Film Review, Undistinguished Citizens: The Guilty, the Nobodies, and the Untamed

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Undistinguished Citizens: The Guilty, the Nobodies, and the Untamed
by Jennifer Lynde Barker

La región salvaje

Escalante Amat La región salvaje (The Untamed), Mexico, 2016.

El ciudadano ilustre

Cohn Mariano & Duprat Gastón El ciudadano ilustre (The Distinguished Citizen), Argentina, 2016

Los nadie

Mesa Juan Sebastián Los nadie (The Nobodies), Colombia, 2016.

Pariente

Gaona Iván D. Pariente (Guilty Men), Colombia, 2016.

The Venice International Film Festival in 2016 offered a promising selection of films from Latin America. Four films in particular stood out: La región salvaje, directed by Amat Escalante; El ciudadano ilustre, directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat; Los nadie, directed by Juan Sebastián Mesa; and Pariente, directed by Iván D. Gaona. Three of these films also won major awards (Best Director to Amat Escalante, Best Actor to Oscar Martínez in El ciudadano ilustre, and the Venice Critics’ Week audience award to Los nadie). While distinctive in narrative focus and national origin, all these films contemplate politics in its most basic and intimate form: the struggle for power and peaceful expression between groups and individuals and the crucial role in this struggle of men with guns. They also address in both standard and imaginative ways some of the systemic problems these countries have struggled with in the past half century, including human rights violations, political corruption, drug cartels, kidnappings, disappearances, guerrilla warfare, poverty, and injustice. But while they are specific in terms of social and national scenarios, they also speak to contemporary political issues on a global scale and in the United States in particular....

Film Review: Disappearing into the Distance

Disappearing into the Distance Two Latin American City Symphonies 
by Kristi M. Wilson

Andrea Prates, and Cleisson Vidal Dino Cazzola: A Filmography of Brasília. Brazil, 2012.
Heddy Honigmann Oblivion (El Olvido). The Netherlands, 2008

In Oblivion, the award-winning Dutch-Peruvian filmmaker Heddy Honigmann (Forever, Metal and Melancholy, O Amor Natural) visits her birthplace to record the stories of everyday Peruvians under Alan García’s second presidency (2006–2011). Her camera appears to float or wander at the street level, pausing on occasion to drop in upon the lives of the people it encounters there. Andrea Prates and Cleisson Vidal’s Dino Cazzola is at once a family history, a story of migration, a story of power and national identity, and an homage to filmmaking. Both films recall the Russian director Dziga Vertov’s 1929 classic documentary Man with a Movie Camera in that they are city symphonies, films that produce complex truths about a particular urban space by weaving together images and narrative fragments from the lives of its longtime residents.

At the start of Dino Cazzola: A Filmography of Brasília, close-ups of filmstrips from Cazzola’s extensive archive with dates and bits of tape on them play across the screen (Figure 1), letting us know that this documentary will address the sometimes tedious but usually surprising process of digging through archival material and that it will be self-reflexive. As in the case of Man with a Movie Camera, this film is not just about the creation of Brasília “on the boards of architects” and the life’s work of Dino Cazzola but about documenting one man’s obsession with filmmaking and fascination with the times in which he lived. The film’s opening shots oscillate between close-ups of dirty film cans from Cazzola’s archive being pried open to reveal largely decayed or moldy film stock (Figure 2) and black-and-white aerial shots of gleaming new symmetrical apartment buildings gliding past as if fresh off the conveyor belt.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL TEXT OF THIS FILM REVIEW 

Film Review, Criticism and Condescension: The Triumph of the Poor in The Second Mother

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Criticism and Condescension: The Triumph of the Poor in The Second Mother
Bruna Della Torre de Carvalho Lima                                                                 


During the 14 years of the Workers’ Party’s government in Brazil, a new phenomenon disrupted an old tense and fragile balance in the country’s social order. Anna Muylaert builds her movie The Second Mother around this new phenomenon.

Film Review, Criticism and Condescension: The Triumph of the Poor in The Second Mother

:::::: Film Review ::::::

Criticism and Condescension: The Triumph of the Poor in The Second Mother
Bruna Della Torre de Carvalho Lima                                                                 


During the 14 years of the Workers’ Party’s government in Brazil, a new phenomenon disrupted an old tense and fragile balance in the country’s social order. Anna Muylaert builds her movie The Second Mother around this new phenomenon.

