim Wenders, brings an insider's and outsider's perspective on the family, illuminating the key role played by Salgado's wife Lélia Deluiz Wanick and their work on the nature preserve Instituto Terra. Sony Pictures Classics, opens Apr. 3.

7:00 PM, Wed. Nov. 19, 2014 - Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas

7_ A SMALL SECTION OF THE WORLD, Dir. Lesley Chilcott

NYC PREMIERE - In equal measures inspiring and endearing, Leslie Chilcott's film spotlights a group of Costa Rican village women who, seeking a way to offset the economically motivated flight of their husbands and sons from the community, form ASOMOBI, a coffee-growing collective—despite not knowing the first thing about growing coffee. Persevering through a steep learning curve and numerous setbacks, ASOMOBI captures the attention and support of a local exporter, and through her, the international coffee industry.
Screening with Luke Lorentzen's SANTA CRUZ DEL ISLOTE. Inhabitants of a remote Colombian island paradise face an uncertain future in changing times.

5:00 PM, Fri. Nov. 14, 2014 - IFC Center
Expected to attend: Lesley Chilcott


DOCUMENTALES LATINOS EN EL DOC NYC FEST + HIGHLIGHTS

Posted by LATINO EVENTS Y TESPIS MAGAZINE on Thursday, November 8, 2012 , under , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | comments (0)





El Tercer Festival de Documentales de NYC (DOCNYC FEST) presenta varios trabajos con temas latinos o relacionados con la comunidad que les recomiendo altamente. Documentales son, por esencia, 'eye openers' y con más de 125 filmes, el festival tiene para todos los gustos. Aqui les menciono algunos documentales que ya he visto y que participan en DOC NYC FEST más algunas recomendaciones de relevancia. Las entradas latinas son excelentes: Shenandoah, La Camioneta, The Central Park Five, Crooked Lines, The Needle y Searching for Sugar Man. Además, les recomendamos: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Mea Culpa Maxima: Silence in the House of God and How to Survive the Plague.

Para los que no han podido hacerlo, tienen otra oportunidad de ver Searching for Sugar Man (que estrenó en el pasado Tribeca Film Festival), The Central Park Five (estrenó en el 50th NYFF) y Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry (estrenó en el Human Rights Film Festival). La Camioneta es otro tremendo documental que les llegará muy cerca...
Déjennos saber que les han parecido!. 

DOC NYC FEST se lleva a cabo en el Centro IFC de la Sexta Avenida y en Teatro SVA de Chelsea HASTA EL 15 DE NOVIEMBRE > DOCNYC

DOCUMENTALES LATINOS + 

* ICEBERG SLIM: PORTRAIT OF A PIMP (dir. Jorge Hinojosa).

Image Courtesy of Final Level Entertainment
US PREMIERE For the millions of readers who have been enthralled by Iceberg Slim’s books, this film fleshes out the life and legacy of the man who pioneered a new kind of street-wise writing. And for newcomers to his world, it’s a great place to start. Years in the making, the film includes archival footage of Slim along with interviews with his friends, colleagues, and famous admirers such as Chris Rock, Snoop Dogg, Quincy Jones and Ice-T. The story is enhanced with stylish pulp fiction iconography.


* SHENANDOAH (dir. David Turnley).

Photo by David C. Turnley
WORLD PREMIERE – Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, is a coal-mining town with a proud immigrant heritage, once pivotal in fueling America’s industrial revolution. Now the town is on the skids, struggling to retain its identity, soul, and values—all of which were dramatically challenged when four of the town’s white, high-school football stars were charged in the beating death of an undocumented Mexican immigrant named Luis Ramirez. Pulitzer Prize-winner David Turnley creates a deeply felt portrait of a working-class community on trial. (97 min, in English & Spanish). In person: David Turnley
SAT, NOV 10, 7:00PM (IFC) • MON, NOV 12, 4:30PM (IFC)

* LA CAMIONETA (dir. Mark Kendall).

Photo by Mark Kendall
Every day, dozens of decommissioned school buses leave the United States and migrate to Guatemala, where they are repaired, repainted, and resurrected as the brightly colored camionetas that bring most Guatemalans to work. This lyrical film follows the migration of one American bus as well as the personal stories of five individuals whose lives become intertwined with its transformation. What slowly emerges is a vivid and rich meditation on the universal quest for mobility. (72 min, in English & Spanish). In person: Mark Kendall
SAT, NOV 10, 9:15PM (IFC)

* THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE (dirs. Ken Burns, Sarah Burns & David McMahon).

