Wittenberg University

1

Bad Education

In Spanish , with English subtitles

2

Before Night Falls

In the early 60s, two boys discover love, movies and fear in a Christian school. The school principal and literature teacher, both witnesses and takes part in these discoveries. The three characters come against one another twice again, in the late 70s and in 1980.. (Drama, Thriller)

Contains graphic content.

The late Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas (Johnny Depp) is victimized by a government that banned his books and jailed him for a crime he didn’t commit.  Fleeing to America, he continued to fight for personal expression.  Before Night Falls is a tribute to the liberating power of art... and one mans undying passion for life.

3

Bulgarian Lovers

2002

In Spanish with English subtitles

4

El Cantar de Mio Cid

(Films for the Humanities)

2004

In Spanish with English subtitles

After a 16 year absence, Spanish filmmaker Eloy de la Iglesia returns with an entertaining drama/thriller about the tangled love affair between Daniel, a 40 year-old wealthy Madrid lawyer, and Kyril, a younger "straight" Bulgarian man. (www.amazon.com)

Contains scenes of graphic homosexuality.

Meticulous attention to historical detail, spectacular cinematic production values, and the swashbuckling plot itself make this medieval epic superbly entertaining as well as educational. An RTVE production. (60 minutes) http://www.films.com/id/10351/El_Cantar_de_Mio_Cid.htm

5

City of God

2002

In Portuguese , with English, Spanish, and French subtitles

6

Common Ground

(Lugares Comunes)

2002

In Spanish with English subtitles

Ciudade de Deus (City of God) is a housing project built in the 1960's that in later years became one of the most dangerous places in Rio de Janeiro. The intersecting lives of many characters are seen through the eyes of Busca-Pé, a poor black youth. Through his keen-eyed photography,  we gain access to the complicated layers of a world apparently condemned to endless violence.

Contains graphic violence.

Fernando, a respected university professor, and Lili, his devoted wife, have lived in Buenos Aires for many years.  Without warning, they find their comfortable world threatened when Fernando is forced into early retirement.  Facing an uncertain future, the couple relocates to the countryside where they bravely set out on a new chapter of their lives. (from DVD jacket)

8

Los Cuentos de Borges:  "El  Sur"

A recently ordained priest is sent to help an aging

priest run a small parish church in rural Mexico. 

Upon arriving at his new post, he meets a beautiful

young woman with a religious passion that borders

on obsession.  Quickly, her passion for her faith

becomes helplessly entangled in a growing attraction

to the new priest, who finds  himself torn between the divine and the carnal, the righteous and the unjust. (from DVD jacket)

Contains graphic content.

In this story, a descendant of famous ancestors dreams of more heroic times… until a serious accident takes him the doors of death, where the past and the present mingle – and where he meets his final destiny. (58 minutes)

9

Dark Habits

(Entre tinieblas)

1983

In Spanish , with English subtitles

10

The Dark Side of the Heart

1994

In Spanish , with English subtitles

Yolanda sings in a seedy nightclub. When her boyfriend dies of an overdose, she fears the police and seeks refuge in a convent that saves women from the streets. These off-beat nuns include a heroin using abbess who loves Yolanda, one who writes romance novels under a pseudonym, another raising a tiger in the convent yard, and one who designs fabulous fashions and is in love with the local priest. They plan an evening extravaganza to convince their wealthy patron not to abandon them. (Comedy, drama)

Contains graphic content.

In this parable about a narcissistic poet in search of the perfect woman, young Oliverio rejects potential lovers, claiming he "will not tolerate a woman who cannot fly".  When he meets Ana, who actually can fly, she prefers to keep their relationship a business arrangement.  Tormented and lovelorn, Oliverio must face the consequences of pursuing his dream.  (from DVD jacket)

Contains graphic content.

11

The Devil's Backbone

2001

In Spanish , with English subtitles

12

Dust to Dust

(Por la Libre)

2000

In Spanish , with English subtitles

This stylish and unpredictable chiller deftly mixes

horror, suspense, and dark humor.  Twelve-year-

old Carlos is the latest addition to Santa Lucia School, a shelter for orphans of the Spanish Civil War.  Charles gradually uncovers the dark ties that bind the inhabitants of the school: hidden riches, sexual intrigue, and the restless ghost of a murdered student. (from DVD jacket) .

Contains graphic content.