Film Review, Criticism and Condescension: The Triumph of the Poor in The Second Mother

:::::: Film Review ::::::

Criticism and Condescension: The Triumph of the Poor in The Second Mother
Bruna Della Torre de Carvalho Lima                                                                 


During the 14 years of the Workers’ Party’s government in Brazil, a new phenomenon disrupted an old tense and fragile balance in the country’s social order. Anna Muylaert builds her movie The Second Mother around this new phenomenon.

Film Review, Solutions from Below: Pedagogical Documentaries and Praxis by Kristi M. Wilson and Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli

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Solutions from Below: Pedagogical Documentaries and Praxis
by Kristi M. Wilson and Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli

Alejandro Ramírez Anderson, Tierralismo: Stories from a Cooperative Farm, 2013
José Cohen, H2Omx, 2013

Film Review: Disappearing into the Distance

Disappearing into the Distance Two Latin American City Symphonies 
by Kristi M. Wilson,
Andrea Prates, and Cleisson Vidal Dino Cazzola: A Filmography of Brasília. Brazil, 2012.
Heddy Honigmann Oblivion (El Olvido). The Netherlands, 2008

In Oblivion, the award-winning Dutch-Peruvian filmmaker Heddy Honigmann (Forever, Metal and Melancholy, O Amor Natural) visits her birthplace to record the stories of everyday Peruvians under Alan García’s second presidency (2006–2011). Her camera appears to float or wander at the street level, pausing on occasion to drop in upon the lives of the people it encounters there. Andrea Prates and Cleisson Vidal’s Dino Cazzola is at once a family history, a story of migration, a story of power and national identity, and an homage to filmmaking. Both films recall the Russian director Dziga Vertov’s 1929 classic documentary Man with a Movie Camera in that they are city symphonies, films that produce complex truths about a particular urban space by weaving together images and narrative fragments from the lives of its longtime residents.

At the start of Dino Cazzola: A Filmography of Brasília, close-ups of filmstrips from Cazzola’s extensive archive with dates and bits of tape on them play across the screen (Figure 1), letting us know that this documentary will address the sometimes tedious but usually surprising process of digging through archival material and that it will be self-reflexive. As in the case of Man with a Movie Camera, this film is not just about the creation of Brasília “on the boards of architects” and the life’s work of Dino Cazzola but about documenting one man’s obsession with filmmaking and fascination with the times in which he lived. The film’s opening shots oscillate between close-ups of dirty film cans from Cazzola’s archive being pried open to reveal largely decayed or moldy film stock (Figure 2) and black-and-white aerial shots of gleaming new symmetrical apartment buildings gliding past as if fresh off the conveyor belt.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL TEXT OF THIS FILM REVIEW 

Film Review: Disappearing into the Distance

Film Review:  Disappearing into the Distance

Disappearing into the Distance Two Latin American City Symphonies 
by Kristi M. Wilson,
Andrea Prates, and Cleisson Vidal Dino Cazzola: A Filmography of Brasília. Brazil, 2012.
Heddy Honigmann Oblivion (El Olvido). The Netherlands, 2008

In Oblivion, the award-winning Dutch-Peruvian filmmaker Heddy Honigmann (Forever, Metal and Melancholy, O Amor Natural) visits her birthplace to record the stories of everyday Peruvians under Alan García’s second presidency (2006–2011). Her camera appears to float or wander at the street level, pausing on occasion to drop in upon the lives of the people it encounters there. Andrea Prates and Cleisson Vidal’s Dino Cazzola is at once a family history, a story of migration, a story of power and national identity, and an homage to filmmaking. Both films recall the Russian director Dziga Vertov’s 1929 classic documentary Man with a Movie Camera in that they are city symphonies, films that produce complex truths about a particular urban space by weaving together images and narrative fragments from the lives of its longtime residents.

Film Review: Latin American Dreaming

Film Review:  Latin American Dreaming, A Neoliberal Vision for Retirement

by Kristi M. Wilson and Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli
Anayansi Prado Paraíso for Sale. (United States/Panama, 2011)

Paraíso for Sale, directed by Anayansi Prado (also the director of Maid in America, 2005, and Children in No Man’s Land, 2008), treats the topic of Canadian and American retirees’ looking to stretch their dollars, buy second homes, and unwind in the sun by relocating (often permanently) to the Caribbean. It presents ample evidence of the looting of prime real estate in the Caribbean, where international corporations disembark with billions of dollars, pressure the locals to sell their land, and entice politicians not to enforce the law or, worse, to break it.

