Latin Shorts 1
Nubia [Cuba/Germany/2015/11′] Marina Zolke
Dani, a young Cuban, lives together with his grandmother Yuya in Havana. When his girlfriend becomes pregnant, her parents want her to have an abortion, because Dani is black. A true story.
Argentina, Forgive me [Brazil/2015/20’] Leandro Afonso
After several disappointments in Football World Cup, a tragedy bigger than all of them. While recalls her last four years. Filmed on location in Salvador-BA, Brazil. October, 2015.
Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi2176561689/
Vicenta [Ecuador/2014/5’] Carla Valencia Dávila
Vicenta is a woman from the countryside who was born in Bolivia and migrated with her grandmother to Chikle searching for a better life. She washed clothes in a salt mine to earn her living. She was a woman from the countryside, a migrant, a mother, a militant, a Chilean, an Argentinian, an Ecuadorian, a Bolivian. This is a real story. Vicenta was the filmmaker’s great-grandmother.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/82428425
Guardianes de la Costa [Uruguay/2012/30’] Enriqueta Curbelo
An enjoyable journey that takes as reference points the lighthouses located on the coast and islands of Uruguay, from the Rio de la Plata to the Atlantic Ocean, leading to discover hidden places and amazing stories that will delight the traveler
Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/AngraFilms
Near the coffee [Puerto Rico/2015/15’] Flynn Donovan
This short film shows in relative detail the lengthy and risk business of coffee growing and coffee production. Interlaced with images of coffee growing, this films shows a man deep in contemplation in this island landscape.
Through the wall [Mexico/US/2016/6’] Tim Nackashi
Abril is living undocumented in the United States with her 2 year-old boy Julián. Julián’s father was deported back to Mexico. In order to see other, Uriel, Abril and Julián must journey separately and cross difficult terrain to reach the US/Mexico border fence where they spend time together through holes in the actual border fence, the only way little Julián has ever know his father.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/160764392
Desayuno con Tiffany [Colombia/2015/14’] Andrés Molano Moncada
Rafael must get out of bed to make breakfast for the woman sleeping beside him. It is not easy; everything seems against him, including his love for her.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/144155545
Burnout [Mexico/2015/9’] Miguel López Valdivia
“Burnout” is the portrait of a paramedic and his relationship with death. A duel between the deep pleasure that gives him the adrenaline when he turns on the siren, and the emotional weariness from being the witness of countless tragedies.
Trailer: https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/600331455.jpg?mw=1920&mh=1080&q=70
Focus on Peru
Near the mountain [Peru/2014/15’] Flynn Donovan
Arequipa is almost entirely built from a material called SILLAR, a stone comprised of volcanic ash. Starting around the 15th century the Spanish quarried this material and used it exclusively in their architecture. This film follows a very old quarry worker through his day as hecuts and shapes pillar bricks for construction.
Arriba [Peru/2015/8’] Adrián R. Hartill
A pirate radio reveals the contradictions of ordinary people living above Lima.
Zona Intangible [US/2016/77’] Ann Hedreen and Rustin Thompson
Refugees fleeing the Shining Path terrorists build a new city called Manchay on the edge of Lima, Peru. A gift from an American family funds construction of the city’s first modern health clinic, inspiring other donors to send medical supplies. Against great odds, the clinic has thrived for 13 years.
Award-winning Directors, Ann Hedreen and Rustin Thompson trace the unlikely connection between people of this asentamiento humano ( human settlement), and her great-uncle, a Swedish-American pioneer of the Peruvian fishing industry. The film introduces a network of teachers, volunteers, medical professionals-and one very determined priest who helps these refugees carve a new life from an abondonned gravel pit in one of the world’s population now living in settlements like Manchay, Zona Intangible portrays the challenges facing one such community, and the complex ties between their future and a benefactor they never met.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/164784267
Website: https://zonaintangible.com/
Latin Shorts 2 / Docs
The Route to The Tall Islands [Scotland/2015/10’] Lukasz Gasiorowski
Rumbo a Las Islas Altas travels with Salsa Celtica as they write record and launch their highly acclaimed album the Tall Islands. Salsa Celtica have a forged a link between Celtic and Latin cultures for nearly two decades. The band’s love of salsa and Afro Latin American culture has seen them travel several times from Scotland to Cuba (Havana and Santiago). 2014 saw Salsa Celtica release their 5th studio album, The Tall Islands, to public and critical acclaim. The group finally got the chance to play their first and much awaited concerts in Colombia.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U_bmOmqMio
Madre [Sweden/Colombia/2016/14’] Simón Mesa Soto
6 years old Andrea leaves her neighbourhood in the hills above Medallín to attend a downtown casting for a part in a porn part.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/163950398
Faithful Rising [Ireland/2016/43’] Gary Hoctor and Miriam Smyth
Born in Buenos Aires, Eamonn (Eduardo) Bulfin arrived back in Ireland with his father William at the age of 15. He sent him to Scoil Éanna, to be taught by Pádraig Mac Piarais and played a central role in Ireland’s 1916 Uprising/Revolution. Being an Argentine citizen, his life was saved by the direct intervention of the Argentine ambassador at that time. This film also features another Offaly patriot of that turbulent period. Peadar Bracken.