Rodrigo would rather die than attend his son's latest

wedding - so that's exactly what he does, leaving his

family to grapple with a will that's every bit as difficult as he was in life!  His grandsons, Rocco and Rodrigo then take a hilarious road trip to Acapulco in order to scatter the old man's ashes at sea.   Along the way, they learn a few shocking family secrets that will change their lives forever.  (from DVD jacket)          Contains graphic content.

Eva Peron

Evita

Argentina offers its own image of Evita - neither a saint nor a devil.   During the 1950s, she was the most powerful woman in the Americas - capturing the heart and soul of the poor, whose causes she championed until her tragic death at age 33. Eva Peron beautifully chronicles Evita's stormy, passionate life, which brought so much hope to Argentina in an age of political power struggles, bloody coups, military oppression, and economic depression.

Lavish musical drama, based on the hit stage production by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, telling the life story of Eva Duarte (Madonna) who leaves her rural home for Buenos Aires in the company of Latin singer Agustin Magaldi, eventuallybecoming the wife of President Juan Peron and a heroine to the people of Argentina.

15

Flower of my Secret

1996

In Spanish , with English and French subtitles

16

For Love or Country: 

The Arturo Sandoval Story

2000

In English and Spanish; Eng., French and Spanish subtitles

Leo Macias writes sentimental novels with great success but hidden under a pseudonym, Amanda Gris. She is unhappy with her professional life and with her husband, a soldier working in Brussels and Bosnia that is never at home. She will try anything to change her life.

Contains graphic content.

For Love or Country provides a harsh depiction of revolutionary Cuba, its outmoded lifestyle, and the restrictions placed on its people. The same regime his wife embraces forces Grammy-winning trumpet player Arturo Sandoval to play government-imposed music instead of the jazz that he loves, forcing him into a cruel decision. --Mindy Ruehmann

17

Frida

2002

In English and French; Spanish subtitles

18

Guantanamera

1997

In Spanish , with English subtitles

"Frida" chronicles the life Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) shared unflinchingly and openly with Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), as the young couple took the art world by storm. From her complex and enduring relationship with her mentor and husband to her illicit and controversial affair with Leon Trotsky, to her provocative and romantic entanglements with women, Frida Kahlo lived a bold and uncompromising life as a political, artistic, and sexual revolutionary.  (www.amazon.com)

Contains graphic content.

This film is a satire about life in Cuba. Members of a funeral procession, along with a few truckdrivers who have to take the same route begin to talk about God and the world.  They end up discovering that life for both groups has many similarities as well as a lot of differences depending on the point of view.

I, The Worst of All

Despite the publicity on the cover: this is not a movie about lesbian nuns, but the true story of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, one of Spanish literature's greatest poets of all time, and perhaps the first feminist of the Western Hemisphere, circa 1685. Sor Juana, a bright Mexican woman,  takes vows hoping to get an education, and ends up astonishing her friends, foes and times. She is finally ordered to silence by a Church threatened by her intelligence. --Francisco J. Calderon "Paco Calderón"

This movie takes a comedic look at the love lives of 14 different people and how they interconnect during one hot August afternoon around Madrid's central square, the Plaza del Sol (from which all distances within Spain are measured). Mistaken identities and second chances are among the results of this comedy of errors. (www.amazon.com)

Contains graphic sexuality.

21

Live Flesh

(Carne Trémula)

1998

In Spanish , with English, French, and Spanish subtitles

22

Lovers of the Arctic Circle

1998

In Spanish with English subtitles

Pizza delivery man Victor has an argument with Elena, whom he met a couple days earlier. Reacting to the noise, two cops, young David and older Sancho, arrive at the scene, the gun accidentally goes off.  Four years later David is a wheelchair basketball star, he's married to Elena, Victor is released out of prison and their destinies begin to cross again. (Drama, Thriller)

Contains graphic content.

One of the most acclaimed and beloved Spanish films in recent years, Lovers of the Arctic Circle charts the remarkable destinies of Ana and Otto, friends since childhood, whose fates intersect over the years leading to a stunning conclusion in which destiny and romance collide.

23

Machuca

2004

In Spanish , with English subtitles

24

Maria Full of Grace

2003

In Spanish; English, Spanish, and French subtitles

Chile: 1973.   A headmaster of an exclusive private school decides to confront the vast gulf between Chile's rich and poor by giving a some poor children a full scholarship. Pedro Machuca is one of the new students, who is soon befriended by wealthy Gonzalo Infante. But the political and economic differences that are dividing the country find their way into the school, leading to a rift between the two friends.

In a small village in Colombia, the pregnant seventeen year old Maria supports her family with her salary working in a floriculture shop.  She is fired and with no possibility of finding a new job, she decides to accept the offer to work as a drug mule, flying to the US with sixty-two pellets of cocaine in her stomach. Once in New York, things do not happen as planned.

Contains graphic content.

Miguel de Cervantes

Humberto Fuentes is a wealthy doctor whose wife has recently died. In spite of the advice of his children, he takes a trip to visit his former students who now work in impoverished villages.  His trip soon becomes a quest, politically awakening him when he finds out that one of his students was killed by the army.

Using drawings, paintings, letters, maps, and footage of notable landmarks, this program presents the adventures and tribulations of Miguel de Cervantes, arguably the best-known figure in Spanish literary history. (Spanish, 43 minutes) (http://www.films.com/id/4447/Miguel_de_Cervantes.htm)

27

The Motorcycle Diaries

2004

In Spanish and French, with English and French subtitles

28

El Norte

1984

In Spanish , with English subtitles

This film is based on the journals of Che Guevara, leader of the Cuban Revolution. In his memoirs, Guevara recounts adventures he, and best friend Alberto Granado, had while crossing South America by motorcycle in the early 1950s.

Contains graphic content.

After the Guatemalan army destroys their village of San Pedro, two teenage Quiche Mayan Indian siblings journey north through Mexico to the United States to start a new life. As they journey through Mexico, the siblings encounter a number of helpful individuals who direct them towards the U.S./Mexican border. There they find a "coyote" (a professional human smuggler) and make the frightening run across the border. Once across, Enrique and Rosa are introduced to the impossible realities of life as illegal immigrants in Los Angeles.

29

Nueba Yol

1998

In Spanish , with English subtitles

30

 The Official Story

1985

In Spanish , with English subtitles

This film is the tale of a Dominican widower named Balbuena, who moves to New York searching for a better life. However, once there he encounters a troubled family reunion, difficulty finding a job without a green card, a wild relationship with another ex-Dominican, and a run-in with the law. Based on a popular Dominican Republic television character. ( http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nueba_yol/)

An Argentine teacher lives in blissful ignorance of the evils perpetrated by her country's government. Over time, however, her students' rejection of the "official" versions of their history leads her to question things herself. Suspecting that her adopted daughter may have been the child of a murdered political prisoner, she attempts to unearth the truth. But her investigation reveals levels of political corruption so abhorrent that the illusions of her past life are irrevocably shattered.

In Spanish , with English subtitles

Spain, 1944: Following a bloody civil war, young Ofelia enters a violent world when she and her widowed mother, Carmen, move into an abandoned mill with Carmen's new husband, Captain Vidal, a tyrannical military officer.  Ofelia soon finds that an entire universe exists below the mill. There, she discovers a mysterious labyrinth and meets a faun who sets her on a path to saving herself and her ailing mother, pregnant with the Captain’s son. Soon, Ofelia finds herself at the center of a ferocious battle between good and evil, both above ground and below.

Almodóvar's first film of life in Madrid during the punk era and not one for the squeamish. He covers everything from drugs and sexual violence, to female masochism.

Contains extremely graphic content.

33

The Power of Community: 

How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

2006

In English , no subtitles

34

Real Women Have Curves

2002

In English and Spanish

Documentary.  In May, Pat Murphy and Faith Morgan attended the second meeting of The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, a European group of oil geologists and scientists who predicted that mankind was perilously close to using up half of the world's oil resources. When they learned that Cuba underwent the loss of over half of its oil imports and survived,  the couple wanted to see for themselves how Cuba had done this. 

 http://www.communitysolution.org/cuba.html

Set in East Los Angeles, this comedic drama takes a familiar subject--a bright teenager struggling to define her identity--and turns it into an authentic celebration of feminine and cultural empowerment. Eighteen-year-old Ana has scholarship potential, but her mom insists that she work in her sister's dressmaking sweatshop, continuing a family tradition that can only break her spirit. But Ana defies this fate with proud tenacity ... --Jeff Shannon

35

Solo con tu pareja

(Only with your partner)

2006

In Spanish , with English subtitles

36

The Soul of Mexico / El Alma de México

1978

In English and Spanish

Don Juan-ish yuppie Tomás Tomás spends his nights juggling so many beautiful women that he can’t keep their names straight—until one of his many conquests, a spurned nurse, gives him a taste of his own medicine.

The immense, rich cultural variety of Mexico is presented in this series of five one-hour chapters.  (from the back cover).

The chapters are:  1)  The Dawn of Mesoamerica, 2) Landscape of Pyramids, 3) The Lords of the Sun, 4) From Conquest to Revolution, and 5) Living Heritage.