Film Review, Corazón de fábrica (Heart of the Factory)

Film Review, Corazón de fábrica (Heart of the Factory)

Despite the widespread perception of a turnaround in the Argentine economy in recent years and the institutionalization of popular movements, an ongoing workers’ struggle to lift local factories out of bankruptcy continues to inspire sectors of the Argentine population. Virna Molina and Ernesto Ardito’s Corazón de fábrica (Heart of the Factory, 2008) is not only a revealing account of workers’ reactions to the economic meltdown of 2001 but a multifaceted meditation on the political principles involved in the reorganization of a ceramic factory in the southern province of Neuquén. Corazón de fábrica attests to the pernicious impact that neoliberal policies have had on Argentine families, affecting every aspect of their lives: education, health, transportation, and, primarily, employment.

Film Review, Homo artis, Homo laborans, and Homo politicus

Film Review, Homo artis, Homo laborans, and Homo politicus

Homo artis, Homo laborans, and Homo politicus The Pursuit of Redemption in Three Recent Argentine Films 
by Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli
Armando Bo, El último Elvis. Argentina, 2012
Pablo Giorgelli Las acacias. Argentina, 2011
Santiago Mitre El estudiante. Argentina, 2011

 One cannot be short of themes while there is still plenty of reality. Any hour of the day, any place, any person, is a subject for narrative if the narrator is capable of observing and illuminating all these collective elements by exploring their interior value. —Cesare Zavattini

Film Review, Sólo se escucha el viento (Only the Wind Is Heard) by

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Featured Film:  Sólo se escucha el viento (Only the Wind Is Heard)

With the turn-of-the-century commodity boom in Latin America, agribusinesses sought inexpensive land in Argentina for the production of soybeans. This search for cheaper land has resulted in deforestation and the destruction of ecosystems. The Argentine pampas are globally recognized as an endless expanse of lush, fertile land that is naturally ideal for cattle grazing and …

Film Review, Migration, Regional Traditions, and the Intricacy of Documentary Representation in Cuates de Australia and La chica del sur by: Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli

Migration, Regional Traditions, and the Intricacy of Documentary Representation in Cuates de Australia and La chica del sur

by:  Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli

Everardo González, Cuates de Australia (Drought). Mexico, 2012
José Luis García, La chica del sur (The Girl from the South). Argentina, 2012

Approaches to telling a story are, of course, abundant. Latin American filmmakers borrow from all kinds of artistic traditions—literature, pop music, the plastic arts, home movies, etc. What makes this borrowing both draining and stimulating is that the web offers an excess of examples to draw from. Further, digital production and online distribution are cultivating a new kinship among filmmakers, visual traditions, and viewers across the world. This is a daunting realization that the current crop of young filmmakers is trying to grapple with. Two recent documentary films from Mexico and Argentina bring the topic of social and cultural migration into focus, giving international audiences the opportunity to enter otherwise inaccessible worlds. Cuates de Australia (Drought) from Mexico and La chica del sur (The Girl from the South) from Argentina display contrasting approaches to portraying the hardships of relocation.

Film Review, Disappearing into the Distance by Kristi M. Wilson

Film Review:  Disappearing into the Distance

Disappearing into the Distance Two Latin American City Symphonies 
by Kristi M. Wilson
Andrea Prates, and Cleisson Vidal Dino Cazzola: A Filmography of Brasília. Brazil, 2012.
Heddy Honigmann Oblivion (El Olvido). The Netherlands, 2008

In Oblivion, the award-winning Dutch-Peruvian filmmaker Heddy Honigmann (Forever, Metal and Melancholy, O Amor Natural) visits her birthplace to record the stories of everyday Peruvians under Alan García’s second presidency (2006–2011). Her camera appears to float or wander at the street level, pausing on occasion to drop in upon the lives of the people it encounters there. Andrea Prates and Cleisson Vidal’s Dino Cazzola is at once a family history, a story of migration, a story of power and national identity, and an homage to filmmaking. Both films recall the Russian director Dziga Vertov’s 1929 classic documentary Man with a Movie Camera in that they are city symphonies, films that produce complex truths about a particular urban space by weaving together images and narrative fragments from the lives of its longtime residents.

