News Release

Local angles: Durham, Greensboro, Raleigh

Photo: To download photos, see end of story.

20th Latin American Film Festival
set for Nov. 3-19 on six campuses

CHAPEL HILL - In "Vampires in Havana" ("Vamiros en la Habana"), an animated spoof of horror and gangster movies, Professor Von Dracula leaves Transylvania for Cuba.

There he invents "Vampisol," a potion that allows vampires to survive in sunlight. A crazy chase by bad guys, police, vampires and other monsters ensues.

The comedy will be just one of 33 films to be shown in this year's Latin American Film Festival, Nov. 3-19 at Guilford College in Greensboro and on five Triangle campuses: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Duke, N.C. Central and N.C. State universities; and Durham Technical Community College.

All events will be free and open to the public; films will be in their native languages with English subtitles.

"A Celebration" ("Una Celebració" in Spanish, or "Uma Celebracão in Portuguese) will be the theme this year as the festival celebrates its 20th year. The educational outreach office of the Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies at UNC and Duke again will produce the festival, focusing this year on recent films.

"Besides our usual evening screenings, this year we will add four Sunday afternoon programs," said Sharon Mújica, festival organizer and outreach director for the consortium. "Throughout the festival, film types and topics will range from documentaries on social movements in Mexico and Colombia to comical shorts and animation to love stories and dramas."

Directors, screenwriters and others from the Latin American film industry will introduce or lead discussions on many of the films. Among them will be Pablo Pacheco, vice president of the Cuban Institute of Arts and Cinematography; U.S. author and filmmaker Saul Landau; and Mexican filmmaker and screenwriter Marcela Fernández Violante.

Screenings will include documentaries on a wealthy Brazilian who left her privileged lifestyle to help street children in Rio de Janeiro; Fidel Castro; and South Mexicans catching illegal rides on freight trains to the northern border, seeking to cross into the United States; and the sweatshop economy of El Salvador.

Fictional features will include a tale set against the true story of a military takeover in Chile in 1973. Two boys of different backgrounds become friends just before the coup, which changes their lives, their friendship and their country.

In 20 years, the festival grew from three films in 1986 at Carolina to 42 screenings at 18 locations last year, in the Triangle, the Triad and Charlotte. "This year the event was scaled back somewhat due to the logistics of putting on a festival of that size," Mújica said. UNC-Charlotte will hold its own festival in February.

"Films from Latin America teach us and bring us nearer to our neighbors to the south in intangible ways," Mújica said. "Images stay with us; we suddenly understand something differently, and perhaps better than before.

"Our news media seldom cover many of these countries, and our movie theaters do not show the films. Attending the festival and taking part in the discussions offer entertainment and learning. It only happens once a year."

For dates, times, places, film descriptions and information on festival guests, visit http://www.ilas.unc.edu/film/fest2006/festhome.htm. For more information, call (919) 843-8888.

- 30 -

Photo URLs: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/lafilmfest/Cananea.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/lafilmfest/HavanaBlues%20-%20Still%203.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/lafilmfest/Machuca%20-%20Still%201.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/lafilmfest/Nina%20Santa%20-%20Still%202.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/lafilmfest/Viva%20Cuba%20-%20Still%202.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/lafilmfest/Warrior%20of%20Lights%20-%20Still%201.jpg

Latin American Film Festival contact: Sharon Mújica, (919) 962-2414, smujica@email.unc.edu
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589