Conceived by the CalArts School of Critical Studies, this three-day film and discussion program at REDCAT and CalArts looks at how Latin American cinema is addressing issues of street culture, urban violence, political conflict, family dynamics, sexual identity and class divisions.

Thursday, March 17, 8 pm
La Ciénaga (The Swamp)
Argentina, 2001, Lucrecia Martel.

Shot in the province of Salta, Lucrecia Martel’s acclaimed work has already become a cult film. It is the acid, unprejudiced portrait of the domestic and social implications of an aristocratic family’s slide into decadence. Released only weeks apart from the 2001 financial collapse, La Ciénaga was seen in Argentina as an unlikely synecdoche of national decline.

Friday, March 18, 6:30 pm
De la calle (Streeters)
México, 2001, Gerardo Tort.

A powerful and disturbing look at life among the urban poor in Mexico City, based on a noted play by Jesús González Dávila. The film addresses corruption, violence, and social inequality in an uncompromising and street-wise manner as it chronicles the lives of a number of young people on the mean streets of Mexico City.

Friday, March 18, 8 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION: El DF

A conversation on megacities and globalization with panelists Cristina Venegas (Dept. of Film, UCSB), Alejandro Pelayo (film producer and cultural attache at the Mexican Consulate, Los Angeles,) and Ernesto Semán (urban critic, Consulate of the Argentine Republic, New York). Moderator: James Wiltgen (Critical Studies, CalArts). This panel will examine the changes Mexico City and other major Latin American cities have undergone in the last several decades, with a focus on the growing difficulties in living surrounded by over ten or twenty million people accelerating into the 21st century. From delegaciones wired in real-time to the global economy via an impressive fiber-optic gird, to the impact of opulence and degradation coexisting in close proximity, the focus of the panel will be on the paradox of growth, changes in the rhythm of life, and various strategies of creation and adoption. | Free

Friday, March 18, 9:30 pm
Cinépolis, Ximena Cuevas, 2002

This experimental video uses a number of formats to address questions of globalization and cultural change in Mexico City. Structured around a retro sci-fi style invasion from outer space, the video looks at questions of progress, science, and the impact of mass media and information technologies on one of the world’s largest cities.

Nadie te oye: Perfume de violetas (Violet Perfume)
México, 2001, Marisa Sistach.

A clear-eyed and forceful examination of the problem of sexual assault in Mexico City and the impact it has on the lives of two adolescent girls. Set in a lower middle-class milieu, it follows the travails of Yessica and Miriam as their friendship is tested to the limit. Preceded by Cinépolis, México, 2002, Ximena Cuevas. This short film, by one of Mexico’s most innovative young filmmakers, addresses the impact of globalization on cultural production, identity, and the control of images. Utilizing a number of formal thematics and loosely structured around a retro sci-fi motif of ‘invasion,’ the film poses critical questions about contemporary Mexico City, consumer culture, and life in a megalopolis.

Saturday, March 19, 4 pm
Motoboys--Vida Loca
Brazil, 2003, Caito Ortiz.

The film follows the lives of four motoboys and a motogirl as they cut through the city's traffic delivering documents, newspapers, pizzas and flowers. Although the motoboys provide a vital service for business in Brazil's financial capital, Paulistanos also abhor them for the way they weave at top speed through traffic. Fights between angry drivers and motoboys are not uncommon. Both dangerous and essential, these motoboys demonstrate some of the urban dilemmas in one of the world’s largest cities.

Saturday, March 19, 6:30 pm
Garage Olimpo
Argentina, 1999, Marco Bechis.

Between 1976 and 1979 thousands of Argentine citizens were unlawfully detained, tortured and killed by the security forces. The dictatorship then in power presented the practice of “disappearing” suspected terrorists as the only way to successfully fight an unconventional enemy in the context of an unconventional war. Shot more than 20 years after the events, Garage Olimpo is regarded as the Argentine The Battle of Algiers; it unveils in an asphyxiating way the devastating consequences of a government violating human rights in the name of national security.

Saturday, March 19, 8 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION: Disappearing

A conversation on secret detentions and social exclusion with panelists Mariana Luzzi (sociologist, UNGS), Randal Johnson (Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, UCLA,) and Gustavo Noriega (film critic, El Amante). Moderator: Martín Plot (Critical Studies, CalArts.) Critical cinematography in the Latin American Southern Cone has moved during the past twenty years from the denunciation of the immorality of the terrorist state to the unveiling of the injustice hidden behind the invisibility of the socially excluded. This panel will critically analyze the major trends involved in this thematic shift and debate the actual social and political processes discussed in the films shown in the festival. | Free

Saturday, March 19, 9:30 pm
Ônibus 174 (Bus 174)
Brazil, 2002, José Padilha.

In June 2000, Brazil was riveted by the hijacking, in broad daylight, of a bus in an up-scale neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. The hijacker, Sandro do Nascimento, had been involved in an infamous massacre of street youth seven years prior. The film provides a complex and nuanced look at the conditions of poverty and inequity in Brazil, using a variety of formal elements and a powerful sociological analysis.

Both panel discussions are free, but advance reservations are recommended. Call 213-237-2800.

FULL FESTIVAL PASS: Purchase tickets to all six screenings at REDCAT for only $36 (CALARTS $24). Offer not available online. Call 213-237-2800.

Also in the Festival: Sunday, March 20, at CalArts’ Bijou Theater 7–11 pm An evening of Argentine film and society: film projections and q/a with Mariana Luzzi, Gustavo Noriega, and Martín Plot

Special thanks to the Argentine, Brazilian and Mexican Consulates in Los Angeles, Adriana Chiesa Enterprises, Aviva Michaelov, Lita Stantic Producciones, Patagonia Grill and Undiscovered Wines.



Read the press release

For student and CalArts alumni, faculty and staff discounts,
please call the REDCAT box office at 213-237-2800.