A framed image/sketch from Faithful Rising of Eamonn Bulfin raising the flag of the Republic over the GPO will be on display at each venue.
Faithful Rising will be introduced by the Directors in Birr
Limpiadores [England/Brazil/Colombia/2015/39’] Fernando González Mitjans
Limpiadores captures the life and struggles of the invisible migrant workers that make sure offices and classrooms are clean and tidy before professors and students arrive for their morning classes at some of London’s most prestigious universities.
Limpiadores follow three of these workers during their journeys to, and into work, accompanying them throughout their early morning shifts at some of the most renowned higher education institutions in the city. We hear about their migration experiences, disillusion toward the IK, and hopes of a better future while they sweep, mop and orgonize the offices and classrooms of universities still submerged in the night.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/153936720
Latin Shorts 3 / Docs
La Madre Buena [England/Mexico/2016/6’] Sarah Clift
A Mexican mother is torn between her politics and getting a Trump piñata for her son’s birthday.
La Madre Buena recently screened at the Chicago Latino Film Festival
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/183095913
Últimos Días [Peru/2017/15′] Arturo Leon Llerena
RAMÓN is a veteran tailor that has been elaborating gentlemen’s clothing for decades, but in recent years his tailor shop has become anachronistic and his profits scarcer. GERMÁN, the son of his longtime landlord and friend arrives one day, telling him that he is now in charge of the rent and that his contract won’t be renewed. Ramón now has a month to find solutions to his financial problems before Germán returns and throws him to the street. While young people don’t seem to appreciate Ramon’s craft, his long standing clients are dying one after the other. But it is among a young crowd that a solution to Ramon’s problems presents itself, although in a twisted and trendy way.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/158744148
Los Olvidados/The Forgotten [Colombia/2014/10’] Mauricio Caro Valderrama
Facundo displaced by violence reaches the village from his town. Just when he arrives, sons of families that live in this village , begin to disappear , which causes a mistrust of the villagers . As days elapse, fear and suffering by the people, Facundo will be face with a series of unexpected events.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18Pil_DCYIQ
Mi encuentro [Bolivia/2015/3’] Angela Rosales Challis
Filmed on a 16mm Bolex in Cochabamba, Bolivia, MI ENCUENTRO uses colorful double exposure to highlight creative choreography. Going home after being away 8 years created new perspectives based on rooted memories that I didn’t know were in me. Our past and present is who we are. Our buildings and our people are the foundation of our existence.
Miami Five freedom Tour [England/2016/20’] Rob Miller
The Miami Five Freedom Tour last July aimed to ensure that as many people as possible who had supported their fight for justice, written to them in prison (for 16 years) and who had played a key role in achieving both their freedom were visited by two of the five – René Gonzalez and Gerardo Herández. They visited London, Tolpuddle, Durham, Manchester and Cardiff to thank the people and especially Cuba Solidarity Campaign in their long struggle for freedom.
Land of Amber [Ireland/Mexico/2014/52’] Leticia Agudo and Alicia Arnandis
Simojovel in the South of Mexico, is one of the two regions in the world where natural amber has a unique transparency and range of colours. The way of extracting remains unchanged since Mayan times: by hand in tunnels dug into the mountains. This amber has become very valuable for international buyers. The indigenous miners own their mines, but they cannot reach the buyers, separated by 3 other steps in the marketing and production chain, where jewellers can make a 500%+ profit. But now, Chinese and US buyers are going directly to the mines and paying top dollar and the old club of national jewellers complain of unfairness.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyMHKYnQOkA
