It began modestly with three or four films projected in a basement classroom on the UW-Milwaukee campus. Thirty-eight years later, UWM’s Latin American Film Series is a seven-day event at the Union Cinema featuring a dozen films from nine nations. “We try our best to show the diversity of the Americas with films representing the African diaspora, the European heritage and indigenous peoples,” says Julie Kline from the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the university office responsible for organizing the festival.
The majority of films are in Spanish, the most widespread language in Latin America, but the series has always sought out Portuguese-language films from Brazil. This year’s lineup includes a rarity, a movie in the Kaqchikel Mayan language, Ixcanul. “You don’t see a lot of that!” Kline says. “The director of Ixcanul doesn’t self-identify as Mayan, but grew up in Guatemala’s heavily Mayan-speaking communities. He wanted to recognize that aspect of his nation.”
Regarding the role of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Kline says, “Our mandate is public engagement. We support teaching research, we do teachers’ training. We exist to educate and film is a beautiful entry for that.”
Each year, Kline endeavors to program a cross-section of films representing not only different nations and languages but also urban and rural settings; lower, middle and upper classes; young and old. Most of the selections will never be shown elsewhere in Milwaukee theaters. But in the Netflix-streaming era, why bother at all with mounting a festival? “There’s nothing like a big screen,” Kline answers without hesitation. “It’s a lovely thing to be part of a community sharing a film. And the Union Cinema offers pretty good popcorn, too!”
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April 8
Between Sea and Land (La Ciénaga: Entre el Mar y la Tierra)
Columbia
The protagonist of this multiple Sundance Award winner lives in a hut on a marsh near the Caribbean Sea. Although confined to bed with a neurological disorder, he dreams of visiting the sea.
NN
Peru
Among the many casualties of the political violence and civil wars that swept across much of Latin America in the 1970s is the recently unearthed corpse at NN’s center. He is unclaimed and unidentifiable save, perhaps, by a photo of a smiling girl found in his shirt.
April 9
Ixcanul
Guatemala
It’s a story familiar across many cultures: The family has arranged a marriage for their daughter, but she’s in love with someone else. Set on a coffee plantation at the base of a volcano, Ixcanul was Guatemala’s submission for the Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Picture.
Road to La Paz (Camino a La Paz)
Argentina
Road pictures are a great way to see the sights and Latin America has produced several in recent years. Road to La Paz involves a cab driver hired by an elderly Muslim for a 2,000-mile trip to see his brother (and begin his pilgrimage to Mecca).
April 10
Boy and the World (O Menino e o Mundo)
Brazil
Artist Alê Abreu’s colorful animated feature begins in simple fashion with stick figures and bright colors, but the animation grows more complex as the boy protagonist leaves his rural home for the big city.
Havana Curveball
Cuba
Those great 1950s American cars and 19th-century colonial architecture form a scenic backdrop to this documentary about a boy who implemented his rabbi’s instruction to “heal the world” by sending baseball bats and gloves to Cuba. A short film on salsa dancing, Wheel of Life (La Rueda de la Vida), follows the screening.
April 11
Cimarrón Spirit
April 11
Dominican Republic
Descended from Indians and escaped slaves, the Maroons have lived apart in the Dominican Republic as outlaws. The documentary includes many scenes of their African-influenced dances and music, capturing the customs (and costumes) of a seldom-seen culture.
Sunday Ball (Jogo de Campo)
Brazil
The favelas of Rio de Janeiro have received much bad publicity as centers of crime and drug trafficking, but this documentary shows another side of those neighborhoods: the competitive spirit of favela boys competing in soccer matches.
April 12
The Hamsters (Los Hámsters)
Mexico
The father in the film’s dysfunctional family goes to work each morning even though he has no job to go to. Bored with her life, the wife is having a fling. And the teenage children get into all sorts of situations.
April 13
From Afar (Desde Allá)
Venezuela
Winner of the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, From Afar concerns a 50-year old man, lonely and in need of companionship, who seeks young men on the streets of Caracas.
April 14
The Second Mother (Que Horas Ela Volta?)
Brazil
In many cultures, the nanny becomes a second mother to the children of her employer. The arrangement goes awry in this Brazilian film as the class barriers are shown in high relief when the nanny’s estranged daughter suddenly arrives.
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