Photo courtesy of NY-Daily News
In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers were arrested and charged for brutally attacking and raping a white female jogger in Central Park. News media swarmed the case, calling it “the crime of the century.” But the truth about what really happened didn’t become clear until after the five had spent years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. This story of injustice finally gets the telling it deserves. The film recently made headlines when lawyers for New York City attempted to subpoena its outtakes for an ongoing lawsuit. A story whose aftershocks continue to shape the city, this promises to be one of the most high-profile documentaries of the year. (119 min). In person: Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon and members of the Central Park Five
THU, NOV 15, 7:00PM (SVA) > CLOSING NIGHT GALA 

PLUS: 2+Short films as part of SHORTS: PORTRAITS program:

Image Courtesy of Supply Demand
* CROOKED LINES (19 min, dir. Lucy Walker) reunites part of the team behind Waste Land to tell the story of a young man who might have been Brazil’s best hope for Olympic gold in rowing.
* THE NEEDLE (40 min, dir. Carmen Oquendo-Villar, Jose Correa). A gay Puerto Rican man dispenses advice and injections from his clandestine home clinic. With Carmen Oquendo-Villar in person.
THU, NOV 15, 9:45PM (IFC)

As part of SHORT LIST you will have another chance to see:

* SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN (dir. Malik Bendjelloul).

Image Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
In the late ‘60s, the Detroit singer known as Rodriguez was considered a Chicano Bob Dylan by his producers. His album “Cold Fact” never took off in the U.S., but unbeknownst to him it became massive hit in apartheid-era South Africa. Decades later, amidst rumors of Rodriguez’s suicide, dedicated South African fans search to learn what happened to their hero. This unforgettable film chronicles their quest and its extraordinary outcome.

And also:

* AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY (dir. Alison Klayman).

Photo byTed Alcorn
Since he was named Runner-Up for TIME Magazine’s 2011 Person of the Year, more people are starting to wonder: who is Ai Weiwei? Director Alison Klayman follows the Chinese artist/activist over three years as he pursues massive art projects around the world and champions free speech in face of intimidation in his home country. He shot to prominence in spring 2011 when Chinese authorities jailed him for two months. Klayman supplies an invaluable portrait of the man behind the headlines.

* MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD (dir. Alex Gibney).

Image Courtesy HBO
Mea Maxima Culpa investigates the Roman Catholic Church’s cover-up of countless incidents of sexual abuse of children. Despite sporadic headlines, we still have enormous gaps in our knowledge about the concealment that took place over decades. Although the church has paid out over $2 billion to settle claims, U.S. courts have convicted only one senior church official for his role in covering up these crimes. Increasingly, other countries are discovering their own dark secrets. Who should be held accountable?

* HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE (dir. David France).

Photo by William Lucas Walker
Faced with their own mortality, an improbable group of people, many of them HIV-positive young men, broke the mold as radical warriors taking on Washington and the medical establishment. With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and ‘90s, filmmaker David France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs of heroes in the making. 

DOCUWEEKS IN NYC AND LOS ANGELES

Posted by LATINO EVENTS Y TESPIS MAGAZINE on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 , under , , , , , , , , | comments (0)




DOCUWEEKS 2012 > IFC Center NYC Agosto 10 - 23 / Laemmle NoHo 7 Los Angeles Agosto 10 - 30 > Dos producciones latinas >  DOCU.



- DROUGHT/ CUATES DE AUSTRALIA (Everado González, Mexico, 2012, 84 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Residents from the ejido (communal land) Los Cuates de Australia in Northeast Mexico perform every year a massive exodus to look for water during drought. In this exile, men, women, elders, and children wait for the first drops of water to return to their lands, metaphor of a small town that hides from death.
August 10 - 16

- WE WOMEN WARRIORS/ TEJIENDO SABIDURÍA (Nicole Karsin, USA/ Colombia, 2012, 79 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
We Women Warriors follows three native women caught in the crossfire of Colombia's warfare who use nonviolent resistance to defend their peoples' survival. Colombia has 102 aboriginal groups, one-third of which face extinction because of the conflict. Trapped in a protracted predicament financed by the drug trade, indigenous women are resourcefully leading and creating transformation imbued with hope. We Women Warriors bears witness to neglected human rights catastrophes and interweaves character-driven stories about female empowerment, unshakable courage, and faith in the endurance of indigenous culture. August 10 - 16.