Diarios de motocicleta

(The Motorcycle Diaries)

(In Spanish and French, with English and French 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.

Guantanamera

(In Spanish , with English subtitles)

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.

Nueba Yol

(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/)

María llena eres de gracia

(Maria Full of Grace)

(In Spanish , with English, Spanish, and French subtitles)

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.

La historia oficial

(The Official Story)

(In Spanish , with English subtitles)

Alicia Marnet de Ibáñez is a high school history

professor and a well-to-do housewife in Buenos

Aires, circa 1983, after the fall of the "junta militar"

that had taken over the government since 1976.

She has a husband, Roberto, who is a succesful

lawyer and a five-year-old adopted daughter.

Hombres armados

(Men with Guns)

(In Spanish , with English,French,

and Portuguese subtitles)

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.

Director Pedro Almodóvar

Dark Habits

(Entre tinieblas)

(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

starring Yolanda to celebrate the abbess's birthday and

to convince their wealthy patron not toabandon them.

(Comedy, drama)

Contains graphic content.

Director Pedro Almodóvar

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

(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.

Director Pedro Almodóvar

Women on the Verge of a Nervous

Breakdown

(Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios)

(In Spanish , with English subtitles)

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, as paths continue to twist and cross.

This is one of Almodóvar's least "graphic" works, and

should not offend delicate viewers.

Director Pedro Almodóvar

Pepi, Luci, Bom

(In Spanish , with English subtitles)

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 very graphic content.

Director Pedro Almodóvar

Live Flesh

(Carne Trémula)

(In Spanish , with English, French, and Spanish subtitles)

Pizza delivery man Victor is having an argument with

Elena, whom he met a few days ago, but she was high

then and doesn't want to hear about him. 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.

Director Pedro Almodóvar

Bad Education

(La Mala educación)

(In Spanish , with English subtitles)

In the early 60s, two boys - Ignacio and Enrique - discover love,

movies and fear in a Christian school. Father Manolo, 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. These meetings are set to

change the life and death of some of them. (Drama, Thriller)

Contains graphic content.

Director Pedro Almodóvar

Talk to Her

(Habla Con Ella)

(In Spanish and French, with English and French 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.

Director Pedro Almodóvar

Flower of my Secret

(In Spanish , with English and French 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.

City of God

(In Portuguese , with English, Spanish, and French subtitles)

Cidade de Deus (City of God) is a housing project built in the

1960's that--in the early 80's--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 too

frail and scared to become an outlaw but also too smart to be

content with underpaid, menial jobs. His redemption is that he's

been given an artist's point of view as a keen-eyed photographer.

But Busca-Pé is not the real protagonist of the film--only the narrator

--he is not the one who makes the decisions that will determine the

sequence of events. Nevertheless, it is through Busca-Pé's perspective

we gain access to the complicated layers of a world apparently

condemned to endless violence.

Contains graphic violence.

Antes Que Anochezca

(Before Night Falls)

(In Spanish and English, with English, Spanish, and French subtitles)

Julian Schnabel directs this incredible journey through the life

and work of the late Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas (Johnny Depp).

Victimized by a government that banned his books and jailed him

for a crime he didn’t commit, Reinaldo endured unspeakable

persecution in a courageous stand against censorship and

oppression.  Without a country but not without integrity, he fled to

America where he continued to fight for personal expression and

produced a stirring body of work.  Before Night Falls is a tribute to

the liberating power of art... and one mans undying passion for life.

Evita

(In English , with Spanish subtitles)

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, eventually

becoming the wife of President Juan Peron and a heroine to the

people of Argentina.

The Power of Community: 

How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

(In English , no subtitles)

This documentary was inspired when Faith Morgan

and Pat Murphy took a trip to Cuba through Global

Exchange in August, 2003.  In May Pat and Faith

attended the second meeting of The Association for

the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, a European group of

oil geologists and scientists, which predicted that

mankind was perilously close to having used 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, after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990,

the couple wanted to see for themselves how Cuba had

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

Frida

(In English and French, with Spanish 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.

(Picture from:  http://miguelde.cervantes.com/)

Miguel de Cervantes

(In Spanish with English subtitles)

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. In addition to

Don Quixote, one of the most influential and widely read

classics in Western literature, the program also introduces

Cervantes’ Novelas Ejemplares, a group of short stories that

he claimed were the first to be written in Castilian. (43 min.)