37

Talk to Her

(Habla Con Ella)

2002

In Spanish and French, with English and French subtitles

38

Waiting List

2000

In Spanish , with English subtitles

After a chance encounter at a theater, two men, Benigno and Marco, meet at a private clinic where Benigno works. Lydia, Marco's girlfriend and a bullfighter by profession, has been gored and is in a coma. It so happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in a coma, Alicia, a young ballet student. The lives of the four characters will flow in all directions, past, present and future, dragging all of them towards an unsuspected destiny.

Contains graphic content.

At a rundown bus station in rural Cuba, the line of passengers waiting just keeps getting longer. The problem is that every bus that passes by is already full. Their only hope is to wait for the station's bus to be fixed. As the disparate group settles in, relationships start forming between the passengers: Emilio (Vladimir Cruz), a young engineer, becomes smitten with a beautiful young woman (Thaimi Alvarino) who is en route to meet her Spanish fiancé, a blind man (Jorge Perugorria) gets support from the others to go to the head of the line. Frustration and disorder reign when the one bus breaks down and no one can leave. Resigned to working together, the group magically transforms the station into a beautiful place where no one wants to leave.

39

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

1984

In Spanish , with English subtitles

40

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

1988

In Spanish , with English subtitles

A dysfunctional family in Madrid: Gloria is a cleaning lady, hooked on No-Doze, living in a crowded flat with Antonio, her surly husband, a cabby who adores an aging German singer he used to chauffeur; he's also a forger. One teen son sells heroin, the other sleeps with men. Her mother-in-law keeps bottled water and cupcakes under lock and key, selling them to the family. Two alcoholic writers cook up a plot to sell a manuscript as Hitler's memoirs, if Antonio will transcribe it in Hitler's hand. He won't, so they ask the German singer to intercede. Meanwhile, Gloria has given away one son to a sex-crazed dentist, and grandma picks up a pet lizard. Can this chaos be tamed?  (Comedy, drama)

Contains graphic content.

A woman's lover leaves her, and she tries to contact him to find out why he's left. She confronts his wife and son, who are as clueless as she. Meanwhile her girlfriend is afraid the police are looking for her because of her boyfriend's criminal activities. They talk to a female lawyer, who turns out to be the lover's new lover, and everyone's path keeps crossing each other's in a very complicated and confusing manner.

This is one of Almodóvar's least "graphic" works, and should not offend selective viewers.

41

Nosotros los Pobres

1947

In Spanish, with English subtitles

42

To the Other Side

(Al Otro Lado)

2004

In Spanish, with English subtitles

Pepe el Toro is a humble carpenter who lives peacefully with his paralized mother, his daughter and his girlfriend. They all join together to fight injustice after Pepe is wrongly accused of murder. Part one in a trilogy of the most revered dramas from iconic Mexican film and recording star, Pedro Infante.

This drama features three stories about the bonds between children and absent parents. A Cuban boy who lives in poverty with his mother longs to visit his father in the United States, a Moroccan girl attempts to reunite with her father, and in Mexico, and a boy disobeys his father to visit a strange lagoon. These related vignettes showcase the powerful hold that parents have upon their children, which often remains strong despite their absence.

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419424/synopsis

43

Flowers from Another World

(Flores de Otro Mundo)

1999

In Spanish , with English subtitles

44

Herencia

2001

In Spanish , with English subtitles

The story takes place in Santa Eulalia, a small town lost in inner Spain. The locals, concerned about the lack of females in town and the risk of the town disappearing in the future, organize a bus trip for single women to visit and meet the bachelors in town. The film focuses on three women and their local romantic partners. The contrast between the highly colorful and extrovert newcomers - the flowers of the title - and the dull, dry villagers is almost extreme, and several problems soon arise from the conflict between these two groups. 

Olinda is a small restaurant owner who serves her neighborhood in Buenos Aires. Oli barely ekes out a living, and has 'decided' to sell the restaurant to make enough money to return to her home country - Italy.  Into her life pops a young German visitor, Peter in search of his long lost girlfriend with nothing but a picture to guide him and speaking minimal Spanish.

45

No Sabe, No Contesta

2002

In Spanish , with English subtitles

46

Under the Same Moon

(La Misma Luna)

2007

In Spanish, with English and Spanish subtitles

This fresh and youthful comedy catapults us into a wild weekend in the life of Joaquin. Neither Marcos, Damian nor David help the situation as Joaquin best friends, by constantly complicating love and needing help to get out of trouble. By living each scandalous situation with them, one can learn about the importance of the carpe diem mentality of seizing the day. Everyone at one point or another has made these same decisions and suffered the same consequences, and as such you’ll never get tired of watching this film over and over as the hilarity ensues.

