“Señorita Extraviada”
Director Lourdes Portillo

Lourdes Portillo is an accomplished writer, film director, and producer. She has worked in a richly varied range of forms, from television documentary to satirical video-film collage. Portillo’s film,“Señorita Extraviada”, investigates the crime wave in Juarez, México that has left more than 270 young women dead since 1993. Her exploration of the topic brings to light the courage of the women’s families as well as the corruption and chaos of this border town where these crimes are allowed to take place.

Ms. Portillo will present her film and answer questions.

See Ms. Portillo's website

Co-sponsored with the School of Journalism

Wednesday, January 29, 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Room 105, North Gate Hall

Analysis and photos of the event

The Last Zapatistas: Forgotten Heroes (Los Ultimos Zapatistas: Heroes Olvidados)
Director: Francesco Taboada Tabone

“The Last Zapatistas” is the chilling testimony of the soldiers who fought beside their General Emiliano Zapata in the 1910 Mexican Revolution. Almost one hundred years later, the Mexican filmmaker Francesco Taboada discovered the last twelve survivors of the legendary Liberation Army of the South. They reveal a truth not to be found in any book. They speak of the failure of the Revolution, of the agrarian and ecological disaster threatening their country and of imminent civil war if the Zapatista ideals they represent continue to be ignored. 70 minutes, 2001.

Wednesday, February 26, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch Street

The Yidishe Gauchos
Director: Mark Freeman

This intriguing documentary tells the nearly forgotten tale of how Jewish immigrants to Argentina became a part of that country’s ranching culture. These immigrants built schools, libraries, theaters and agricultural cooperatives in the wilderness. 30 minutes, 1995.

Ghosts in Patagonia (Fantasmas en la Patagonia)
Director: Claudio Remedi

In Sierra Grande, a town in Argentina’s Patagonia, the government decreed the closure of the iron mine, the town’s principle source of income. This documentary illustrates the personal stories of inhabitants as they relate their community’s decay from unemployment. In this isolated town a few people survive, struggling against unemployment and its social consequences. 84 minutes, 1996.

Wednesday, April 2, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch Street

The Scorpion (Comparsa el Alacrán)
Director: Gloria Rolando

A homage to Santos Ramírez, who wrote the comparsa “El Alacrán” in 1938, this colorful program documents the Afro-Cuban tradition. First preformed by whites dressed in blackface in the early 1900s, Santos Ramírez transformed the Alacrán into the most famous African comparsa celebrated in Cuban carnival. 19 minutes, 1999.

Cauri: The Word of the Saint (Cauri: La Palabra del Santo)
Director: Luis Acevedo Fals

This film depicts the Santería religion and the magic of the “cauri”- shells used by Santería priests to translate messages from the orishas. The documentary also provides an explanation of each of the saints in this Afro-Cuban religion. 27 minutes, 1996.

Even Queen Isabel Dances the Danzón (Hasta la Reina Isabel Baila el Danzón)
Director: Luis Felipe Bernaza

This comic documentary examines the mixture of Hispanic and African traditions that permeates every aspect of Cuban life. It follows a spiritist who is visited from time to time by the spirit of Queen Isabel of Spain. The filmmaker attempts to speak with Queen Isabel through the medium to ask her questions about the Cuban people. Depicting the belief in the supernatural within the context of a socialist revolution, the film is a self-reflective satire of the island’s pervasive Afro-Cuban popular beliefs. 20 minutes, 1991.

Wednesday, April 30, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch Street