(http://www.films.com/id/4447/Miguel_de_Cervantes.htm)

El Cantar de Mio Cid

(Films for the Humanities)

(In Spanish with English Subtitles)

El Cid is unique among the world’s great epics because

it was composed so close to the actual historical events

(a mere 40 years after the death of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar,

el Cid himself) that we can distinguish between man and

legend. 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

Common Ground

(Lugares Comunes)

(In Spanish with English Subtitles)

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)

El Crimen del Padre Amaro

(The Crime of Padre Amaro)

(In Spanish and English, with English, Spanish, and

French Subtitles)

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.  But when the priest crosses the

line that separates temptation from sin, he finds

himself torn between the divine and the carnal, the

righteous and the unjust. (from DVD jacket)

Contains graphic content.

The Dark Side of the Heart

(In Spanish , with English subtitles)

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.  Tormen-

ted and lovelorn, Oliverio must face the consequences of

pursuing his dream.  (from DVD jacket)

Contains graphic content.

The Devil's Backbone

(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,

an imposing stone building that shelters the 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.

Por la Libre

(Dust to Dust)

(In Spanish , with English subtitles)

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.

The Soul of Mexico / El Alma de México

(In English and Spanish)

The immense, rich cultural variety of Mexico is presented in this

series of five one-hour chapters by the Consejo Nacional para la

Cultura y las Artes.  From Prehispanic times up to the present day,

this magnificent heritage is displayed through the ancient vitality of

tradition and the most profound, authentic and valuable aspects

that define the Soul of Mexico.  (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.

Kilometer Zero

(In Spanish with English subtitles)

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 featuring,

among other characters, a gay university student, an internet-love

seeker flamenco dancer, a macho but lovelorn gigolo, an actress,

and a businessman starved for new sexual experiences.

(www.amazon.com)

Contains graphic sexuality.

Bulgarian Lovers

(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.

Pan's Labyrinth

(In Spanish with English subtitles)

Set in rural Spain, circa 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.  Other than her sickly

mother (pregnant with the Captain’s son) and kindly housekeeper,

Mercedes, the dreamy Ofelia is on her own and soon finds that an

entire universe exists below the mill. Armed with only her imagination

Ofelia discovers a mysterious labyrinth and meets a faun who sets

her on a path to saving herself and her ailing mother. But soon the

lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur and before Ofelia can

turn back, she finds herself at the center of a ferocious battle between

good and evil, both above ground and below.

Eva Peron

(In Spanish with English subtitles)

Argentina offers its own image of Evita - 1997

Academy Awards/Argentine Selection - She was

neither a saint nor a devil. - No woman, before or

since, has possessed as much magnetism and

influence as Eva "Evita" Peron. 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.

I, The Worst of All

(Yo, La Peor de Todos)

(In Spanish with English Subtitles)

Don't be fooled by the cheap 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. Assumpta Serna shines as the fierce, beautiful

and brilliant Sor Juana, the Mexican wondergirl who

took the vows hoping to get an education, astonished

her friends, foes and times, and was later ordered to

silence by the Church for the sole sin of being an

intelligent woman. --Francisco J. Calderon "Paco

Calderón"

Machuca

(In Spanish , with English subtitles)

Chile: 1973.   Father McEnroe, one of the headmasters of an exclusive

private school, decides to confront the issues of the vast gulf between

Chile's rich and poor by giving a handful of poor children a full scholar-

ship. Pedro Machuca is one of the new students, who is soon befriended

by Gonzalo Infante, whose rich parents live in Santiago's wealthy suburbs.

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.

El Norte

(In Spanish , with English subtitles)

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.

Real Women Have Curves

(In English and Spanish)

Set in the vibrant environs of 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 empower-

ment. Eighteen-year-old Ana has scholarship potential,

her first boyfriend, and a chubby figure that her

similarly overweight mother won't stop harping about.

Mom insists that Ana work in her sister's dressmaking

sweatshop, continuing a family tradition that can only

break her spirit. How Ana defies this fate--and how

director Patricia Cardoso captures the proud tenacity of

several full-figured seamstresses--is what makes this

film so uniquely refreshing. --Jeff Shannon

Solo con tu pareja

(Only with your partner)

(In Spanish , with English subtitles)

Alfonso Cuarón made his mark on Mexican cinema with this ribald and

lightning-quick contemporary social satire. 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. Beautifully filmed in

widescreen, Cuarón’s wildly successful feature debut gave voice to a

Mexican middle-class that had remained largely unseen onscreen, and

surveys contemporary urban sexual mores with style to spare.

Waiting List

(In Spanish , with English subtitles)

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, a

young engineer, becomes smitten with a beautiful young woman

who is en route to meet her Spanish fiancé, a blind man gets

support from the others to go to the head of the line. Frustration

and disorder reign when the one bus brakes 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.