Under the Same Moon puts a human face--several very appealing faces--on the dilemma of Mexican "illegals" living and working clandestinely in the United States and the loved ones back home they're supporting. Rosario, a young single parent, left her village four years ago and jumped the border to find work in Los Angeles; ever since, she and son Carlitos, now nine, haven't seen each other, but she faithfully calls him from the same street-corner pay phone every Sunday morning. When Rosario's mother--the boy's guardian--dies in her sleep, Carlitos taps into an impressive reservoir of street smarts and contrives his own border crossing. The border is just the first of many obstacles to a mother-and-child reunion--not least the fact that the only address the boy has for Rosario is a mental image of the corner she always phones from.

47

In the Time of the Butterflies

2000

In English and German, with English, French, and Spanish subtitles

48

Caribe

2006

In Spanish, with English subtitles

49

On Each Side

2007

In Spanish with English subtitles

50

Amores Perros

2000

In Spanish, with English subtitles

51

El Telón de Azúcar

2005

In Spanish, with NO subtitles

52

Dias de Santiago

2004

In Spanish, with English subtitles

Twenty-three year old Santiago returns home from the Peruvian army ill-prepared to cope with the realities of life. Haunted by his violent military past, he is conflicted by his desire for education and his temptation to join his comrades in a decadent life of crime. Unofficial synopsis (from Seattle Film Festival): Think Taxi Driver in Peru. A 23-year-old war veteran returns to Lima after spending six years fighting terrorists, the Peruvian drug mafia, and a nationalist war against Ecuador. Unable to smoothly transition back home, his life starts to spin out of control.

53

La Cinéaga

2001

In Spanish with English subtitles

54

Nada +

2002

In Spanish, with English subtitles

55

Profundo Carmesi

1997

56

Rodrigo D–No Future

1990

In Spanish, with English subtitles

57

Sexual Dependency

2003

58

Temporada de Patos

2004

In Spanish, with English subtitles

59

Virgen de Los Sicarios

2000

In Spanish, with English subtitles

60

XXY

2007

In Spanish, with English subtitles

61

Y Tu Maman También

2001

In Spanish with English subtitles

62

Sin Nombre

2009

In Spanish with English subtitles

63

Como Agua Para Chocolate

1993

In Spanish with English subtitles

64

La Niña Santa

(The Holy Girl)

2004

In Spanish with English subtitles

65

Balseros

2002

In English

66

Bitter Sugar

(Azucar Amarga)

1996

In Spanish with English subtitles

67

Blossoms of Fire

2000

In Spanish with English subtitles

68

Bus 174

2002

In English

Starring: The people of Juchitán Oaxaca

69

Fresa y chocolate

(Strawberry and Chocolate)

1994

   In Spanish with English subtitles

70

Lion’s Den

(Leonera)

2008

In Spanish with English subtitles

From Argentina:

71

Nine Queens

2001

In Spanish with English subtitles

72

La Mujer sin cabeza

(The Headless Woman)

2004

In Spanish with English subtitles

From Argentina:  A bourgeois woman is driving alone on a dirt road, becomes distracted, and runs over something. In the days following this jarring incident, she is dazed and emotionally disconnected from the people and events in her life. She becomes obsessed with the possibility that she may have killed someone.  She and her husband go back to the road only to find a dead dog. The police confirm that there were no accidents reported in the area and everything returns to normal…until the news of a gruesome discovery.

73

Rojo Amanecer

1989

In Spanish with NO subtitles

74

Smokers Only

2001

In Spanish with English subtitles

75

Whiskey

2004

In Spanish with English subtitles

76

Open Your Eyes

1997

In Spanish with English subtitles

In this steamy, intriguingly complex, psychological thriller, the line between reality and fantasy is hopelessly blurred.  César tries to make sense of his life after a car crash leaves his once handsome face grotesquely disfigured.  After he is placed into a psychiatric penitentiary for a murder he doesn’t remember committing, César’s only hope is to delve into the depths of his subconscious mind where the answer to ending his living nightmare lies in his dreams.  (from DVD cover).  

Open Your Eyes takes you into the twilight zone and beyond, and does so cleverly enough to prompt Tom Cruise to produce and star in an English-language remake, Vanilla Sky. --Jeff Shannon