Film Review, Latin American Dreaming, A Neoliberal Vision for Retirement by Kristi M. Wilson and Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli

Film Review:  Latin American Dreaming, A Neoliberal Vision for Retirement

by Kristi M. Wilson and Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli
Anayansi Prado Paraíso for Sale. (United States/Panama, 2011)

Paraíso for Sale, directed by Anayansi Prado (also the director of Maid in America, 2005, and Children in No Man’s Land, 2008), treats the topic of Canadian and American retirees’ looking to stretch their dollars, buy second homes, and unwind in the sun by relocating (often permanently) to the Caribbean. It presents ample evidence of the looting of prime real estate in the Caribbean, where international corporations disembark with billions of dollars, pressure the locals to sell their land, and entice politicians not to enforce the law or, worse, to break it.

Film, Corazón de fábrica (Heart of the Factory)

Film Review:  Corazón de fábrica (Heart of the Factory)

Despite the widespread perception of a turnaround in the Argentine economy in recent years and the institutionalization of popular movements, an ongoing workers’ struggle to lift local factories out of bankruptcy continues to inspire sectors of the Argentine population. Virna Molina and Ernesto Ardito’s Corazón de fábrica (Heart of the Factory, 2008) is not only a revealing account of workers’ reactions to the economic meltdown of 2001 but a multifaceted meditation on the political principles involved in the reorganization of a ceramic factory in the southern province of Neuquén. Corazón de fábrica attests to the pernicious impact that neoliberal policies have had on Argentine families, affecting every aspect of their lives: education, health, transportation, and, primarily, employment.

Film, Homo artis, Homo laborans, and Homo politicus

Film Review: Homo artis, Homo laborans, and Homo politicus

Homo artis, Homo laborans, and Homo politicus The Pursuit of Redemption in Three Recent Argentine Films 
by Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli
Armando Bo, El último Elvis. Argentina, 2012
Pablo Giorgelli Las acacias. Argentina, 2011
Santiago Mitre El estudiante. Argentina, 2011

 One cannot be short of themes while there is still plenty of reality. Any hour of the day, any place, any person, is a subject for narrative if the narrator is capable of observing and illuminating all these collective elements by exploring their interior value. —Cesare Zavattini

Film, Migration, Regional Traditions, and the Intricacy of Documentary Representation in Cuates de Australia and La chica del sur

Film Review:  Migration, Regional Traditions, and the Intricacy of Documentary Representation in Cuates de Australia and La chica del sur

172 Film Review:  Migration, Regional Traditions, and the Intricacy of Documentary Representation in Cuates de Australia and La chica del sur
by: Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli, Everardo González, Cuates de Australia (Drought).
Mexico, 2012 José Luis García La chica del sur (The Girl from the South). Argentina, 2012

 Approaches to telling a story are, of course, abundant. Latin American filmmakers borrow from all kinds of artistic traditions—literature, pop music, the plastic arts, home movies, etc. What makes this borrowing both draining and stimulating is that the web offers an excess of examples to draw from. Further, digital production and online distribution are cultivating a new kinship among filmmakers, visual traditions, and viewers across the world. This is a daunting realization that the current crop of young filmmakers is trying to grapple with. Two recent documentary films from Mexico and Argentina bring the topic of social and cultural migration into focus, giving international audiences the opportunity to enter otherwise inaccessible worlds. Cuates de Australia (Drought) from Mexico and La chica del sur (The Girl from the South) from Argentina display contrasting approaches to portraying the hardships of relocation.

Film, LAPerspectives Online Film Resources

FILM MAGAZINES

El Amante /Cine (Argentina)
http://www.elamante.com/

Haciendo Cine (Argentina)
http://www.haciendocine.com.ar/

Imagofagia (Argentina)
http://www.asaeca.org/imagofagia/sitio/

Film, Interview with Bill Nichols by Tomás Crowder-Tarraborreli

Bill Nichols is one of the most influential historians and theorists of documentary film...

Interview with BILL NICHOLS by Tomás Crowder-Tarraborreli

He is widely cited in articles across the world. Some of his most important works are: Ideology and the image: social representation in the cinema and other media (Bloomington Indiana University Press, 1981), Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary (Indiana University Press, 1991), Blurred Boundaries (Indiana University Press, 1994) and Introduction to Documentary (Indiana University Press, 2001). He teaches film at San Francisco State University. His enthusiasm for documentary film comes through even in casual conversations and especially during this interview in Tijuana, in the first week of BorDocs, the documentary film forum. http://bordocs.com/?lang=en. A few minutes before the interview, Mr. Nichols had given a two-hour master class on the ethical challenges of documentary filmmakers.