News Release

Local angles: Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro,
High Point, Winston-Salem, Raleigh

CHAPEL HILL — This year’s Latin American Film Festival, Nov. 1-14 on 14 campuses in the Triangle, Triad and Charlotte area, will showcase stories from rural, indigenous and urban areas of Latin America.

The Consortium on Latin American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University will present the festival, "Cine sin Fronteras: Mirando Hacia el Sur/Cinema Without Borders: Looking to the South." It is free and open to the public.

"In many ways, recent Latin-American film reflects the new trends of a

global economy by rejecting the old stereotypes of the region and focusing on new realities," said Sharon Mújica, the consortium’s director of outreach and education programs. "This film festival attempts to capture this effort while placing it within the larger context of the history of Latin-American film."

The festival will open at N.C. State University’s Witherspoon Student Center at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 with a screening of the Mexican film "Macario." Film expert Jordi Mari, a Spanish literature professor at N.C. State, will introduce and lead a discussion about the film.

Arturo Escobar, director of the Institute of Latin-American Studies and a UNC anthropology professor, will introduce "War Takes/Tomas de Guerra," directed by Patricia Castaño and Adelaida Trujillo, at 7 p.m. Nov. 2 at UNC’s Hanes Art Center.

John French, a historian of modern Latin America and director of the Duke Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, will present the award-winning Brazilian documentary "Omnibus Bus 174," directed by José Padilla, in the Richard White Auditorium at Duke University at 7 p.m. Nov. 3.

Sandra Levinson, president, executive director, and co-founder of the Center for Cuban Studies, will present her film, ""Los Zafiros: Music from the Edge of Time" (co-produced with Randa Haines and Lorenzo De Stefan) at 7 p.m. Nov. 8. The film will be shown at UNC and is a documentary about a 60s band in Cuba.

Mexico-based media maker and social theorist Byrt Wammack will introduce and discuss three of the latest in Mexican film and documentaries:

· "Del Olvido a No Me Recuerdo/I Forgot I Don't Remember" directed by Juan Rulfo at N.C. States’s Witherspoon Center at 7 p.m. Nov. 9;

· "Mil Nubes de paz Cercan el Cielo, Amor, Jamás Acabarása de ser Amor/A Thousand Clouds of Peace to Heaven, My Love, You'll Never Stop Being Love," directed by Julián Hernandez at Duke University at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 (winner of the Teddy Award for the best gay film in the 2003 Berlin Film Festival); and

· "Recuerdos/Remembrances," directed by Marcela Arteaga at N.C. State at 7 p.m. Nov. 13.

Wammack will also feature his own work in Charlotte (Nov. 8; UNC-Charlotte), the Triad (Nov. 10; Guilford College), and the Triangle (Nov. 12; Durham Tech).

Alex Rivera, a New York-based digital media artist and filmmaker, will screen some of his latest work Nov. 15-16. On Nov. 15 at 7 p.m., at Duke’s White Auditorium, Rivera will show "The Borders Trilogy," "The Sixth Section," and "Why Cybraceros?" On Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. at Hanes Art Center, Rivera will screen "Día de la Independencia," " Signs of the Times," "Conspiracy Club for Men," "Las Papas del Papa" and "The Sleep Dealer."

Charlie Thompson, a Durham-based filmmaker, will present the final-cut version of his documentary made in collaboration with filmmaker Cynthia Hill. "The Guestworker: Bienvenidos a Carolina del Norte" at 7 p.m. Nov. 14 in the Cobb Theater of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History.

All films are presented in their original language with English subtitles. Schedules, directions, venues, phone numbers and information about speakers are detailed at www.unc.edu/depts/ilas/filmfest.html. For more information, call the consortium at (919) 843-8888.

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Contact: Sharon Mújica, 919-962-2414, smujica @email.unc.edu

News Services contacts: Print, Deb Saine, 919-962-8415; broadcast, Karen Moon, 919-962-9585